Lady Killer #3 presents Josie with a challenge and a threat to her survival.
LADY KILLER #3
Writers: Joëlle Jones and Jamie S. Rich
Artist: Joëlle Jones
Colourist: Laura Allred
Letterer: Crank!
Editor: Scott Allie
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
Previously in Lady Killer #2: Josie hit a bit of a snag on assignment and David had to come lend a hand.
THE TRAP IS CLOSING IN
Lady Killer #3 opens on a cocktail party. In less than a page Joëlle Jones and Jamie S. Rich have firmly planted readers back in the squeaky clean reality that Josie our secret agent murderess inhabits. Throughout this issue Jones and Rich present our femme fatale protagonist with obstacle after obstacle that would frighten any woman – any person – regardless of whatever assassin training they may or may not have.
It begins with Josie’s mother-in-law confronting Josie at the beginning of Lady Killer #3. Although she suspects Josie of stepping out with another man rather than working in the deadliest of all profession the insult still lands and forces our protagonist to lay down some not-so-veiled threats in order to get an old lady out of her hair and off her back.
In the previous issue Jones and Rich gave Josie the most difficult deadly assignment to carry out in Lady Killer #3 and when the moment finally comes the little boy knows that it’s coming. For the second time in just a few pages Josie is called out by an innocent who ought to be completely oblivious to any danger that might be at hand. This is a brilliant move on behalf of the writing team. They’ve called the quality of Josie’s cover into question that serves to not only shake her confidence, but feed the B-plot of this issue.
In the B-plot, Jones and Rich turn Josie’s boss and handler – the aforementioned David – against the titular Lady Killer #3. The scene they share is laced with the misogyny that would have defined the time period wherein this issue is set and while it is certainly a justified choice the insults tossed about are at the same time infuriating to the reader. Of course this only puts readers more firmly on Josie’s side and justifies her actions toward the end of the issue.
As with any spy or assassin story worth its weight, in the course of Lady Killer #3 Josie winds up burned by her employers and is forced to flee dramatically. The safety of her family that she has been working so hard to protect over the course of this series to date has been left for revelation in a future issue and makes the stakes very high for Josie when David closes in on her.
Lady Killer #3 has the most action and is definitely the best issue of the series to date. Jones and Rich have moved the plot forward in a big way and this was a thrilling read.
ALWAYS AWESOME ART
Writer Joëlle Jones doubles up her responsibilities and continues to provide the art for Lady Killer #3. She is always at the top of her game, bringing Josie stunningly into the world. Our femme fatale is stunning in the mundane world she occupies only to burst off the page in inspired poses when action is afoot.
In Lady Killer #3 in particular Jones gets the chance to show off her work on faces. There are several deep and complicated emotions/emotional shifts that Josie undergoes over the course of the issue and they all show across her face in a manner that is at the same time striking and true to life. Jones marries the fantastical elements of this comic book story with a sense of realism that helps to ground the extreme events she has penned in its reality.
As David enters the fray the panels grow more and more dynamic in Lady Killer #3 and Jones has certainly teased series readers with a big showdown between him and Josie in the next month. This is one good looking issue.
BOTTOM LINE: DYNAMIC DEADLINESS
Lady Killer #3 is a really cool issue, the best in the series to date and carries with it a lot of promise as to where this story is going.
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