Lady Killer

Taking off from Mad Men-inspired interest in 1960s gender roles, this series builds a noir thriller out of crinoline skirts and Stepford Wives-style suburban domesticity. What better camouflage for a hit man—er, woman? Housewife Josie Schuller maneuvers around a clueless husband, two kids, and a suspicious mother-in-law to stab, strangle, and clobber her targets on assignment and undercover. But her managers aren't nice guys either, and she must team up with a reluctant sister-assassin to foil a hit on herself. Jones's (Helheim) color art gleefully parodies period ads and media clichés, and the elegant pizzaz she gives the violence does much of the story's heavy lifting. Josie has the eyelinered prettiness of a retro "stewardess" but with real strength, women's clothes reek of glamour and tackiness, and men's faces twist into smarmy exploiter masks. So far, the plot is fairly predictable and the characterizations unsurprising. However, a second story arc is beginning, which may reveal depths of, say, the German-speaking mother-in-law—who recognizes one of Josie's coconspirators.