Interview with Jason Michael on Lady Killer

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one cap. Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. And

welcome to the Comic Concierge Podcast, the podcast

that believes that comics are for everyone. The

key is finding the right one. This is one of

my concierge episodes. So it's a little bit different

in the sense of this isn't actually, we'll get

into this more. This isn't a situation where

I recommended a book, but for this week, I have

a very special guest as always when it comes

to these podcasts and people taking the time

to come out on our little show. But this week

we have Jason Michael from the Atlantic Screen

Connection Podcast. How's it going, man? I am

well, thank you very much. I hope you're doing

well too. Definitely, definitely. I appreciate

you taking the time and I'll get, it's kind of

interesting because with Ladykiller, which we'll

be talking about today, as I was going back,

I'm like, actually what's kind of funny, I don't

know if you even knew this, but the reason I

read this for the first time was because of a

tweet that you sent me way back when. I think

I tweeted something out about like the best comics

that people aren't talking about and you mentioned

lady killer And that's I had forgotten about

that man. Thanks for reminding me. That's awesome

I'm like, oh I like I didn't know much about

it and I picked it up Started reading it and

then now here we are So it was one of the it's

a reverse coming concierge in the sense of this

is a book that you recommended me So, oh, that's

great man. Cool. I'm really glad that it that

it really paid off that I'm really actually glad

that we're talking about it then because I've

been obsessed with this book. Yeah Definitely,

definitely. But before we get to Lady Killa,

which we'll definitely be talking about, we often

talk about the experience of you, the person

coming on, and what their background with comic

books are. I know before we started recording,

you mentioned that you don't read them as much,

but are you someone who used to read and stop

reading, or are you one that just recently started

reading again? What's your situation? I recently

started reading again I'll go back to when I

actually did start reading comic books and it

was a way to fit in when I was going through

like you know from the ages 11 12 13 14 15 most

you know teenage years that guys tend to go through

and I mean I remember my first toys being Batman

and Robin the old Ones with the plastic boots

and whatnot. My mom, you know gave me those as

a kid So I mean comic books have always your

comic book characters have always been part of

my life comic books themselves It's always been

a very difficult medium for me to get into because

of the location I'm at I'm in Quebec City, Canada,

but I was actually born 500 kilometers away from

here in a small town called Baycomo that has

a very small English community So finding English

comics in that location was very very difficult

at the time So you would probably get like, you

know a spider -man, you know 381 but then you'd

want to get another one a couple of months down

the road But then you end up getting like spider

-man 385 and you'd be like, well, I missed the

story and I mean this wasn't like a Amazon days

or eBay days where you could actually go or even

on the internet you couldn't actually go on to

Comixology to find them and so It was very sporadic

in terms of reading, and I used to love to draw

quite a bit. So most of the reading that I was

doing at that time tended to be towards what

I liked in terms of the drawing. So I like, you

know, the Spider -Man's that Mark Bagley used

to draw, or even the Jim Lee X -Men series and

whatnot. So I really, really enjoyed those as

a kid. But what brought me back into it recently

was Scott Snyder's and Greg Kapoor's run on the

Batman New 52. It was a really weird incident

where I was reading something online. I don't

remember exactly what it was, but they were advertising

for, I think it was Batman 37, the new 52 or

38. Anyways, the one that Joker's on it where

he's actually crushing a bat and he's sitting

on a chair of corpses, which I thought was a

beautiful cover. And I was like, wow, who's drawing

this Joker? He looks fantastic. And I actually

became really obsessed with that series to the

point where I actually started looking around

on eBay and just... Getting the entire series.

I have the entire new 52 series, but I started

picking it up at like issue 39 So I went back

on eBay got number one Through you know, 37 38.

I have a series of variants in there as well

Especially the Adam Qbert ones for the endgame

that series that was going on from like issues

36 to 40 and I really had a blast reading that

and so I was like, okay people are actually starting

to rewrite these these wonderful things But I

know like, you know, a lot of people didn't like

that new run on Batman but I mean you can't fault

them the Court of Owls was just so fucking good

I'm sorry if I don't know if I'm allowed to swear

on that but yeah that and obviously you know

seeing as that Star Wars has had a rebirth and

I'm a huge Star Wars fan I've been buying those

ones quite a bit as well and I just so happened

to be picking up my my pull list three years

ago when they actually started back in 2015 and

lo and behold One of the guys that usually puts

comic books aside for me at the store I shop

at now said, Hey man, check this out. And it

happened to be a lady killer number three. And

I was like, this looks pretty bad ass, man. Thanks

for showing this to me. And so I read through

number three and I was like, I gotta, I gotta

find the rest of the series. So I went on eBay

and I actually bought, you know, the first two

comics it costs. It wasn't that expensive. Now

they're worth a little bit now, but Yeah, and

so that's how I got into that one and those are

probably gonna be worth more too because now

Joel Jones who's Obviously, you know the writer

and artist of this is becoming I think even more

famous. He she's done some Batman issue She's

getting her own like Catwoman series coming up

soon So I feel like they're probably you know,

that's that might actually end up being a wise

investment Yeah, she paid she penciled the Vader

down variant as well when they were actually

doing the That crossover series in the Star Wars

and I have that one too is with Leia on the cover.

It looks really good Yes, I'm really looking

forward to I'm actually gonna pick up the catwoman

run just because it's her Yeah, yeah, I don't

know if you read she's did a few issues with

with Tom King and one of the recent Batman it

was like a two arc story with like Batman and

Wonder Woman go into this like alternate dimension

and I forget the name of the character it escapes

me now, but I think she really draws a really

great wonder woman and Cat like she obviously

you know looking at lady killer her the way she

draws females is really special cool It's interesting

that the new 52 is one that brought you in because

that was actually when I was out of comics for

a little bit and I recently came back in but

For similar reasons my friend gave me like the

like the huge compendium of like all the Batman

Snyder stuff and I started picking it up and

then I started reading Batman around the time

when like Commissioner Gording was Batman I'm

like this is kinda weird, but I kind of like

it. I like the bunny looking Batman robot. I'm

digging it so I was great man. I don't know why

people I think that that run was called super

heavy and I really dug it man I thought that

it really put a lot of emphasis on on the strain

just seeing Batman through another character's

eyes especially through Gordon, you know having

to Put himself through that physically and psychologically

and understanding after that that you know Bruce

Wayne himself had to go through this every single

time he put on the cowl was a really interesting

perspective and insight into what it needs what

you need to become Batman you know in Gotham

it was great. Yeah so was Lady killer like the

first like creator own like outside of the realm

of superhero comics that you read. No I don't

think so perhaps. Let me see now. I mean image

comics I'd read, but those were superheroes too.

I mean Wildcats and all that. I really liked

the run on Team 7, which I thought is great.

I'm wondering why they haven't adapted that into

a TV series or a movie yet, because Team 7 seems

like it's a really interesting comic book to

adapt. But yeah, maybe it is outside the realm

of superheroes. I mean, I did read The Watchmen

or V for Vendetta and all that stuff, or even

like Red Sun. But yeah, or even I think there's

Child of Dreams. That's Batman. It's a superhero

hush series as well. But no, I think yeah, maybe

man. It would be outside of the superhero It

would probably be one of the first interesting

interesting. So what would you say about, you

know, lady killer? You mentioned it. Yeah, what

worked for you? Reading that first issue because

obviously you're coming in like, you know midway

through a story now It's almost halfway done

by that time. What what tend to work for you

the most was it just the visuals? Just the the

you know, the high -paced action what seemed

to really catch your eye. Well, obviously you

know the cover for issue three i thought was

was beautiful i mean it's a nice i have it with

me right now green cover it looks like they're

having a cocktail party of sorts but then she's

holding a bottle with like a cross skull and

crossbones on it and you're like what the hell's

going on here you know it just didn't and then

it says the hit of any party and you lady killer

the hit and i was i enjoyed the pun of that but

what struck me obviously yes you're 100 right

was the visuals the art first and foremost but

when I started opening the book I just loved

Josie immediately I thought she was a wonderful

wonderful character but yeah I mean I even I

even reached out to Jones once I actually got

issues one and two and I read up to issue three

I reached out to Jones and I sent her I sent

her a message of praise because I couldn't believe

it And I told her, I says, I think that Josie

embodies the propriety of a modern woman. And,

you know, in that period in time, especially,

you know, the sixties, but also that the, the

barbarity that it can sue, you know, in maintaining

a sense of self in an era where, you know, the

rules. were dictated by men. And I thought that

by using the art that she's using, you know,

this mid -century advertising Barbie -esque art,

she's actually subverting it in a way, you know,

that I thought was really, really glorious. Definitely

and that's definitely caught my eye too and and

like just the texture of the art There's like

a like a splatter to it at times where like the

the black ink is just like coming off the page

and yeah Yeah, and I just felt that just mean

it looked like lived in especially like you see

it really Gain up and it uses almost like you

know to enhance action at times and there's something

about it that you catches your eye and it just

feels like you're Almost like it's paint and

within the actual drawing is like coming off

as you're reading The blacks are so distinct

in this and yeah, I just I've that's the first

thing I noticed when I when I read it just she's

a really thick outline with all of her characters

like and yeah, and it really makes them stand

out and then when like, you know, you mentioned

it being like a very marketing X type of design

and then when when you see you're kind of doing

the opposite of what you would expect in the

sense of a marketing campaign like you know killing

people or you know that very opening issue because

I started at issue one and you know you're thinking

you have an idea of what the setup is and selling

Tupperware and a very 50s type of situation and

you're like okay I guess and then it gets really

graphic and I thought like wow this just that

use of Taking the kind of mode of what women

were in the 1950s and like you mentioned giving

it a modern sensibility in the sense of she's

living these two lives that are obviously Opposed

opposed that cultural norms of the time. I mean

though that that was the one thing, you know

When I went back to read issue one just recently

I kind of picked up on a couple of the themes

that were there and I mean, you know If you look

at Josie as an Avon saleswoman, she's selling

an image rather than a personality And I really

thought that that highlighted how women are,

you know, constantly scrutinized, you know, according

to the two appearance, you know, and so that

subsequent fight and killing of Miss Romanov

in that first scene goes to show that at that

period in time, or even today for that matter,

the competitiveness between women when it comes

to being recognized in the workforce, it's really,

really a difficult place. And so Josie in that

first sequence isn't just killing a contract

to me. She's also killing the competition, you

know, the competition between women in everyday

society, whether it be with regards to how they

look social class, you know, how men view them

family or just getting a job, you know, and it's

that's one of the themes that we actually saw

in in Mad Men. That was really great, you know

with all the female characters there Betty Draper

and Joan Holloway and especially Peggy and her

relationship with all the men because she's the

one that actually you know becomes a Copywriter

and moves up the ladder quite quickly So I thought

that was so so cool to see how she would just

kind of reshape That woman though in terms of

extremes They're the extremes that women have

to deal with most of the time when they're actually

being scrutinized by men And not only that by

women as well in terms of competition. So I thought

it was cool Yeah, and of course, it's you know,

it's I think it's no mistake the fact that the

first killing that she has in this is in a kitchen

and yeah, and obviously, you know the message

and she almost has like a Jackie O 'Kennedy type

of look to her even like oh definitely. Yeah

in her fashion design and certainly I think that

is Big part of that as well. And of course like

you get after her first killed the big the biggest

thing She's somewhat concerned about not obviously

is just that uh, she gets a little bit of blood

on and put on her dress. Yeah Yeah, and I just

love the fact that the the use of blood and how

it's black And I don't know if it was because

obviously at the time when it came to like film,

for example, they would usually they would it

would be black within the film to make it more

distinct or if it was just to kind of go with

the tone of the or just make it not as graphic.

But I don't know. In a way, by doing that, it

makes it stand out more, but not seem grotesque

or shock value. It just seems to mute or dull

the violence a little bit, even though it's some

truly graphic things are occurring. Yeah, that's

great man. It's a really interesting form of

censorship I thought that was cool because when

I was talking about propriety I thought that

was interesting is like Joe, you know Joel's

Images that the fact that she's stabbing her

through the chest with a kitchen knife You know

one of these sharp things but then it just explodes

into this black blood You're like, well, what

are you trying to tell me? Are you trying to

tell me that I'm not supposed to be seeing this

is that the blood is too graphic or? But I thought

it was really great because it gave it also that

it's like taking away the camp from those old

Batman sixty six things. It's like taking removing

the power. But the power is in form of black

blood as opposed to red. Which is an interesting

choice. It was really, really great. Yeah. Yeah.

It's like watching leave the beaver and finding

out the fact that the mom in charge that entire

time in the background was actually this deadly

assassin. Because yeah, the father is kind of

aloof He's not like a bad person or anything

like that or it doesn't seem like he's that you

know, a misogynist Jean Yeah, Jean her husband.

Yeah He doesn't necessarily like embody we talked

about Mad Men like right? He's not like a Dom

Draper type of character. Oh, no more He's more

aloof like a Dick Van Dyke. I guess than anything

Brady Bunch date that But I do like how a lot

of this does obviously tie to much of the time

period like her boss certainly feel like you

get like a very much a James Bond s quality from

him Yeah, the way you first with women his look

his style and like how it's kind of fighting

against that that type of mode, seeing her not

want to be, you know, having to actually go toe

to toe with him, in the fact that he's not like

this twirling moustache type of evil thing, they're

just obviously feel like that they have to do

what they have to do in order to make sure that

she doesn't go off the deep end or, you know,

the fact that she's kind of, her time has been

worn out by this time, I guess. Oh, yeah, but

Peck is really sleazy man. I mean you just see

him at point just before visiting Sten home in

his office He's flirting with the secretary,

you know And the way that he talks to Josie the

first time they meet at the end of issue one

when he says they have a you know I have a contract

for you have to take this take care of this dude

in in the in the I don't know if it wasn't a

strip club, but it was more of a cabaret type

situation Yeah, it was like the the bunny Clubs

that they would have in the 60s remind me of

like X -Men first class where they Had that sequence

with like Emma Frost. It was like kind of a similar

club to that. Oh Definitely. Yeah, that's a good

pull. But yeah, so I mean but Pekka Yeah, you

can see but at the same time I love how Jones,

you know spreads that out when the three character

the three male characters that we see in the

first issue or two male characters we see in

the first issue couldn't be farther apart. Again,

Josie's dealing in extremes. That's why halfway

through the book, you see her as a killer, and

then after that, you see her as a mom. But then

when you're introduced to Gene, you're like,

oh, okay, he's just an oblivious... guy who just

comes home from work, expects supper to be made.

That's just the way society is at that time.

But then you'll have Peck coming at the door

with all his sexual innuendo and suave and trying

to just get Josie to be a little bit, how can

I put it, a little bit more open to flirtation.

She shuts him down right away. And at the same

time, I think that most women back then wouldn't

have done that. They'd have to play the game

in order to kind of... Save face in a way. So

I thought it was really interesting to show men

on those two extremes It's like there's there's

no real middle ground at this point in time.

Everything really deals in those extremes Yeah,

definitely like you said she does have that modern

sensibility where she's not gonna taking any

advances or even like Not denying that they're

there and shutting them down immediately Yeah,

and I like to that she is a mom and in the Fed

in the sense of she doesn't like it's not a part

of her life that she regrets it she very much

enjoys it and it's very much a part of her like

it's not that sometimes you have a situation

like this and it's it's their being assassin

to fulfill some sort of aspect of their life

to make them feel like more like a person where

this there's no regret being within her family

it's just that This is her job. It's kind of

her norm and yeah, she's just trying to keep

her family safe at the same time I love stories

like this where you have like the idea of like

balancing this crazy insane secret life where

you're this crazy assassin like something like

the Americans and then at the same time you have

to deal with the fact that you have to put your

kids to bed at night and Just the juxtaposition

between those two situations and and how to deal

with it Yeah, and I mean and when if you have

you read head to volume two I have and how it

she ends up continuing it within our own terms

and on our own creating her own business in a

way Yeah, and without the help help of this agency

and and the complications that ensue because

of that Yeah, and it's interesting because you

know you can see that this is closing in on her

family life as well Which was which is a complete

contrast with the the the first volume where

where you know? She's actually able to keep it

separate. Everything's fine. You know Gene is

oblivious at the end anyway of what she does

but by the time you get to the end of volume

two You're like, oh, Christ, there are real stakes

now. Now this is personal. The family's involved

and whatnot, you know, even like Mother Shuler,

you know, you dig up a little bit of her past

in volume two as well, which I thought was a

really interesting touch because Irving in the

first volume is this, you know, I wasn't expecting

that. He was actually the old man killer at the

top of the stairs. You know, and then after that

she walks into a room with with Ruby who is another

assassin She recruits so that so that they can

go after pack. I thought it was great to see

that that dynamic between you know Mother Shuler

and Irving in the second volume. I thought it

was really good Yeah, she obviously has a secret

but she think in the first volume she thinks

it's an affair which it isn't obviously much

worse and yeah kind of like Okay, we're just

gonna go but we see it goes in the very different

direction in the second volume and we learned

a little bit more about her and you know you

you almost felt like she was going to be almost

like a mini antagonist in a way but it turns

out to be something a little bit more than that

in the second volume did you have a preference

over either volume would you or they both equal

for you i had an easier time getting through

volume one Be honest, volume two, I think it's

one that's going to grow on me. If I go back

and read it, I'll think it's a little bit more

interesting because it does get more personal.

And the only thing is, is that I thought there

was a little bit of a backtracking with regards

to punishing Josie for wanting to go out on her

own. You know what I mean? The fact that she

is unable, she's a little bit weak at the beginning

of the first issue when she can't drag the body

out of the car and whatnot. So. I was like, what

are we doing? We're taking a little bit of strength

away from her. And obviously she's not a superhuman

woman, you know, this is a woman and she's doing

her best. I mean, I've never carried a corpse

around, so I have no idea how heavy that can

be. Hopefully I'll never be in that situation,

you know, but, you know, with her experience,

I was thinking, you know, when she, you know,

dictates her seven rules, you know, you know,

don't, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.

I think his rule number is five or six. I thought

that was a really interesting aspect because

she is pushing herself into things that she wasn't

necessarily doing. And she is discovering that

there are weaknesses and that she does need help

by the end. The thing is, is that I'm hoping

that in volume three, fingers crossed that we

do get a volume three. It's set up that way,

uh, that she'll probably do her best to get out

of that type of contract. The only thing is that

I don't want to rehash of volume one. Yeah. Yeah.

And where exactly that will go. And I think that's

a good point you bring up about like when she

taking her power away in the beginning of the

first or the second volume. I do like how the

again we talked about out utilizing marketing

in the beginning. She's is Avon salesman. And

then she's changing that into being tough aware

and how that becomes a tool in her inner processes

of disposing of bodies. But it does make you

wonder like. does that mean like when she'd kill

people before someone would come in and clean

up the body like how did it seem like that was

very new to her but it would think when it comes

to being an assassin that would become the norm

but i guess maybe when she's trying to cover

her tracks a little bit more considering she

doesn't like have the backup she once did or

i'm not sure but but that's something i didn't

think about like the fact that it is kind of

weakening her in a way showing that like she

does have or need help out of this which was

something i wasn't really thinking about I mean

it's setting up a business right sometimes you

forget about one element and that's probably

the element you forgot of because I Mean if we

look at issue two from volume one Peck is the

guy that takes care of the body, right? He says

hey, do you need a cab? We need to get this drunk

guy out of here You know, but it's the guy that

she choked with his own tie at the end of that

bunny, you know the bunny Well, whatever The

cabaret, I don't know what to call it. What did

you say it was earlier? A bunny? Oh, it was like

a bunny, bunny ranch. Not ranch, that's a brothel.

They were like glorified restaurants, like in

between a restaurant and a strip club. I think

it was legitimately called a gentleman's club,

and then those evolved into what they are now.

Oh, okay, a gentleman's club. All right, so the

gentleman's club where, you know, the dude is

actually harassing her. Hey, you want to, you

know... You want to get a drink together and

all that? And she's like, no, I'm not on the

menu. And so he basically says he'll have his

whiskey. And then after that, she just signals

him, hey, come on. If you want to get a piece

of tail, it's the way we're going to do it. Yeah,

so that's it. Peck's the one who shows up to

get rid of the body. So I think that she hadn't

necessarily taken into consideration the fact

that she's getting rid of her. She's disposed

of her disposable service or disposal service.

Yeah, yeah, that's very true. It's very true.

It was funny just going through this looking

at it. We're talking about like the some of the

characters designed and I'm looking at Estelle

home like which is like her M to to her 007,

but how he's drawn like Walter Mathau. It's kind

of I didn't even consider that. Yeah, man. I

got that's a good point. I kind of associated

him more to Nixon someone you can really trust,

but you're definitely right. He does look like

Walter Mathau. He does have the jowls of a Nixon.

Maybe it was a good combination of both, but.

It's not like it was like face recognition, but

it does seem like it's her styling is aping that

period, but not in the sense of like your constant

references. They're just, you know, exist in

that world without it being like, you know, it's

1962. You know what happened that day, but it

feels very much of that time. It has, it apes

in style. And I think the comparison, like you

said, to Mad Men is a, is an app one because

it's similar to that where style is a big piece

of this. And it's a big part of, you know, the

story that they're telling and not just in the

aesthetics point of view, but. But it's like

if you took that look and then you mix like the

murder and killing of a Dexter and made it into

one story Yeah, and then and that's lady killer

That was really cool. I mean and yeah, you brought

up the 60s, you know I think Kennedy is actually

giving a speech in volume 2 so obviously volume

1 is probably set a couple of years before that

and that was kind of funny because when I was

when I was researching a little bit the art that

you know that Joel Jones was probably inspired

by I actually ended up finding you know that

mid -century advertising that Barbie tie -in

and I remember reading up on on it and it says

like in 1961, you know Barbie had a fashion like

had these fashion booklets that used to come

out that taught young girls how to dress and

it was kind of funny because when I was talking

about image earlier instead of you know selling

an image rather than a personality it was really

interesting because sure there are images kind

of related to jobs like a registered nurse or

a stewardess but Barbie was never a pilot nor

was she a doctor you know it's a sign of the

times but at the same time the other outfits

were like a Friday night date where she's actually

serving drinks or a wedding dress or I think

the Funniest one I found was one called the suburban

shopper So I was like that's interesting because

you have like a woman who's caring as someone

who's subservient subservient But everything

is all image based and I thought that it was

interesting to contrast that with Josie is as

a contract killer Jones really brings out that

rage that want for an individual identity and

a woman has to be Instead of being prescribed

this, well, these are the images you're supposed

to uphold because you're a homemaker, you know,

so I thought it was really interesting. Man,

times have certainly changed for sure. Bourbon

shopper, that's that's pretty amazing. What do

you do for a living I'm a suburban shopper That's

what I do. This is my outfit for shopping. I'm

like that doesn't seem alright. I guess that's

that's what you're going with Did you pick up

on one of the one of the images like her next

-door neighbor is actually smoking while pregnant

No, I did not I think it's an issue number two

when she says that she's gonna be going out Let's

see if I can find it here. It was really really

funny. She's going someplace and then she's talking

to her neighbor Yeah, right there issue number

two. Do you have a busy day? Oh, she says you

could say that and I was right after her meeting

with with Mathau with Stenholm and you know her

next -door neighbor the girls are playing outside

the dog is on the grass and Her next -door neighbors.

They're wearing a green maternity sweater and

she's holding a cigarette. She looks like Betty

Draper It's fantastic beautiful image where I

was like it actually stopped me. I was like,

oh my god, she really went there It's like this

was acceptable at that time. It's no problem.

Yeah, it is interesting Just like you talked

about like the norms of that time and even like

even like the neighbors the flirtation she's

in the second volume like the older neighbor

that comes in and having the picnic and it's

just like The creepiness of him just really coming

on to his wife like as just like a norm. Oh,

yeah, Robie do. Yeah, the golfer shorts and like

the khaki short. It's just a little disregard

for anything and just you almost feel like, OK,

it's setting this up just for this guy to be

killed because she's giving him a lot of good

reasons in order to do that. But she shows a

little bit of restraint. But and it's interesting

because you talked about how there is a little

bit of time jump and how like the. girls or good

represent her children are you do see them age

it's not really called out but you do and which

is odd for comics often where you know you're

seeing these kids they're not drastically older

but doesn't seem like compared to volume two

that you know they've at least aged a few years

just to you know showcase that change of time

without putting a big block of this is this year

this is that year which i think is a good idea

because i think once you're doing a time period

a time piece once you lock yourself into a specific

year then you get It gets tricky because then

you're drawing a model of a car and people like

that doesn't exist then. But instead, it's more

amalgamation of basically that that early 60s,

late 50s period. Yeah, it's great. I mean, she

even does it in terms of the colors that she

chooses. You know, you look at the color palette

in volume one, which is going to be, you know,

these pastels and all that. But then by the time

we've moved over those three years, the colors

are actually much brighter. You have a red car,

you know, red dresses, you know, these these

really interesting blues and whatnot. And I was

just looking over like what you were talking

about in terms of when he comes over, Robby Doo

comes over for supper and just how belligerent

he is as a crazy person. You know, that joke

that he tells this farmer comes home to his wife

and he's carrying a goat under his arm. He says,

this is the pig I screw when you're not around.

His wife says, that's not a pig. That's a goat.

Farmer says, I wasn't talking to you. And it's

really interesting because you see like that

reaction in three squares right underneath. three

panels, and it says, you know, get it. And you

see Josie's eyes are just wide. And the fact

that she's offended by a joke, you know, with

regards to sex, but she just came home from beating

the shit out of two women. You know, one was

actually sitting on the toilet, which I thought

was really funny to see, you know, and the two

daughters are there. Gene actually spits out

his beer and, you know, Mother Shuler is not

impressed by Mr. Robidoux. Yeah, yeah the image

of her you may mention that her on the toilet

was quite intriguing it's just like that's you

know a good turn of the page like well that that's

happening and I do like how you talked about

colors and how she uses a Really uses red as

we talked about how would not within the blood

but often within the background and just like

to really emphasize especially when there's like

extreme violence and in a way that the contrast

of the red background and the black splatter

it just I don't know it just it just enhances

it in a way I think if just having red blood

wouldn't it's a different feeling to it than

just graphic violence in a way obviously it's

violent and it's impactful but showing you how

like just slightly adjusting the color can enhance

something in new and interesting ways. Definitely

it's really great and I mean I thought it was

a really interesting callback in volume 2 where

she actually uses a hammer to kill the woman

the same way as she did Romanoff in issue 1 of

the volume 1 but yeah I mean using that red background

is so efficient and again I don't know I mean

I don't know where she got that from or why she

emphasizes it that way, but it really does work.

I 100 % agree with you. It's a lot more dramatic,

you know, had it been just a regular background

and with red blood, we would have been like,

oh, we've seen this before. But the fact that,

you know, you have that, that, that contrast,

it just heightens the violence to an extreme

that you're like, okay, that's, I wasn't expecting

that. Yeah. Yeah. As you mentioned, the callback

is a good thing. To point out because the first

time you see it is like nothing bad is happening

yet It's just a signal that she's just holding

it like, you know You wouldn't as if you were

modeling to sell it but that red background certainly

like Indicates that something nefarious is happening

and then you know we we get the drastic killing

in in the actual kitchen and yeah Obviously,

I think it's a selfish because with this being

a creator own series. It's not like you know

Image was coming or not or Dark Horse was coming

back saying you need to lighten it up But then

again, I think it also corresponds with just

like I mentioned previously with like the black

splatter That's all over the place. You say the

blood on blood on your hands never leaves and

I don't know if that's kind of How she's trying

to symbolize that as well that even in her normal

day life, even when she's away from that Part

of her life that is still with there or still

with their family. They're still connected to

it Even if they don't know about it directly

Oh, definitely But uh, yeah, I don't really know

what to add to that. That's that's all good to

me, man Obviously, like you mentioned that the

third volume does leave off it a cliffhanger.

Well, fortunately the third volume hasn't come

out. It's like we mentioned she's gotten a lot

more work recently so I don't know I haven't

heard any word of when it will hopefully it does

in some form or another but was there anything

else regarding you know Lady Killer that you

wanted to talk about before we bring this episode

to a close? You know I just thought it was really

interesting for Lady Killer that I felt that

Jones manages to give a voice to you know the

suppressed self of an entire generation that

are trapped you know, in a time long forgotten.

We've seen that voice come alive in the Me Too

movement, you know, with all the sexual harassment

and all that stuff, and I'm hoping that, you

know, comics like this, like Lady Killer, are

actually speaking to that, and that these, these,

these, how could I put it, this, this coming

out and, and, and... challenging what's been

accepted in a long time is not a passing fad.

I'm already hearing not enough of it, you know,

and I think that comic book like this, you have

a woman that's actually fighting back to be respected.

And not only that, you know, even the harassment

that she goes through in terms of her job with

Peck and Stenholm and then Robidoux in the volume

two. Yeah, and just that the way that the men

are portrayed and you're like look all of these

fuckers are Ivy Weinsteins You know and then

just just imagine this was like this is set 50

years ago Just how bad it was then and it's still

going on today, so I'm hoping that Now that women

have started to claim that individual identity

to fight really really hard for what the respect

that they deserve man I think that it's really

cool and I think the lady killer does speak to

the times and I'm so glad It's very seldom that

you find a book come out at a time like this

and it's it's of its time And I really really

think that I it'll if more people got to it It's

one of those things I I reached out to Jones

because like I'm an amateur filmmaker and I wanted

her blessing to actually make a short film of

issue one and she's like well Dark Horse are

probably already working on something you know

and so I could only give you my blessing privately

to do it but it would be as a fan film you couldn't

make any money on it and you'd have to you know

mention that this is Dark Horse and it's my work

and I was like I definitely want to do that but

And I'm like, why isn't anybody making this?

We need this show right now. I'd so love to see

it if it's well done, you know, cast a wonderful

little Alison Brie in the titular role of Josie

Shuler, bringing her back her madman charisma

and have her stab a dude in the throat. I'd love

to see it. I would work perfectly because yeah,

you can like. Can see the ad now what's like?

Oh mad man's coming back and then it just you

know switches on a dime and like now this is

Something much more that I think that would that's

perfect bring up a good port regarding you know

how it connecting the me to movement and the

idea of like very much these things that you

know women often hold with them and how she's

a reaction to that how and in a way you even

have that where you you don't know the baggage

someone's bringing with them we talked about

you know how the Grandmother she seems like this

antagonist but then we learned more about like

what she's gone through how she was her past

as you know being within the German army the

horrors that she saw and it was able to escape

from and that like the idea of like the dangers

of kind of judging someone without knowing their

story and and I think that very much with is

a Piece of this that and this obviously came

out years prior to that happening But in a way,

I think it was pointing to something that we're

just really now starting to figure out Yeah,

definitely like I said this it shot up to my

my my favorite comic book I've never really enjoyed

a comic book as much as I've enjoyed lady killer

and that's saying a lot. I really really love

this I'm hoping I get to meet Joan so that she

can just sign all of my books and it'd be great

You know just to say thank you so much for this.

I needed a book like this something that had

it really solid Message, but at the same time

just catered to the type of violence. I like

to see in my reading Yeah, yeah, and it kind

of makes me think of like, you know If you enjoyed

this whether other some things that you might

enjoy and it's kind of funny that DC has a book

out It's not it takes place during the current

time, but it's a similar situation It just came

out now called silencer and it's part of their

new age heroes run. I don't know if you know

much about it Not at all man forget who writes

it but it's the first arc was drawn by John Romero

jr Which is a style. I know a lot of people Don't

like some people like him. Some people do He's

good, man. I liked him in a he was doing Punisher

Warzone for a while. I mean like in the early

days. It was good stuff silencer I'll write that

down and it's during present day, but it's like

a former assassin of tallie all ghoul Same situation

where she has a family she's out of it, but she

kind of gets pulled back into it But she's more

of a super it's more of a superhero because she's

a superhero power She can kind of create cones

of silence around her but it allows some crazy

Action Seek legends inside of middle of America

because she can make it like quiet and stuff

like that I've really it's only been I think

the fourth issue actually came out the day that

we're recording this but I haven't read that

one, but I've enjoyed the first three and also

like another thing that has a lot of violence

is very much within a Time period and I think

has a lot of things to say is recommenders though

the dental class, which is drawn by Wesley Craig

It's it's about It starts as this school for

teenagers to be assassins, but it's almost like

the smallest piece of it, but it takes place

during the 80s, and it's very much within the

80s punk scene, in a way. It has that type of

feel and style to it. Wesley Craig has a unique

look to his work. It was one of the first greater

-on books that I got back into. And it's similar

to this has it has a lot of violence obviously

it's dealing with assassins, but I think it's

often getting its main character is this guy

who was He came old guy. He was like 16 years

old, but he came over because his family was

fleeing I think it's Venezuela at the time, but

his family was killed. He was like an orphan

So he's you know, he's this immigrant coming

in trying to make his make his way in the world

And he gets kind of entangled into this insane

Assassin school that has people from all over

the world. So it's a very diverse group of people

and it's just it's kind of crazy It's out of

the world. It hasn't makes room for low -brown

humor. I mean oddly enough it has one of the

better fart jokes i've seen in a comic which

sounds weird but it it works it's uh written

by recommender who's done he's done a lot he

does he does kind of all different things like

he did super he did run on avengers and captain

america and he has this and black science which

is like uh you remember that show sliders back

in the day in the 90s oh man i know the title

i've seen the ads i've never watched it i know

that it was advertised on the back of comic books

It's nothing like that and except the fact that

it's a group of people that go to different dimensions

Deadly class and lady killer have like I think

they exist within the same type of Mold a little

way. I think you know, it's keep two different

people doing different things But I feel like

if you like that one, there's a good chance you

might like that the class hopefully could be

wrong, but we found For y 'all to mention and

I mentioned it as upfront, but I forgot to let

all the folks out there if they wanted to check

out your podcast You guys are doing a lot of

great things. I know you're near what 10 ,000

listens you're getting closing in on that which

is yeah, this is a Really good milestone for

us. I mean like we've we've been active for about

20 months now and that's it we were coming up

about 40 You know, we're 40 plays away from,

from 10 ,000 downloads. Uh, and it's really fun,

man. Uh, we, we didn't think that it was going

to be this successful for us for a small podcast.

I'm a dude living in Quebec city and my, my,

my mate is over living in Ireland, you know?

So we're just two guys that actually met on Twitter

and started talking about films, uh, uh, through

the Atlantic screen connection podcast. And it's

cause we take deep dives. We actually bring us,

you know, uh, film criticism or like scholarly

research. and whatnot to the films, not to the

point where I'm actually gonna write a doctoral

dissertation on it. But we try to give you guys

a little bit more perspective on how to watch

certain types of movies. We try to do our best

to bring what we call the deep dives on that

stuff. And we've got really fun feedback from

most of the people that tune in. We've got great.

you know comments and so it's really really fun

our latest episode was on silence of the lambs

and most recently the one of the dudes retweeted

it and he says it's probably the best episode

on the science of lambs that we've listed i've

listened to so i was like wow jesus christ that's

kind of flattering so yeah man uh it's we'd love

to have more people we've you know talked about

star wars as well we try to do you know our best

with regards to that and that's it so if you

want to check that out atlantic screen connection

my name is jason michael you can find me on twitter

as well and lee paul brady is uh my podcast mate

on that. And I'll make sure that obviously put

all that in the show notes to check out as well.

Yeah, like you mentioned, I your deep dives are

just that's really great to listen to. And it's

good because, like someone like myself that does

not get out to the theater nearly as much as

I appreciate the comic, the podcast like yourself

that will get into some films that are not just

the new stuff, but a variety of everything. And

it's not just like, you know, what I wish I could

be as good as you when it comes to movie. Reviewing

it. It's quite impressive and Wanna skip the

new stuff more because I mean even in the podcast

crowd that we hang around with it's just Everyone's

doing the new stuff. We want to be the guys that

oh Well, if you guys are bored with all the new

stuff like everyone's gonna be talking about

Avengers infinity war and so we're gonna be doing

a Jurassic Park Yeah, I get it I get it it's

certainly filling a void there for sure and though

I gotta say I do love the fact that you're always

on Twitter defending last Jedi and I'm right

there with you because I Love the movie. I've

seen it. I must have seen at least 15 times now.

Yeah, I just got in the mail last weekend you

to add it to my digital collection but that every

every time man I sit down and watch that thing

I end up crying at the end like fuck but it's

good it's good stuff it's it's hard to see my

childhood go away but at the same time the the

the next generation is in good hands I love it

very nice well yeah definitely thank you so much

for for coming on and maybe have you on again

sometime talk about something else but appreciate

you taking the time Oh, thank you, man. This

is great. I love talking to you on Twitter. I'm

always on the lookout for positive voices, and

Dan is definitely one of them, so that's really,

really cool. Good on exchanges. Yeah, I made

a vow. Like I don't know when I'm just gonna

try to stay it's hard It was very hard to do

it this year as a Giants fan during the NFL season

But that's you know, that was a different story

But uh, what if you want to get in contact with

with this year? There's a lot of ways to do so

you can check me out on Twitter I'm at movie

revolt as well and the chill was on Instagram

and Facebook to search comic concierge and if

you want, you know leave up iTunes review, go

to iTunes, would be really helping us out. We're

brand new, so getting those reviews are really

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But for now, remember that comics are for everyone.

The key is finding the right one. Until next

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