Joëlle Jones published her first illustrations in 2006 in Dark Horse Comics’ anthology “Sexy Chix.” Less than a decade later, the Portland artist’s body of work includes signature comic book superheroes Superman and Mockingbird.
For those of you who do not dwell in alternate universes, Mockingbird is one of the best agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a counterterrorism agency in the Marvel universe created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It protects the U.S. against all types of threats, including the paranormal and superhuman. The new Mockingbird comic book, which Jones worked on with New York Times best-selling author Chelsea Cain, was released Sept. 2 in celebration of S.H.I.E.L.D’s 50th anniversary.
Jones, a Boise, Idaho, native who attended Pacific Northwest College of Art., has drawn and written for The New York Times, Graphic Universe, Vertigo, DC Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse and ONI Press.
She has been illustrating other people’s stories for years. This year, though, she published a first run of her own story, “Lady Killer,” written in collaboration with Jamie St. Rich.
By day, Josie Schuller, the Lady Killer, is a 1950s/1960s door-to-door makeup saleswoman — who happens to also be an assassin. By night, she is a loving mother and wife. Billed as “Betty Draper meets Hannibal,” the second series of issues in the “Lady Killer” story will be available from Dark Horse Comics in 2016.
The book release for the first “Lady Killer” collection, Sept. 5 in Los Angeles, is the latest milestone in Jones’ lifelong obsession with comics.
“I started with ‘Punisher,’ and then I was really into X-Men,” she says. “All the stuff that was happening in the ’80s and ’90s. I was right there alongside it — buying all the shiny covers along with everybody else.”
Sue Zalokar: I used to think that comics were kind of a geeky man’s world, but that is definitely changing.
Joëlle Jones: It was so dorky to be into comics (when I was a kid). And I’m as shocked as anybody. I didn’t expect comics to become more hip, less geek.
I remember it being like a secret. You know, keep from certain friends and other friends would know about it.
(Comics have become more hip) probably because nerds rule the Internet, and the Internet is everything now.
S.Z.: What are some of your favorite things to draw?
J.J.: I love drawing women more than anything. Clothes. And I love drawing vehicles like cars and guns — mechanical things. There is a heap of stuff I love to draw. There are specific things I hate to draw.
S.Z.: What do you hate to draw?
J.J.: Alligators.
S.Z.: You drew Helheim and Bride of Helheim. I’ve heard you say you are drawn to the darker side. What is the attraction?
J.J.: I don’t know. It allows me to explore the dark side of my personality. Along with my sense of humor. I have no idea. I’m glad I have an outlet.
S.Z.: You’ve had some success recently with your own story: “Lady Killer.” What is the takeaway?
J.J.: I have so much fun drawing and writing it. It was always a really selfish endeavor to entertain myself. I tickled my own funny bone. I can only hope it does the same for others.
S.Z.: What is your attraction to this time period and vintage advertising?
J.J.: I had a really traditional upbringing and I felt like I was always kind of surrounded by a lot of that stuff. When I got older, I started seeking out really sexist ads and collecting them. I would go to antique stores and try to find the most offensive ones I could. I have a bunch still. I hang them up in my house. I love them.
They just make me laugh. I love playing in this world. I just can’t get enough of it.
S.Z.: Details seem to be important to you, artistically.
J.J.: I love textures and I can get caught up in the research – especially for “Lady Killer.” I will research vintage carpet for hours and I will pick a really complicated one with a really complicated pattern. And I think, “That’s the one.” And then I sit down and draw it, and then a whole day has gone by.
(Attention to detail) can be a hindrance, as well. I have to kind of rein it in.
S.Z.: Is Josie a feminist?
J.J.: I think that even if she is, she doesn’t know it. I don’t think that she would self-identify as that, being a woman of her time.
S.Z.: I get the sense that she’s kind of bored.
J.J.: I definitely think that is why she does what she does (work as an assassin). With the changing decades, I see things being a little different for her in the future.
S.Z.: What’s her backstory? How did she become an assassin? Is that part of the story we’ll be able to read next year?
J.J.: I can’t say too much. But I will say that I plan to go back and you will see some of the origins of some of the characters.
S.Z.: I can’t tell if I like her yet. She’s badass, but I wonder about her motivation. I’m so curious to see what I really think of Josie as I get to know her more.
J.J.: I’m enjoying people’s conflict with her. Killing people — you aren’t supposed to like people who do that. And there are so many two-dimensional female characters in comics you have no conflict with. They show up to a fight scene, they’re badass, they take care of business, they say a few cool things and then they take off.
I’ve never really had an emotional attachment or conflict to a female character in comics. I love the idea that people are thinking about Josie and are conflicted about what she does and who she is.
S.Z.: Josie is very fit and attractive. What about women as they are represented in comics? What do you feel about that as a person who draws women in comics — how women’s figures as form are represented in comics.
J.J.: I’ve never been conflicted. Even (as a young girl), I saw these badass women in metal armor bikini and I was like, “I want a metal armor bikini!”
You grow up and everybody ends up having issues with their own bodies, and we are told what to like and what not to like. It’s a minefield.
I love seeing different shapes and body types in comics. I get really exhausted when all of the female characters look exactly the same. I get bored.
I’m not emotionally attached to any of it. It’s just aesthetically, I find it very boring.
S.Z.: Looking at the overarching pool of women represented in comics, I don’t see much variation in the female forms that are represented. I see very big-breasted, small-waisted, metal-bikini-wearing, badass women.
J.J.: I think it is absolutely changing.
S.Z.: The cover of “Love and Rockets: New Stories No.7” by the Hernandez brothers has Maggie standing naked, and in the mirror you can see the skin on her back sagging. I thought to myself: “Here is a comic book character I can relate to.”
J.J.: Indie comics, in particular, have nailed it for decades. If you’re looking for more diverse characters, you are going to find those in indie comics every time.
S.Z.: What’s the most interesting commission you have ever done?
J.J.: I did a series of commissions for a guy who has a foot fetish. That was pretty interesting. I was asked to draw Superboy in a gerbil cage.
S.Z.: You just finished drawing “Mockingbird” (Marvel Comics). It came out this week.
J.J.: It was really fun. I got to work with Chelsea Cain for the first time. She is a fantastic writer, and her script was so animated and just made me laugh. The characters were so well thought out. I had a lot of fun with that.