In recent months there has been an interesting wave of new series starring female superspies/assassins.  The premise is a simple one, to take what is a stereotypical role for women, and to have a woman perform that role while undercover as a field agent.  It worked with 1960s housewife in Lady Killer, it kind of worked with 1970s porn star in Red One and it is being implemented once again here for modern day supermodel in Scarlett Couture.  This double life is one which has to be handled carefully enough though if it is meant as part of social commentary as opposed to perpetuating the stereotypes, a fine line needs to walked to ensure that the proper message is being sent, that women heroes can be strong without needing to be exploited for it.

The story here follows Scarlett, the head of security for a fashion house who doubles as a secret agent.  The issue starts with two fellow supermodels kidnapped and Scarlett being tasked to go find them.  The story follows a farily common route for that of a secret agent – “Wait for backup!” “There is no time, I am going in alone!” and so very little stands out in terms of the story save for the unusual background of the associated characters.  As the plot unfolds there are a couple of small surprises but not anything really out of the ordinary.  It thus falls to the depiction of the heroine to make this story work, and the fine line which needed to be walked is not adhered to as much as needed.

The result is a story that doesn’t really come off as strong as it could.  There are a lot of cases of strong female characters being written by male writers, but such is not always the case here, as the writer seems to be pandering at times to the male readers by writing in such a way that the female main character talks kind of how men would like to think that she is talking.  As such this feeds into the stereotype as much as it tries to break it and the end result, while entertaining at times, still ends up a little flat.

Story and Art: Des Taylor
Story:  6.5 Art: 6.5  Overall: 6.5  Recommendation: Pass