Take some hot chicks and throw them in the big top as some clowns. Make sure the girls all have some sort of emotional luggage and are a little off kilter/bat shit crazy. Push them to the edge and bam, watch them go gun-toting bonkers. Let’s face it you had me at hot clown chicks. Chloe Tucker is face to face with the big man Burt. She and the girls have gained his attention and are being offered an assassination job. It pays well and it just might be what the girls need to break out on their own and leave their personal hells at big top behind.
With half of the hit money up front the girls celebrate at a local bar. A few minutes in to the festivities the ladies gain the lustful glares of the local riff-raft. It doesn’t take long until things go south and the girls head out. Now back at the circus the girls are reprimanded by the ringmaster for missing their cue during the show. He begins to lay into the women, until they stand up for themselves with the help of a handgun. But when things go too far they end up with dead body on their hands. The ladies get the idea to use their local garbage disposal; a massive lion by the name of Titian.
Then from out of nowhere the ladies are jumped by the competitor, The Siberian Death Squad; a three person team of assassins that are pissed that the girls are moving in on their jobs. Within moments Chloe and the girls prove that they are more than just a group of pretty faces. Now with vengeance and money on their mind the girls take their destiny in their own hands and head out to do some work.
First off let me say that this book is not for everyone. It does stray a little off the path, all be it a very versatile path that Dark Horse and their titles are known for. That aside, there are things that can be enjoyed in this book. First off is easily Maurizio Rosenweig’s art and character design. It is clearly the star of the book.
With Victor Gischler’s story, it just reminded me of the old school grind house movies that I’ve seen a million times. A batch of troubled girls, all with unhappy pasts, forced to do anything it takes to survive in a savage world. But when they’re pushed too far they push back with explosive results! This is something that I’m okay with. Hell, done right it can even be fun (The fight with the Siberian Death Squad in the tent for example) because I know that the girls with get the vengeance and the bad guys will get their comeuppance. Did Gischler reinvent the wheel? No, but he did but he did put clown make-up on it.
So at the end of the day is Dark Horses’ Clown Fatale a fun comic book? Yes, very much so.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Victor Gischler Artist: Maurizio Rosenzweig Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 12/11/13