Scarlett Couture

Because COVID-19 has caused a major disruption in new comic books, for the next few weeks Scoop will reexamine issues, runs, trades, and titles that are already available. We’ll take a look at perennial classics, current titles we are enjoying, significant runs, and our overall favorite books to suggest some new reading material or inspire fellow comic fans to dust off the old favorites. And if you live near a comic shop that’s still open during this time, we hope our suggestions will prompt you to check out their back issue and collected edition inventory.

Scarlett Couture
Titan; $14.99

Scarlett Couture by Des Taylor is a trade paperback that readers who enjoy non-superhero stories should check out. It’s a spy mystery that takes place in the bustling world of fashion which serves as the front for an organization of talented international spies. Throughout the story, readers get a fashion show, kidnappings, rescue missions, intricate clues, underwater attacks, and a complicated criminal plan.

Scarlett Couture is the daughter of a prominent figure in the modeling world who is also a lead for the spy agency. As she investigates one crime it leads to another and a destructive plan that could have disastrous results. Further complicating the situation, Scarlett must work with two fellow agents that are at odds with each other.

It reads like a Mission Impossible story and looks like James Bond. The characters are attractive and coiffed, the pacing is fast and engaging, the story is complicated and intriguing. It’s a very fun comic for anybody who likes spy stories and the exotic elements, visually and thematically, that they provide.

–Amanda Sheriff