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Review: Executive Assistant – Iris Volume One

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

There are certain comic book companies and characters that when you hear of them, you know what you are going to get.  To some extent, Aspen is one of those companies.  For example, with Fathom you know that there will lots of water and swimsuits of some description.  Case in point, the Executive Assistant in this book, Iris is as much as what you see is what you get kind of book as you will find.  However, after reading it, you may feel differently.

The book follows the exploits of Iris, a young woman picked for her beauty as much as for her lethal skills.  She is the weapon that her employer, the “business man” Mr Ching uses to keep his equally nefarious business partners in line.  Part hostess, part watcher, part whore and full-time killer, Iris believes in her role and place in life following a harrowing childhood indoctrination.  But where does loyalty leave her, when that same belief that she holds dear is not reciprocated by those whose opinion, rightly or wrongly, matter the most to her?

This volume contains six issues written by series co-creator David Wohl, who seemingly mines a number of different references and influences for this story.  The idea of deadly females is really nothing new; for every Iris there is a Jennifer Blood from Dynamite, Sweet Lullaby from Darby Pop and of course Black Widow from Marvel.  With Iris, this book is more of journey of discovery for her as she leads the reader through her past and present.  It’s an interesting ride; there is plenty of violence and despite the criminality of what she is doing, you do find yourself rooting for her.  The characters, bar Iris herself, are a little replaceable, even her boss is something of a gangster caricature,but the situations and dialogue carry the whimsy with a certain sense of the type of extenuating realism you normally find in James Bond movies.

For many, the pull of this book is the fact that the violence involves, surrounds and centres on a normally short skirted, tight dress, latex covered Iris.  This is as much part of the convention of the story as the businessmen as gangsters trope.  As always, there will be people who focus on this element; yet Aspen isn’t Zenescope.  Iris does dress a certain way for specific reasons that work in the story.  In the end, if you don’t like the idea, don’t buy the book.  Eduardo Francisco provides the pencils in a somewhat pseudo David Finch style which features heavy inks.  The art is a mix at times, excellent facial work gives way to nondescript faces, great figure work gives way to nothing more than leggy or chest frames; it can look a tad inconsistent.  Where the pencils lack, there is no getting away from the fact that Francisco is great at conveying action and movement across and through the panels and story respectively.  With Francisco eye, Iris moves with an almost ballerina level of grace of effective movement, each step carefully choreographed, demonstrating her fluid and efficiency.  Francisco also pays his dues to Iris’ past, working hard to show the trials and tribulations she had to overcome.  John Starr is on colors and does a great  dealing with the various locales and situations.  Letterer Josh Reed delivers a font and style that is easy to read, which is imperative seeing as how surprisingly wordy the dialogues and monologues are.

In the past, I have seen the odd issue of Executive Assistant in the past and quite enjoyed them.  This is the first time I have spent any real-time on the book, mainly due to the fact of the quality of the recent Fathom series.  I am glad I did; the book is an enjoyable romp, with settings and locales from around the world set to rival any spy movie, with action  sequences to match!

Writing  – 4.5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by; David Wohl
Art by; Eduardo Francisco
Colors by; John Starr
Letters by; Josh Reed
Published by; Aspen MLT

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes
I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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