Executive Assistant: Assassins #1
Publisher: Aspen
Writer: Vince Hernandez
Aritst: Jordan Gunderson
Cover: Joe Benitez & Peter Steigerwald
Lily was first introduced in the first volume of the Executive Assistant: Iris series as an enemy. As the series progressed, we saw that there were various shades to this assassin. Now, in this new ongoing series, Lily is front and center as it seems she’s being chased by not only an unknown party that wants her dead, but some of her own demons, as well. It seems as if someone has a grudge against the Executive Assistants and wants them destroyed.
Hernandez makes this a very comfortable introduction to the world of the Executive Assistants for anyone new to the series. He lays out a bit of background about the schools that train these girls, as well as fleshing out Lily’s character. In her earlier appearances she’s seemed to be quite self destructive and on the fringe, but she’s still able to break necks whenever the need arises. We get to see some of her skills in the first few pages of the book as she’s attacked by three guys at once. It’s also during this sequence that Hernandez begins to show how Lily’s mind works and how she sees things. There’s also enough mystery here to help the book’s momentum, as the entirety of the Executive Assistant program seems to be the target of this new character, Mazutsu.
Lily is one of the Executive Assistants that really wields her sexuality as a weapon, and she owns it. Gunderson does a fine job expressing this visually, whether it’s during her stage performance or when she’s kicking thugs in the face. Now as much as I liked the other artists who have depicted Lily, it was a bit of a relief that her look seemed a bit more realistic in this issue.
As much as this book centers around beautiful female assassins, don’t think that it’s just gratuitous T-n-A shots in every panel. Ever since Aspen introduced the Executive Assistant mythos into comics, there’s been a strong focus on the stories, as well. Now, as the series progresses it will be interesting to see if Mazutsu’s grudge towards the EAs goes a bit deeper than what’s been revealed here. Though the brutality of that last page clearly demonstrates this man is not playing around.
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
