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Executive Assistant: Iris Vol 2 #3
Publisher: Aspen
Writer: David Wohl
Aritst: Ryan Odagawa
Cover: Joe Benitez

What the hell is up with Iris?!

The issue begins with the funeral of Daniel Coverdale, and shows us a brief meeting between his widow Diane and Virat. He expresses his condolences before departing with Lotus, but leaves Diane with more questions about her husband’s death. Ever since the disappearance of her own Executive Assistant, Diane has been reduced to using regular cops for protection who prove no match, when Acteia suddenly returns. However, Diane might not be happy with the return of her bodyguard when Duncan Villone shows interest in Coverdale’s company, and he doesn’t take no for an answer. He’s also got two Executive Assistants of his own with Iris and Juniper, and he’s not afraid to use them.

Things have been going at a pretty steady pace, but Wohl sees fit to crank it up several notches for this issue. He’s tying certain plot threads together from the other titles in the Hit List Agenda which helps strengthen the story. Only because for a while each title has felt disconnected from the next with very little in common. For those of us who thought we knew Iris from her previous issues, Wohl has given us something different here. Her new employer is nothing like Mr. Ching, and her conscience seems to be gone and she’s just a killing machine. It was nice to finally see Iris get in on some action since she’s been pretty much absent from her own title.

I read this book several times; it took me a while to get into Odagawa’s style for this issue. I actually think that things didn’t pick up until Acteia got the drop on the cops. From that sequence until the last page (WOW!) he really does step his game up, as they stand out much better than the first few pages of the issue. His style is vastly different from what we were given in the first two issues, but just know that’s not always a bad thing.

Really hoping that Wohl cranks up the action and pacing in the next two issues while fleshing out the story. There are plenty of questions and one big one is: What happened to Iris between the time she killed Mr. Ching up until getting a new employer? Just know that The Hit List Agenda is still fun and is delivering a solid story that I’m hoping continues beyond this event.

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