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Executive Assistant: Orchid #3

Publisher: Aspen
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artists: Micah Gunnell & Chris Cross
Cover: Micah Gunnell

The finale is here and an unsuspecting Ramos Cordova has no idea that he’s living the last few hours of his life. He’s too busy assuming his son and Orchid accomplished their task, ignorant to the fact that his son is now dead and Orchid has her sights set on the father. She’s beaten, bloody, and across the Texas countryside, but with a little unsuspected help from Iris, she just may accomplish her goal.

When this series began with Executive Assistant: Iris Vol 1, it was touched on that the girls were groomed to serve any and every need of their employers beyond that of being a proficient killer. Well, in EA: Orchid Lobdell shows the ugly side of that relationship as Orchid is possibly the most abused Executive Assistant we’ve seen throughout the series. However, Lobdell also shows that she’s as methodical and deadly as any person that has been taught her set of skills. Which offsets my previous assumption that she was just Iris’s polar opposite. She was just biding her time and Lobdell brings it all together here. I liked that her employer was basically a scum bag instead of the refined, upscale business types that are prevalent in this series. Lobdell’s story distances itself from the other Executive Assistant titles by showing the uglier side of this business, and he does it with a damn good story. Sure, we’ve seen some of these elements before, and there aren’t too many surprises here, but it was a fun ride for these three issues.

Gunnell helps bring the brutality of the script to life as this is probably the most graphic of the books in The Hit List Agenda. Whether it’s the top half of someone’s face being blown off, or a kick being delivered to a chin, Gunnell is going to make sure you feel it, too. There are also a few panels from Chris Cross which looked good but kind of disrupted the flow of the story. To be fair, it was used during a flash back sequence and their styles are totally different. Aside from that and Gunnell’s motorcycle scene which looked a bit cartoony, the book still looked great and that was also in part to inks and colors from Rob Stull and David Curiel.

Orchid is now wrapped and the rest of The Hit List Agenda will continue in the remaining issues of Executive Assistant: Iris Vol 2. Lobdell did leave Orchid’s tale open to further exploration, and maybe one day Aspen will see fit to return to her, but for now I’ll be happy to see how this event comes together in the end. Check it out and see for yourself how cool this series has been!

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net

Review copy provided by Aspen Comics.