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Publisher: Aspen
Writer: David Wohl
Artist: Eduardo Francisco
Cover: Sana Takeda

“Risky Business”: She can pour the perfect cup of tea, organize a portfolio, and take out a room of armed henchmen with nothing but a short sword! Iris has been trained since she was a child to be the perfect Executive Assistant at a place only referred to as “The Academy.” She is now fiercely loyal to her employer Francis Wai-Hong Ching, President and CEO of Chingcorp, who chose her from among the many girls at The Academy.

It’s a Wednesday in Afghanistan and Mr. Ching, with Iris by his side, is in the middle of business negotiations with a local group, and things seem be going as well as can be.  However Mr. Ching is quickly told that he is more valuable as a hostage than a business partner, and as the men draw their guns, Mr. Ching gives Iris the go ahead. She pulls out a sword (I don’t know where she was hiding it!) and quickly makes a bloody mess of the place, leaving only the leader alive to reconsider Mr. Ching’s offer. That Friday during a board meeting where Mr. Ching is explaining the new acquisition, a board member speaks up about the risks of doing business in that area, and unbeknownst to that guy, he just put in his notice. Ching sends Iris to assassinate him during a family vacation. After all is said and done, Ching and Iris leave the funeral and Ching attends another type of board meeting, but this is with the men who run the criminal underbelly. This board isn’t too happy with their cut as of late, and they are leaning on Ching to increase their profits, but all it does is piss him off. Ching is obviously nervous and scared back in the penthouse, telling Iris they need to leave when assassins break in; too bad they’re strapped with C4!

I usually get nervous when a book focuses on a “sexy female,” because it can just devolve into a flesh fest with very little plot that matters. And even though I was impressed with issue #0, I was worried that a full issue might go that route. Well, David Wohl has come through with a great balance of story, action, and sex appeal with Executive Assistant: Iris! Sprinkled throughout are little hints to her personality; like when she stammers when seeing the child of the man she killed at the funeral, to actually having a real smile while on her “date” with a co-worker.  Eduardo Francisco’s artwork is great to look at throughout the entire book as well! From the detail of the Chinese decor to the action scenes, he helps bring you into Iris’ world.

There’s some conflict going on here, and Iris seems to be a lot deeper than just some sexy assassin. Wohl actually got the idea for this series after reading that Chinese businessmen have female body guards who are their executive assistants. He also found out that there are places where these women are groomed for this work from a very young age.  The fact that this really goes on is pretty exciting, so I can’t wait to see what Wohl continues to bring us with this title!

Infinite Speech
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