Review: Executive Assistant Iris #0
Aspen Comics, much like Top Cow, seems to exist in a sphere where the sensuality and eroticism of their characters are a given. There doesn’t appear to be fans of Fathom, for instance, who actively lobby and harangue the publisher to have her show less skin and be “taken more seriously.”
Because of this reason, I find any attempt by me (and, frankly, by others) to go into reviewing a comic like Executive Assistant Iris #0 with the usual gripes about the voluptuous and impossible poses of its female characters to be pointless.
Executive Assistant Iris #0 is a fast-paced read, the only dynamism it lacks being the expressionless stone-face of the title character. I don’t believe it’s much of a spoiler to point out that the masked, black-garbed assassin we see on page one is the very same silent woman in a suit serving tea a few pages later.
Iris seems to be made in the mold of Hope & Mercy from the Superman comics, as well as the pretty-but-deadly molls of the James Bond villains (think “May Day”). I also couldn’t help but think of the TV show “Dollhouse.” We don’t learn a lot about Iris in this issue — whether she is solely motivated by an intense loyalty to her boss, or if it is all purely a business arrangement to her, rendering her services to whomever pays her the most.
It is this last point — sort of — that is brought up in this issue without a resolution. To put it bluntly, is one of Iris’ executive assistant duties sleeping with her boss? When an opponent tauntingly asks her if she is a whore, Iris replies (after breaking his wrist), “The proper term is Executive Assistant.”
Now, if she is sleeping with Mr. Ching, her boss, this is quite extends the erotic fantasy element from merely “Beautiful But Deadly Assassin” and “Serious Businesswoman Is Secretly A Wild Hottie” to “My Secretary Has Sex With Me.” Oh, and not only will have sex with you — but will kill for you.
Judging by the quirkiness of the comic book’s premise, and the overall slickness of the package, I think Executive Assistant Iris will probably sell pretty well. Iris will inevitably become another character in that stable of erotically-drawn superheroines — Witchblade, Lady Death, Fathom, etc. — who, outside of their sphere, are largely not taken seriously because they are “too hot.”
Good review. I agree with the idea that those other characters aren’t taken seriously due to their “hotness”, though one could also argue it’s due to their “complete-disconnection-from-any-real-woman-everness”. Still, Wonder Woman has endured, so anythings possible. I just think “Sexy Ninja Assasin” is pretty much old-hat these days.
I have to admit, any time I see “Aspen” I think of the movie “Dumb and Dumber” or, worse yet, “Aspen Extreme”, which doesn’t help me take the imprint seriously from the start.