Review - Executive Assistant Iris Vol. 3 #3

Having the skills of an assassin sounds cool, but it often comes with a lot more responsibility and risk than one would imagine. If you're an assassin at the top of your game like Iris is, things don't come easy in Executive Assistant Iris Vol. 3 #3 from Aspen Comics.

The issue is written by David Wohl, with art by Alex Lei, colors by Siya Oum and letters by Josh Reed.

Iris continues her quest for Wheeler, going through Rose if she has to. Working with the CIA, Iris learns that the powerful and malevolent arms dealer Mazutsu is off limits to the Agency, a fact that piques her interest further. Covertly, Iris heads to New Delhi, India in search of her friend Lotus, but surprisingly discovers a deadly battle already in progress, along with the arrival of some rather violent “friends” as well.

Wohl spends the entire issue explaining Iris' connections to the CIA more than anything. Those connections unnecessarily complicate her current mission. The fact that Mazutsu is off limits to the CIA is a rather convenient obstacle, not really giving the issue's characters any chance to grow. That is to say, it sort of feels like the issue is cheating a bit by essentially saying that Iris can't touch Mazutsu. It's written as a tie-in to the grander, overarching storyline, but it feels more like it's treading the same ground as opposed to exploring anything new.

Lei's art keeps up with the feel of the other books, although it's a little more cartoonish than some of the other books in the series. There are some instances where it feels as if the art lacks detail, which sort of snaps you out of reading at times. It's not that the art is bad, just that there could be more attention paid to things like facial expressions.

Executive Assistant Iris Vol. 3 #3 is another take on Aspen's current universe spanning event. Unfortunately, it copies and pastes an entire sequence from Executive Assistant: Assassins. It's good if you're only reading the Iris side of things, but if you're reading everything it feels a little weak. Overall, the issue gets Iris where she needs to be and not much else.

Executive Assistant Iris Vol. 3 #3 is available now.

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