DAVID WOHL ON EXECUTIVE ASSITANT: IRIS

[MattBrady]

Yesterday, we took a look at some of the design work for Aspen’s upcoming Executive Assistant: Iris, a new project written by David (Witchblade) Wohl. The concept behind Executive Assistant? It’s rooted in reality – real-life “Executive Assistants” were once a feature in Chinese business, combination assistants and bodyguards, trained from a young age.

We saw what some of the characters will look like in the coming miniseries, and today, writer David Wohl.

Newsarama: First off David - tell us about the roots of this project. These "assistants" were real, correct? How did you first hear about them?

David Wohl: The credit goes to my co-creator (and frequent business partner) Brad Foxhoven. He had heard about the concept of the actual real life Executive Assistants in China, and then uncovered a series of articles that had been written on the subject. The articles mostly revolved around these schools that would bring in girls when they were really young and would train them in the arts of everything ranging from fighting to the etiquette of properly setting a table. After graduation, these girls, now women, would be hired by businessmen to be their personal assistants/bodyguards. It was such a cool story it seemed almost unbelievable. But it was real. Soon after that, the wheels started turning and the concept for a series was created.

NRAMA: Was it pretty much an instant, "This will make for a cool series" thing when you learned about them, or did the idea take a while to come together in your head?

DW: Well, we instantly knew it would make a great story. But actually working out what that story would be took some time. There are lots of assassin/bodyguard tales out there, so we wanted to take our time and make sure that this was something special. And now that we’ve teamed up with Aspen, we’ve had the opportunity to pick the brains of the creative minds over there as well. Even Peter [Steigerwald].

NRAMA: Let’s get slightly into the detail of the assistant’s job, then. Are we talking about updated Geisha/comfort women that kick ass, or something different?

DW: Hmm. I guess the best way to think about it is to combine La Femme Nikita with Swimming With Sharks. These businessmen rely on their Executive Assistants for everything. There is definitely ass kicking involved, and pouring the perfect cup of tea. And yes, there’s some of the more sordid stuff as well.

NRAMA: So who is Iris and how did she come to be what and who she is?

DW: Well, Iris is the name of the Executive Assistant that we focus on in this first story arc. She’s an orphan who had nowhere else to go, and found herself on the doorstep of a school in Wuhan, China when she was a very little girl. Once she enters the doors, she loses her former identity—now she’s known only as “Iris.” As a matter of fact, all the Executive Assistants are named after flowers, as we’ll learn once the series starts. We’ll also learn that Iris endures a brutal childhood, where mistakes aren’t tolerated. They tell her that it’s the only way that she can achieve perfection. But as the series progresses, she wonders if the price of perfection is too great.

NRAMA: What gets the ball rolling in issue #1?

DW: Well, we hit the ground running, showing Iris as the consummate professional, perfect in everything she does, never questioning her employer as he sends her on missions to protect his business opportunities and take down his rivals. At the outset, she sees nothing wrong with what she does. Her employer virtually owns her, and it’s not her place to ever think about the morality of what she’s doing. But once she does, in fact, question the ethics of her actions, her world begins to unravel, and eventually she must go on a quest to discover who her employer really is, and, ultimately, herself as well. Uh, that’s not all in issue #1, though. But you get the idea.

NRAMA: What are your plans for spinning things out? Will this be an ongoing or series of miniseries, or an ongoing?

DW: It starts as a six issue mini-series that focuses on Iris. After that, we’re talking about doing more series on the other characters that make up this universe

NRAMA: Why Aspen as a publisher for this?

DW: Aspen was so natural to us; I’m surprised that it didn’t happen sooner. I mean, we worked with those guys for years at Top Cow and have stayed close with them since Aspen was formed. I even have a desk at their office! They’re all like family to me. Plus, I’d always hoped that I’d have another opportunity to collaborate with Michael Turner again since our run on Witchblade, so this seemed right for all of us.

NRAMA: Finally David, when will it launch and who’s your artist on the miniseries?

DW: The first glimpse of the story will be in Worlds of Aspen, which premieres on Free Comic Book Day. Then over the summer we will be releasing a zero issue, which will delve a bit deeper into the story. The actual first issue will come out in the late fall/early winter. In the old days, we’d probably have pushed to get the book out earlier, but Aspen is making a concerted effort to have all their books on time (which I appreciate), so we intend to have most of the series finished before the first book even comes out, which is definitely new to me, but it will be cool for a book I’m being involved with to come out truly on a truly monthly basis!

With regard to the art, the original character designs were done by Joe Benitez - who will also be doing covers for us! The interior pencils are being done by Eduardo Francisco, who is an extremely talented artist whom I actually met on Myspace. I saw the art on his page and fell in love! Soon we struck up a conversation, and then I showed his stuff to the guys at Aspen, and the rest is history. And when Vince (Hernandez) suggested Jason Gorder and John Starr to do the inking and coloring, I was ecstatic!

[MoltenFury]

Looking forward to it

[Limey Lure]

Interesting...might check this out.

[MAO]

This mini definitely falls in the super special awesome category.

[Jimmy Palmiotti]

This looks pretty cool and davids a great writer. will give it a shot!

[ArchonComics]

Nice art and concept. I'm in. Hard not to like Wohl's work.

[MR2525]

Looks great and sounds like a really well thought out plot. Can't wait for it to come out!
Any chance for a Michael Turner cover?

[samnoir]

"geisha/comfort women"?!

Hopefully the interviewer realizes there is a difference between the two and lumping them together like that shows a degree of cultural insensitivity.

[holeycrullers]

Definitely be checking it out. I'm a Wohl Watcher!

[Farmer]

I can't wait!

[AlexLothos]

Beautiful art and very cool concept. Sign me up!

[Frenchie]

Originally Posted by David Wohl

With regard to the art, the original character designs were done by Joe Benitez - who will also be doing covers for us!

The first penciler on this project (when the chosen publisher was Silent Devil) wasn't Siya Oum ?

http://forum.superpouvoir.com/showthread.php?t=6166

http://kamillyonsiya.deviantart.com/...graph-48716063

[davidgwohl]

Thanks you all for the kind words!!!

And regarding Siya, unfortunately we needed to make a change of artists, but she and I are actually working together on a different project that we'll be able to talk more about in the upcoming weeks!

[JFx]

Congrats I love the way it looks, nice work Eduardo Francisco.

[Rteddy]

Congrats Dave on what looks to be another great series! I still want your next series to come to Zenescope damnit! Seriously though, good luck with everything.