Issue #1 of Executive Assistant: Lotus really impressed me. Lotus, a stunning Indian woman, has this great interior monologue talking about how her appearance gives her an advantage. The fact that she's a young, beautiful woman takes people off-guard, and the 'cleavage window' in her armour gives her the element of surprise. Now I dislike these stupidly sexual and impractical costumes, but it was RATIONALISED here. I may not agree with it but I had to respect and appreciate that there was a reason provided.
All that went out the window when I started reading Executive Assistant: Orchid.
1) The son of Orchid's employer sleeps with her. There is no hint of a relationship, attraction or anything else - the book has already established that Orchid "feels nothing."
2) Orchid's employer slaps her across the face for 'letting' his son get into trouble.
No. Just NO. The Executive Assistants are bodyguards, PAs, and what-have-yous, but I promised myself that if prostitution every got hinted at in this story, I was out. Additionally, there is enough violence towards female characters in the comic book industry without further gratuitous, unnecessary shit that weakens these supposedly awesome, badass characters. Sexual exploitation is a serious issue and it was dealt with so badly in this book, I just can't continue with this series.
I'm not the only one who was turned off by this issue:
Mary Staggs of Panels on Pages review
Eric Whitman of the Daily Blam
Also all of the posts calling the dirtbag son "unruly", please look up the meaning of the word, because I don't think it has ever included sexual assault.
Argh that sucks >__< Though tbh I probably wouldn't have picked this up because I am automatically turned off by skimpy costumes (rationalised or not :P)
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