Exclusive: Executive Assistant Assassin’s Newest Flower - An Interview With Vince Hernandez

Aspen MLT’s popular on-going series about female assassins, Executive Assistant: Assassins, is preparing to enter its second year of publication this summer, and to celebrate we have an exclusive interview with the series’ writer about the newest Executive Assistant. Executive Assistant Daisy makes her debut in Executive Assistant: Assassins #12 this June, and will be the first American-born executive assistant. The character was created and will be written by Aspen MLT’s Editor-in-Chief, Vince Hernandez (Charismagic, Dellec), who has taken some time out of his busy schedule to share with us a little about Daisy.

Speak Geeky To Me: Thanks for taking the time to talk about Executive Assistant Assassin’s newest flower with us. Now from what we’ve heard, the newest EA is going to be codenamed Daisy. With other assassins holding slightly more exotic flower based codenames, what led to this assassin earning such a simple floral title?

Vince Hernandez: Hmm, I didn’t think of that in terms of the simplicity of the flower but I can see how some would associate the Daisy with a more basic type of flora you see out there. Luckily, Daisy as a character is anything but simple and actually quite complex once you start to see what her origin story is like, and how she really strays from the other executive assistants in regards to her motives. Daisy is, quite honestly, much more passionate and reactionary with her actions.

SG2M: Joining you on art for Daisy’s story will be returning Executive Assistant Assassin artist, Lori Hanson. Hanson’s last EA story focused on romance and piracy on the high seas as she brought the South Pacific to life and provided some awesome tribal-like paneling. What does Lori bring to Daisy’s story?

Hernandez: Aside from being an amazing artist, Lori and I share a wonderful collaborative spirit and this storyline was an organic transition from Sophora [the EA of Executive Assistant: Assassins #4-5]. I gave Lori the brief rundown of what I had in mind for a future story, and all I had at that point was the name “Daisy” and a few key ideas. From there we discussed everything about the story and she would go off and return with several different character designs and sketches, and in turn those would inspire me to add certain elements to the story. It’s a very satisfying process and one that I think ultimately serves to help the story. Plus, she’s five steps away from my office so there’s nothing lost in translation. And did I mention that she is an amazing artist?

SG2M: Speaking of the design of Daisy, this new assassin is apparently from New Orleans, Louisiana, here in America. As I recall, while many Executive Assistants have operated in the United States, no other EA has actually been an American citizen, born and raised. What has led to Daisy being our first America EA and why did you specifically choose for her to be from New Orleans?

Hernandez: When I decided to make Daisy as US-born citizen, I spoke with Lori Hanson and she had some really great ideas about Daisy being from New Orleans and to pattern her outfit out of the motifs found in the French Quarter, etc. Lori went to great lengths to design her look and feel to reflect that geography. I think she did an amazing job. When you see Daisy’s outfit and the various little details we included, there’s a real feel to the character that ground her to that region. As far as story goes, the plot in the “Daisy” story is very deeply entrenched in the New Orleans scene and the various shipping lanes going in and out of that region. It’s a major part of the story and will also provide the backdrop for our villain in the story, Urban Franklin. Purposely, we originally decided that Daisy being from the US would be a great starting point for a fresh take on the EA mythos and from there, the story really wrote itself.

SG2M: Now, from the cover art you’ve shared here on the site, Daisy doesn’t appear to be your average assassin. She has a much younger style of clothing, a full hood, and a possibly psychotic look to her, if Vincenzo Cucca’s cover is anything to go off of. What else can you share with us about this new EA?

Hernandez: You hit the nail on the head with your impressions from the art. Daisy is a bit on the wild side, nothing like the previous EA’s in that we will come to find out that her motives are much more based on her own needs and emotional ineptitude. She is very much a loose cannon and readers will see why that is, and what she’s had to go through to get to this point. When we open our story, we see just how far Daisy has come as an EA and then we take the reader through the journey that brought her to this point. It’s a tragedy at heart.

SG2M: Daisy’s story will run from issue #12 through issue #15 of Executive Assistant Assassins, directly following up the Executive Extinction crossover event. Will her story deal with any of the fall out from this event?

Hernandez: No, Daisy’s story arc will be a completely separate and new tale in the EA universe. Actually, the “Executive Extinction” storyline ends at issue #10 and then we’ll have a one and done story featuring Lotus that is her origin story. And then it’ll be all Daisy

SG2M: While it sounds like Daisy won’t be getting assistance from any of the other Executive Assistants, but will we learn how this American born assassin found her way into the EA program during her introductory arc?

Hernandez: Yes, that will be revealed in detail within the first story arc. It’s certainly a different approach than the previous iterations in that we’ve established that the majority of schools are located in Asia and particularly are more widespread in China, so an American-born EA would really be a unique entry into an academy. We’ll come to discover during the story that Daisy is in a lot of ways the master of her own fate—she just doesn’t know it. And part of that plays into how she ends up as an EA.

SG2M: Now you’ve mentioned Urban Franklin and various shipping lanes around the Gulf of Mexico. Is there any chance we can get another hint at what Daisy will be up against?

Hernandez: Daisy will be up against multiple fronts. To paint a larger swath so as not to spoil anything, she will fight demons of her past, present, and also her biggest challenge will be the struggle between her own emotions. And I know that sounds cliché but once you read the story, you’ll see precisely what I mean. In a lot of ways, the story is really about Daisy’s internal struggle with the horrific things she does.

SG2M: Finally, before we let you go, we have one last question for you specifically. As a man behind so many floral titled Assassins, I think everyone is curious about this: If you were a male Executive Assistant, what would your code name be?

Hernandez: I would go with Executive Assistant: Sunflower. That way even if I’m killed on a mission, fans could still consume my seeds and spit them out. Wait, does that sound right?

SG2M: It most certainly doesn’t Vince, but thank you for sharing.

For those looking forward to reading the adventures of Daisy check out Executive Assistant: Assassins #12 when it hits stores this June. The comic will feature art by Lori Hanson (Executive Assistant: Violet, Fathom: Kiani) and alternate covers from Pasquale Qualano (Idolized, One) and Vincenzo Cucca (Meridian, Route des Maisons Rouges). For more from writer Vince Hernandez you can pick up his current run on Executive Assistant: Assassins and Charismagic: The Death Princess, or his upcoming second volume of Charismagic set for release this May.