The second and final chapter of the “Lost At Sea” story arc has arrived in Aspen Comics’ Executive Assistant: Assassins#5. Following Executive Assistant Sophora in this sea-faring arc, the second portion leaves a lot to wonder about for the upcoming crossover event, “Executive Extinction”, but also closes the door on this major portion of Sophora’s life.

Picking up where the last issue left off, Sophora has some major choices to make after backing herself into a corner with her master, making what looked like a mutiny in order to live her life happily with the man she fell in love with on the pirate ship they called home. This has mixed results, however, in ways many readers may not have expected.

Writer Vince Hernandez has really anchored this series down with some terrific issues thus far, and while only in the second story arc, this series seems to be moving in a pretty distinct direction. Two major Assistants have been introduced already, with those in previous minis scheduled to make an appearance in this major crossover event. So far, while it’s been a bit disjointed as far as story-lines with Lily and Sophora not really having any connection to one another, it seems like there is a major build-up approaching, which is something Hernandez is pulling off well.

Lori Hanson’s artwork is also very well done, especially the posing, which made Sophora look attractive without making it look like her spine was going to break into pieces with how she was positioned. While the detail is mostly in cross-hatching, it fits very well with the Aspen style, making a subtle but interesting visual style.

With things picking up in the cross-over next issue, it will be interesting to see how these characters, as well as the countless others that will be brought in fit in terms of plot progression, but thus far, story is plotted nicely, fitting in some back-story with two major characters in a few short issues. Because of the space constraints, personality traits do seem to be glossed over at times, with more open ended points than closed ones, but for the most part, everything is moving along at a good pace. Hopefully this won’t be lost when fitting in so much more in later issues.

The Good: Good Pacing, Well-Done Artwork

The Bad: Few Lingering Plot-Holes

The Ugly: Personality Traits Getting Lost In Narrative

Score: 8.0