Danger Girl # 1 (1998)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Danger Girl is another one of those series from the late 90's/early 2000's that I only heard about from Wizard magazine, similar to Witchblade, Gen 13 and the Tomb Raider comics. I finally got my hands on the first issue, so let's see what adventures these super spies get themselves into.

"Dangerously Yours" opens with a 'previously on Danger Girl' that explains that Abbey Chase snuck into the Costa Rican lair of known criminal Donavin Conrad to steal the Golden Skull of Koo Koo Diego. Donavin managed to capture her and get the skull first and Abbey used an explosion as a distraction to escape and continue to pursue him. The Danger Girls are on the way to get her. Abbey stole a jeep and in trying to escape her captors she ended up driving off a cliff. 

Elsewhere in the Bahamas, a man is relaxing an talking through a modified coconut phone as he hears of an explosion in the area that the Danger Girls were in. The man assures him that the explosion is all part of Abbey's plan and she's just the person he's looking for. 

Abbey is falling off the cliff with the jeep. She leaps out of the vehicle before it splashes into the ocean. Donavin is driving off in a speedboat as he holds the golden skull and gloats over into Abbey's apparent demise. Underwater, Abbey finds a harpoon gun and grabs it. Donavin notices his jeep floating in the water and is going too fast to avoid crashing into it. Abbey fires off the harpoon towards the boat, which has a rope tied at the end of it and uses it to pull herself back above water.

Donavin tells the skull he'll be going on vacation in Barbados, unaware that Abbey is climbing into the back of the boat. Donavin says the girls will love him, there will be girls waiting to plant a 'wet one' right n his cheek the moment he steps off the plane. Abbey asks if he means 'like this?' and socks him out. 

Bandits witness this from the distance and say Abbey killed Donavin so Katatanga Bay is now theirs. The leader orders the men to shoot Abbey out of the water. As the men open fire, Abbey notices and tries to dodge them, making the boat take flight through some trees. The men see she'll end up going over the waterfall so she'll be doomed anyway.

As Abbey notices that they're headed over the falls, Donavin wakes up and smacks her back, pulling a gun on her. Abbey tells him they need to turn the boat around of they'll both die. Despite this, Donavin insists that she will be the only one to die. Abbey tells him to watch out behind him. He says he won't fall for that old trick but someone does kick him in the back of the head. As Donavin falls unconscious, it's shown that his flashy hair was a toupee. 

One of the Danger Girls is on a rope ladder, hanging from a chopper, reaching out to Abbey. She tells her to trust her and there's much time to think about it. Abbey takes the skull and grabs onto the woman. Donavin wakes up in time to see him going over the waterfall, damning Abbey's name as he falls. The chopper flies off and the pilot tells Deuce that their mission is accomplished. 

Later on, the girls are watching TV until one of them whips it to change the channel. The redhead with glasses is angry and looks back at Syndey, a long haired woman dressed in black. Both of them argue threatening to come to blows until a knife is tossed near them. A blonde woman tells them to be more hospitable to their guest. Abbey is awake and thanks the women but asks them if they could drop her at the next port. Someone asks if she's leaving so soon. 

A man named Deuce introduces himself to Abbey and pours her a drink. He's friends with Duncan who recommended her services to him and introduced her to Operation Danger Girl, a combat force with the best female operatives in the world. 

Deuce explains he used to be a MI-6 agent back in his younger days fighting against the Soviets. With the Soviet threat stopped back in 1991, his special unit was dismantled and he was cut back. However, he has been called back to duty as those forces have risen up again and must be stopped before their war machine is complete. Deuce introduces her to the team.

Natalia Kassie is a former Russian agent and personal trainer and very skilled with knives. Sydney Savage is an Australian special ops agents, skilled with a bullwhip. Silicon Valeria is their computer expert from Oxnard, though she also loves collecting her magazines related to buff guys and videogames. Abbey Chase herself is an expert in ancient civilizations and languages, as well as an expert marksman, making her a good addition to the team. 

12:43 AM hits and the women discuss their latest recruit. Sydney is wary of Abbey's shady past. Valerie thinks she's cool since she's a DiCaprio fan. Natalia sharpens her knives and says she has a bad feeling about Abbey. Abbey overhears there and goes to Deuce. 

Abbey tells Deuce she doesn't think she's cut out for this. He already has these special ops agents and they don't like her. Deuce says due to her bad rep, she will have to gain their trust. He's sure she can do it. 

The next day Deuce briefs the women and also updates Abbey on their mission. Several museums and private collectors have been missing priceless artifacts. They have a mole named Rico Lugosi who says recently a man offered an impressive amount of money for a shield that he considers to be of little value. The man is a special weapons smuggler from the soviet empire. Natalia will transport Sydney and Abbey via supersonic transport to Paris. They will request any special equipment they might need from their French affiliates. They will need to run surveillance to find out why this man is trading arms for antiques. Abbey asks if they knew the name of this guy, and Deuce says he's only known as The Peach. 

The Peach and Lugosi talk business as Sydney watches them from the rooftops with a telescope. She sees the shield, resting up against the table the men are sitting at, but it's all bundled up. Abbey is in disguise as a waitress and will serve them a martini with a transmitter disguised as an olive. All they need is for The Peach to reveal the name of his employer or a location they can follow. As Abbey serves the food, Peach gives her peach a slap. Abbey is pissed but can't risk losing her cover.

As The Peach discusses the money, Lugosi asks who he can thank for this. Just as The Peach is about to reveal the name, he eats the fake olive, so Sydney missed what he said. Peach asks Lugosi to translate the entree on the menu since he doesn't speak French. Lugosi says it's cevelle pamentiere which is mashed brains... just as the Peach shoots him through the head, as well as the menu. 

The Peach's men shoot down Lugosi's men and they get away with the shield. Just then Sydney arrives in a car, smashing through a fruit stand. Abbey hops on and grabs the wheel. The women drive alongside a truck tailing being The Peach's car. One of the men tells the other about the two girls outside, but by the time the other guy looks over, he only sees one. Sydney kicks her way into the vehicle, sending the men flying out. She swerves the truck back and forth making the rest of the men fall out of the back. 

The Peach is driving along telling his employer that the shield is safe with him. Just then Abbey rams her car into his, making him hit the steering wheel. One of his men leaps from the car and onto Abbey's car, pulling a knife on her. The guy says he needs a lift and Abbey obliges by activating the ejector seat. Since they are driving through a tunnel, the guy crashes onto the top and hits the ground. He barely has time to recover as he gets run over by the huge truck that Sydney is driving. Abbey says this spy stuff is a cinch and he's got The Peach now. Just then 2 helicopters show up and start to open fire.

My thoughts-

 Well, this was a fun thrill ride. I was confused at first by the 'previously' since this was supposed to be the first issue. There are so many different types of Danger Girl mini-series, I thought I grabbed the wrong one, but I guess it was a way to show that Abbey already had all sorts of adventures before meeting the crew. 

The story goes right for the point as soon as Abbey meets the others. Abbey seems to accept Deuce's story rather quickly, though I guess we can chock it up to him knowing Duncan. Either way, Abbey is no stranger to getting into dangerous situations and whatnot so I guess she's be curious enough to go along with this. I did like how the girls didn't just take her in right away and Abbey will have to earn their trust.

Overall it's a fun story, they really go for the globe-trotting super spy feel with vehicles going over waterfalls and high speed chases and gadgets disguised as olives and the like. I also liked how The Peach just happened to munch on the fake olive just as he said the name of his employer so the girls missed it. I can see the scene of how Peach killed Lugosi being like something you'd see in an action movie.

The art is bright and colorful and everyone has this sort stylized look with a slight, just slight anime look to it. Lots of cheesecake as you might expect from a story involving sexy spies, and the artists sure have an appreciation for the female backside. I don't recall reading an American comic with so many butt-shots and this is just the first issue. Not that I'm complaining though, but it does remind me that this was drawn during the sexy 90's. That and Valerie still collecting videogame magazines. 

The characters are all pretty cool, Abbey seems to be the main character and she's also our introduction to the world of the Danger Girls. I'm assuming we'll learn more about Sydney and Natalia as the story progresses. While the girls get into each other's faces, I notice Valerie seems to stay behind and do all the computer hacking stuff while the other two are actually out on the field. I do like Deuce, looking sorta like an aged James Bond. I can literally hear Sean Connery talk when I read his lines. He'd definitely be cast as this guy if he were still with us if they ever make a Danger Girl live-action movie. 

Great story and I'm looking forward to getting the second issue. I do wonder how they got away with namedropping the Batmobile though.