Danger Girl: The Deluxe Edition

It is exactly what it says on the tin. It's a campy, silly, fun adventure, beautifully drawn and well written for what it is. If you're looking for Proust, you know where to find it. Oh, but skip the sequels, they don't have the same verve, they're trying too hard, and are drawn very differently (by other artists?).

What's included: Introduction by "Evil Dead" Star Bruce Campbell Introduction by Danger Girl Creator/Artist J. Scott Campbell Danger Girl Preview Danger Girl 1-7 Cover Gallery containing all regular and variant covers 5 Page Danger Girl Sketchbook Danger Girl is a wonderful world of action and adventure told through beautiful artwork and a story that is just plain fun. It follows adventurer Abby Chase as she is recruited into the female secret agent team known as Team Danger Girl in their attempts to stop an evil terrorist threat to the world from a neo-fascist organization called The Hammer Empire. This trade collects the first and really only good Danger Girl story as most of the one-shots that followed where done by different artists and were not up to par. Like all the Image books of the 90's, most people paid attention to Danger Girl because of J. Scott Campbell's artwork as he was already famous from the comic Gen 13. But unlike previous Image comics that relied on art, Danger Girl and the other Cliffhanger Comics, Battle Chasers and Crimson, actually had a story that was bearable to read. Danger Girl is heavily influenced by Campbell's love for the movies, and fortunately his love for downright entertaining movies such as Indiana Jones and Back to the Future. While the story resembles Charlie's Angels, True Lies, or a James Bond film more, it holds the feel of all those entertaining and fun adventure and spy movies by not taking itself too seriously. A particularly enjoyable element to the comic is the "Previously in the pages of Danger Girl" page that begins each issue of Danger Girl. In just one page, the creators recap the last issue, throw in some funny captions, and always use a "cliffhanger" by warning of our heroes' "apparent DOOM!" These recaps have the campy feel of old TV shows like Bullwinkle and the Adam West Batman when they would preview the next episode. What adds to the story-telling is Campbell's artistic style that is influenced by animation which gives the characters movement and expression rather than just magazine poses. Campbell also uses many widescreen panels along with well-timed close ups to show that he really had the cinematography of the story in mind when creating Danger Girl to make it feel like an action movie. The weakest part of Danger Girl: The Ultimate Collection is the 5 page sketchbook in the back. It is interesting to see some inner-workings of Campbell's art, but it is not nearly enough for fans of his work. These sketches and many others can be found in "J. Scott Campbell's Danger Girl Sketchbook." All in all, Danger Girl is a fun comic that strays away from the superhero theme and actually puts a little comedy into a "comic" book. The art is great and the story is entertaining. Take Danger Girl for what it is and don't take it too serious because it doesn't take itself that serious.

The tone of Danger Girl falls somewhere between a wry pastiche and loving celebration of all things 'spy' - at once ultra-cool, and uber-camp, spectacular and cliche, tantalisingly sexy and good clean fun. The stylised, gorgeously colorful pages positively ooze action, and the cinamatic layout draws you the delightfully exciting and improbable world of Abbey Chase, renowned explorer and rogue. Like any Bond film worth it's salt, the plot kicks off with a (literally) explosive opening sequence in which Abbey, with Indiana Jones' determination (and Lara Croft's bosom) chases down a lost artifact and is introduced to covert crime-busting team, the Danger Girls - fronted by the mysterious 'Deuce' (a witty and adroit caricature of Sean Connery).It seems as if every page that follows is riddled with references to other spy and action thrillers, from shiny gadgets to pithy one-liners (usually delivered mid-battle, or following a sticky demise) and constantly treads the line between gentle ribbing and heartfelt admiration - it seems pretty clear that this is the world that J. Scott Campbell would inhabit if he could (probably with his own island fortress and buxom bodyguards). Its hard not to grin at the pure exhilarating pace, peppered with set pieces that would honor any summer blockbuster, and I frequently chuckled with delight at the plot-refreshers between each chapter (in my head they were narrated by James Earl Jones, and prefixed with 'Previously, on DAAAANGER GIRL!). Having been indoctrinated into the team, we chase Abbey and her Danger Girl chums as they battle across Europe in defiance of the evil Hammer Empire - a neo-fascist regime with dreams of world-domination (seriously, are there any neo-fascists out there content to just read the paper and watch Jeopardy?). Cue car chases, romantic interludes, gun, knife and fist fights and of course plenty of heaving chests crammed into leather catsuits. Every frame is furiously detailed and, as I mentioned earlier there is sufficient skin on display to induce the loosening of collars - though in a James Bond-ish, PG13 kinda way. Aside from the pneumatic qualities of its Heroines, the artwork is simply superb, and its gratifying that every page is treated with the same glamor and sharpness. In keeping with its big-budget movie cousins, the plot really isn't that unique, and the twists and turns didn't leaving me shaking my head. Still, it all fits perfectly as a 90 minute popcorn-munching ride, and this edition features some bonus artwork (cover art, conceptual sketches etc), plus a forward by Bruce 'Evil Dead' Campbell which sets the tone nicely.If this was a film it would be produced by the Wachowski brothers, Directed by John Woo and star Jenna Jameson and Angelina Jolie. As a graphic novel, I heartily recommend it to comic-fans, newcomers alike, and anyone else who could use a bit of Danger in their lives.

Danger Girl is a blast of a comic book and this huge collection allows you to read the one and only real DG storyarc all together in one format.DG's potent blender mix of 007, Charlie's Angels, VIP and Austin Powers makes for one of the most fun reads a comic lover could ask for.Campbell's art is full of campy fun, loaded with gratuitous T & A shots and top-notch action sequences. DG was infamous for its lateness, and the fact that it took more than three years for this story to complete, you can see Campbell's art progress each issue.This edition has a foreword by Bruce "Evil Dead" Campbell and features sketchbook and promo material in the back exclusive to this edition.Comic fans, put this one in your shopping cart and prepare to have a ton of fun reading Danger Girl.

J. Scott Campbell no doubt has become one of the comic book world's most iconic artists, with his old school penchant for muscular men and most infamously of all, the ample babes whom 15-year olds have gawked at with every turn of a page. Campbell's most well-recognized work before Danger Girl was Gen 13, but as he said truthfully, spandex was not his preferred choice of costume for superheroes, and superheroines....Well now comes Danger Girl, which no doubt is a delightful hybrid and homage of the Indiana Jones movies and Charlie's Angels. Comic fans have got to love Campbell's writing style, coming up with stylish one-liners and puns that have littered the guilty pleasures of action-adventure camp. It's also great to see every chapter start off in a splashy monotone spread shortening the story with hilarious summaries.The story, if there actually is any, is about a roguish archaeologist babe (duh) named Abbey Chase. As we see early on, Chase has a habit of teaching men a lesson or two about what legs are REALLY meant for while she investigates historical findings before any other individual does.Or so that's how it begins. Chase finds herself hired under the enigmatic and optimistic Deuce, who has hired a league of Danger Girls to stop the notorious crimes of a surviving Nazi faction known as The Hammers. The Hammers intend to steal the artifacts of the semi-angelic beings known as the Ubermensch, whom the Hammers claim descent. But there's no telling what kind of danger can be amounted once The Hammers find them, so it's the Danger Girls to the rescue... The Danger Girls also include the bullwhipping lassie Sydney Savage (who despite her Australian background doesn't seem to carry an accent) and Natalia Kassle, an ex-KGB agent with a sharp mind and even sharper knives. Things don't get any more relaxing for Abbey when some men get into the action, and what men. One is the cool and collected playboy Barracuda, who hopes he gets to kiss Sydney Savage right before he ever dies, and the puzzling Agent Zero, a masked ninja who may hold a past connection with Miss Chase.The result is a wild crescendo of bullet-flying action and escapist chase sequences. Campbell's intentions for this comic were to make this feel like a movie, and for a medium not made out of film, the comic excels on pace and really has a momentum unprecedented by most other comic books. This speed makes Danger Girl definitely one of the best I've ever seen. And when I'm talking about movement, I'm not talking about a jiggle factor.