IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for April 25, 2018

IDW PUBLISHING

FEB180469    ALACK SINNER AGE OF DISENCHANTMENT TP    $29.99
FEB180380    DUNGEONS & DRAGONS EVIL AT BALDURS GATE #1 CVR A DUNBAR    $3.99
FEB180381    DUNGEONS & DRAGONS EVIL AT BALDURS GATE #1 CVR B KOTZ    $3.99
FEB180476    J SCOTT CAMPBELL DANGER GIRL 20TH ANNIV    $9.99
FEB180347    SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #4 CVR A HESSE    $3.99
FEB180348    SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #4 CVR B STANLEY    $3.99

review: DANGER GIRL: Renegade #1

DANGER GIRL: RENEGADE No. 1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally published on Patreon.]

WRITER:  Andy Hartnell
ARTIST: Stephen Molnar
COLORS: John Rauch
LETTERS: Neil Uyetake
EDITOR: Scott Dunbier
COVER: J. Scott Campbell with Laura Martin
VARIANT COVERS: J. Scott Campbell; Jamie Tyndall with Stacy Raven; Juan N. Cabal with Jordi Escuin; Casey Heying with Admira Wijaya; Casey Heying
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (September 2015)

Created by J. Scott Campbell, Danger Girl was one of the three inaugural comic book series that launched Cliffhanger, an imprint of the former Image Comics “house,” Wildstorm Studios.  Danger Girl #1 (cover dated: March 1998) introduced a group of female secret agents whose adventures were a mixture of Indiana Jones and James Bond.  In fact, Danger Girl’s young female stars were like Bond Girls, except that the girls were the ones getting to be James Bond in action.  Danger Girl focused on one girl in particular, Abbey Chase.

Scott Dunbier, the Wildstorm editor of the original series, has guided Danger Girl back to life in recent years via a series of miniseries published by IDW Publishing.  The latest mini is Danger Girl: Renegade, which is written by Andy Hartnell, drawn by Stephen Molnar, colored by John Rauch, and lettered by Neil Uyetake, with cover art by J. Scott Campbell.

Danger Girl: Renegade #1 opens with a prologue, set in Cairo, Egypt, 12 years before the main story.  Thirteen-year-old Abbey Chase is set upon by three men, but she proves more than capable of escaping them and leaving them in danger.  However, Abbey is a target because of her father, and men won't stop trying to kidnap her in order to use her as leverage against him.

Danger Girl: Renegade is apparently a miniseries that will reveal how Abbey Chase became who she is on the way to becoming a member of the super-secret spy organization known as “Danger.”  Danger Girl, since its beginning, has been lighthearted, superfluous entertainment, but it has been surprisingly good at being, lighthearted, superfluous entertainment.  Danger Girl remains Indiana Jones meets James Bond, more Roger Moore, even if the creators might have Sean Connery in mind.  As a comic book, Danger Girl is a narrative in which the graphical storytelling is dressed in pin-up illustration and good girl art.

Renegade does not change that the formula, and, once again, the result is a fun comic book.  I don't know what else Andy Hartnell has written in his time as a comic book writer, but I know that Harley Quinn and a few other “ladies of DC Comics” could use his deft comic touch.  Also, Renegade series artist Stephen Molnar makes sure readers don't miss J. Scott Campbell... too much.

So, dear readers, does this review make you think that I like Danger Girl: Renegade and that I will read more?  Well, I hope many of you will give Danger Girl: Renegade a try so that we can get more Danger Girl.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for September 2, 2015

IDW PUBLISHING

JUL150383     DANGER GIRL RENEGADE #1     $3.99
JUN150428     JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #6     $3.99
APR152728     OPEN SESAME CARD GAME     $19.99
JUL150509     SKYLANDERS RIFT INTO OVERDRIVE HC     $12.99
JUN150417     TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE #44     $3.99
JUN150460     WALT DISNEY DONALD DUCK DAILY NEWSPAPER COMICS HC VOL 01     $39.99

I Reads You Review: DANGER GIRL: Mayday #2

DANGER GIRL: MAYDAY #2
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

WRITER:  Andy Hartnell
PENCILS: John Royle
INKS: Eeshwar
COLORS: Romulo Fajardo
LETTERS: Neil Uyetake
EDITOR: Scott Dunbier
COVER: John Royle and Eeshwar with Romulo Fajardo
VARIANT COVERS: John Royle and Eeshwar with Romulo Fajardo (subscription cover)
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (May 2014)

I loudly declared my return to reading Danger Girl comics with my review of the first issue of Danger Girl: Mayday.  Written by Andy Hartnell and drawn by John Royle, it is the latest entry in the comic book series created by artist J. Scott Campbell and Hartnell back in the 1990s.

Mayday focuses on one of the original Danger Girl stars, Natalia Kassle, revealed to be a traitor in the Danger Girl organization.  In the first issue of Danger Girl: Mayday, a team of rogue brigands finds an unconscious Kassle during a battle on Hammer Island.

Danger Girl: Mayday #2 opens in the Kingdom of Bhutan in South Asia.  There, Kassle lives among a group of women, a sisterhood, as she gradually regains her physical fitness.  Recovering her memories remains a problem.  However, she has a new ally, April Mayday, who seems to know quite a bit about Natalie and is determined to make her the most dangerous woman in the world… again.

As soon as I saw Danger Girl: Mayday #2 on the new release shelf of my “local” comic book shop, I grabbed it.  I wanted to see if I would like it as much as I liked the first issue.  I do.  I’m intrigued and want to know what is the big mystery, hiding behind Natalie’s return and those who want to control her.

Yeah, thus far, this comic book is pretty inconsequential and lacking in substance.  Comics should be good, of course, but comics should also be fun, and Danger Girl: Mayday is more of the latter than it is of the former – but it is, in a way, both.  John Royle’s art is a joy to behold, and I found myself flipping through the book several times just to look at the art.  I plan on finding the third issue of Danger Girl: Mayday.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

I Reads You Review: DANGER GIRL: Mayday #1

DANGER GIRL: MAYDAY #1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

WRITER:  Andy Hartnell
PENCILS: John Royle
INKS: Jose Marzan, Jr.
COLORS: Romulo Fajardo
LETTERS: Neil Uyetake
EDITOR: Scott Dunbier
COVER: John Royle and Jose Marzan, Jr. with Romulo Fajardo
VARIANT COVERS: John Royle and Jose Marzan, Jr. with Romulo Fajardo (subscription cover); Jamie Tyndall with Ula Mos (Yesteryear Comics exclusive cover); Jamie Tyndall (Yesteryear Comics exclusive cover); “No art” (Yesteryear Comics exclusive cover)
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2014)

I was not a fan of fan-favorite comic book artist, J. Scott Campbell (who once went by the name Jeffrey Scott), early in his career.  I thought his art was a poor imitation of Art Adams’ style and an even worse impersonation of Jim Lee’s art.  However, I became a fan of Campbell’s work over the course of his run on Image and Wildstorm Production’s Gen13 comic book series.

So when it was first announced all those years ago, I was thrilled by the news of Campbell’s first creator-owned series, Danger Girl, as part of the launch of Cliffhanger, a sort of “young guns” imprint from Wildstorm.  After the release of a preview comic, Danger Girl #1 (March 1998) introduced a group of female secret agents whose adventures were a mixture of Indiana Jones and James Bond.  In fact, Danger Girl’s young female stars were like Bond Girls, except that the girls were the ones getting to be James Bond in action.

I liked Danger Girl.  It was a comic book version of a big-budget, Hollywood action comedy – Lethal Weapon meets Charlie’s Angels.  However, I grew frustrated that Campbell, along with writer Andy Hartnell and inker Alex Garner, only produced seven issues of Danger Girl over a four-year period.  [If you want to give them credit for 10 issues because two of the seven issues were double-sized and because of the preview comic book, you can certainly do that.].

Scott Dunbier, the Wildstorm editor of the original series, has guided Danger Girl back to life in recent years through a series of miniseries.  I was visiting a “local” comic book shop when I spotted the first issue of the latest mini, Danger Girl: Mayday.  I would have ignored it, as I have been ignoring Danger Girl comic books for a decade, but that spectacular first-issue cover by John Royle (pencils), Jose Marzan, Jr. (inks), and Romulo Fajardo (colors) caught my eye.

If there is such a thing as classic Danger Girl art, Danger Girl: Mayday #1 has it.  Royle and Marzan recall the original Danger Girl art team of J. Scott Campbell (pencils) and Alex Garner (inks).  In fact, I think Royle and Marzan are doing better J. Scott Campbell than Campbell himself.  Royle has certainly mastered the Campbell good-girl art thing:  curvy hips, shapely breateses; and booty that recalls Vivica Fox’s stripper pole ass in Independence Day.  Gimme more.  Royle and Marzan, however, are not merely copying; the drawing and storytelling is polished, professional, and some of the year’s best art.

Oh, the story, you ask.  It involves Danger Girl traitor-ho, Natalia Kassle, if I’m correct.  But I’ll figure that out later, maybe by the second issue.  For now, I want to enjoy the art of Danger Girl: Mayday.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.