Action/Adventure

Danger Girl | The Ultimate Collection

Remember when comic books were fun? You know what I’m talking about. When you’d pick up a book and go through it, you’d laugh, you’d get sad, you’d drool over the artwork, the connect with the characters. You’d invest some time with these characters that they even seemed more real to you. You don’t remember? That’s ok because Danger Girl does or more specifically the creators behind Danger Girl do.

This series was originally released under the Cliffhanger imprint from Wildstorm something like 4 years ago or so. The line was launched with three creators on board, Joe Madureira, Humberto Ramos and J. Scott Campbell. Their respective books were successful (critically and commercially). For his end of the bargain J. Scott Campbell created Danger Girl. It was serialised over a 2 year period in 7 issues which are collected right here in one seriously beautiful package. The package includes a prelude story as a suppliment to several books at the time and the package also contains some pin-ups and sketches from the books production.

Due to the long gaps between issues the series was criticised heavily, however I’m always of the belief that the time it takes between issues is not important so long as the creator is happy with the final work they created. Campbell can rest easy knowing this little Volume will stand the test of time as it oozes with a love for his craft that few creators achieve. That can also be one of the reasons why the man is so popular. His work is a joy to behold.

The story is exceptionally cheesy but in a brilliant way. It’s genuinely funny and the characters are explored and grow as the series goes on.

A Sean Connery look-alike plays their mentor Deuce . He’s in charge of sending them on their missions and making sure everything goes to plan. We’re introduced to the cast through a tried and tested method of bringing the reader up to speed through the use of a character that is introduced to this world along with us. In this case the rookie secret agent operative being Abbey Chase. She joins Sidney, Natalia and Valerie in their on going battle against The Hammer who are trying to take over the world; the Hammer are psuedo-nazi types.

The series is a globe trotting adventure, fast cars, fast women. Think of this as the best episode of Charlie’s Angels with the budget of a James Bond movie, with the added bonus of a pretty decent story, with an actual plot and a decent enough twist. Of course no Bond riff story could be complete without the insane and colourful characters.

Even though it’s very heavy on the T&A, Campbell’s art is without a doubt the biggest draw to this series. Each panel, each page, each character is a serious exercise in fun design. From ninjas sporting little pink teddy-bears at the top of their swords, to the tattoes and the elaborate machinery used to bring down our heroes.

The colours truly POP off the page in such a way that enhances the artwork while at the same time not taking anything away from it. It’s a great testament from the crew at Wildstorm that even though they had so many colourists working on this project the style and quality is near seamless throughout the entire book production, which is a feat in and of itself.

The graphic design of this package is something that the creators should be damn proud of. In a time where there is some serious lack of imagination associated with the graphic nature of comics Danger Girl occupies a specific and completely different style to those around it. Comicraft have seriously had some fun with all the made typography associated with the various people here and this can be seen very clearly indeed.

Danger Girl is easily one of the best looking books on the market. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and makes sure that once you’ve finished reading it, you’ll have a really massive, stupid smile plastered on your face.

Writer/Artist: J Scott Campbell
Writer: Andy Hartnell
Inker: Far too many, notably Alex Garner, Richard Friend, Sandra Hope
Colourist: Far too many, notably Guy Major, David Baron, Justin Ponsor, Joe Chiodo
Letterer: Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Book Design: James ‘JG’ Roshell
Publisher: Cliffhanger/Wildstorm