In April of 2011, IGN Comics began allowing MyIGN users to submit articles for their weekly review roundup. Any that live up to IGN’s editorial standards are be published alongside IGN’s staff reviews. Any that I write, I’ll post here, whether they get published or not.
This review was published, and included in the April 27th IGN Comics review roundup.
Story by Andy Hartnell
Art by Chris Bolson
Anyone who’s read Danger Girl knows what to expect out of a Danger Girl comic, and the same can be said of anyone who’s seen Army of Darkness. It’s hard to make an intellectual analysis about a comic blending two properties that are so intentionally and successfully cheesy. So what happens when Abby Chase is sent on a mission to find a mysterious book on a raid in southern Africa? It can be best described by the phrase “hilarity ensues”.
This first issue follows Abbey, recruited to rescue the kidnapped brother of her most dangerous enemy in exchange for eliminating the price on her head. It opens like a typical action movie sequel (or perhaps an episode of Human Target), by introducing Abbey and the Danger Girl organization in a shower of explosions and carefully detailed shards of shattering glass.
The rest of the book is primarily setup, and reads like the first 20 minutes of the aforementioned action flick (which is surprisingly not a bad thing). Andy Hartnell’s scripting is passably cheeseball, complete with the requisite bravado and one-liners one would expect from a book with this title. It never makes you groan, but never really makes you laugh, either. Chris Bolson’s art is straight out of a 1997 Image book, full of bright and slightly overdone digital colors. The art solidly average, with the exception of the two-page title splash, which I found rather striking.
If you’re looking for intellectual, Eisner-nominee material, you won’t find it here. On the other hand, fans of either of the two series that combine in this book will find a fun, brainless action romp. I’m interested to see if Hartnell can live up to the task of not descending solely into fan service as the series continues.
