REVIEW: Danger Girl: Renegade #1

STORY BYÂ Andy Hartnell
ART BYÂ Stephen Molnar
PUBLISHER:Â IDW

I have to admit, I was quietly pleased to see this book in my “To Review” pile.Â Danger Girl is one of those books, that catch my eye in the local comic shop, but monetary constraints and endless Batman crossovers and multi-parted stories means that I very rarely am able to pick it, and other interesting at first glance books, up.

So, my first big surprise, Danger Girl isn’t just one girl; its a cadre of female spies.Â At the start of this issue though it’s all about Abbey Chase.Â I get the feeling that, for the most, Danger Girl is always about Abbey, with the rest of the cast revolving around her.Â Long time fans will be able to applaud my astute observation or deride it.Â This issue starts with some history which I didn’t mind, being new to the book.Â This quickly moves to present day where Abbey and her nemesis or pulling an Indy and BelloqÂ routine.Â This time however Abbey fairs better than Indy and she is off on the start of a new adventure.

Written by series co-creator, Andy Hartnell, the book has an easy going feel to it, which is a breath of fresh air to some of the world is going to end stuff that is currently hitting the comic racks.Â The playful banter between Abbey and Asia, along with the interaction with other characters, bellies a level of comfort.Â ForÂ a first issue, there is a lot going on, what with the history lesson thrown in, but for all that, the main story doesn’t seem to move along that much.

Art is provided by former Star TrekÂ and previous Danger Girl artist, Stephen Molnar whose work here has a cartoony style, especially around facial expressions.Â This may be a hold over from J Scott. Campbell who helped create the seriesÂ becoming a sort of de-facto “house” styleÂ or Molnar’s own preferred pencilling style.Â Either way, the work looks clean withÂ theÂ cartoon element helping to show the danger element without over sexualising the girl element.

For the first issue of a long running series, I quite enjoyed the book.Â Sure, its not the most serious book out there and that can be a good thing, especially as the book is showing you can have a “fun” book without moving away from your core characters or character.Â This being IDW, there are a ton of variant covers, my personal favourite being the BuyMeToys Edition, with it’s pulpy approach.Â If you are looking for a fun light comic that will entertain, then you could do worse than picking up this book.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network