The makers of Danger Girl knew exactly what they were doing when they designed the central characters of the book.

The ladies' legs are impossibly long. Their bosoms are large and defy gravity. Their butts are displayed more than concealed. Their lips are full. Their eyes are wide. Their outfits are skin tight, skimpy or both. And they get torn a lot.

They deal in Indiana Jones-style archeology and face international intrigue and gadgetry a la James Bond. But Jones and Bond are notably absent -- in Danger Girl, the ladies face the danger and duke it out with the villains; the men in the picture are mostly afterthoughts. Heck, these women fight Nazis, evil archeologists, mad scientists and crocodiles, and how cool is that?!

The story (first published in 1997-98 and collected in this form in 2002) is interesting and fun, pin-up art notwithstanding. The girls -- Abbey Chase, Natalia Kassle, Sydney Savage and Silicon Valerie -- along with their mentor Deuce from the British Secret Service and occasional sidekick Johnny Barracuda from the American CIA, engage in high-class hijinks like the very best literary and cinematic spies. Of course, it never hurts that they look good doing it.

What more can you want from a book? The question is, why isn't Andy Hartnell writing more?

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
3 December 2005