The battle with the Lich King is over, and the only people left on Jade of the party are Theo, Julia, Mesha, and Tark. Mesha and Tark have decided to stay on Jade to assist the ogre Brod with his studies, as well as to overcome both races bigotry to each other through understanding. Julia and Theo are staying for supper.
In the meantime, at the Diggers' household, Britanny discovers the family's darkest moment... an empty fridge! She kidnaps her sister and they head off to the Food Buffalo to get groceries. What Gina doesn't realize is that she's being watched by little green guys with shamrocks who want to take her back to Ireland for trial. The charge: thievery.
The sisters (with Brit in her human form so as not to scare the out-of-towners) make a massive raid on the tuna supply, and Gina tries to pick up a stock boy. That's when the sergeant leprechaun orders a strike on them. A Giant Robo named Big Moe smashes its fist through the roof of the supermarket, crushing the sisters' tuna. Brit narrowly saves Gina from that punch, but vows vengeance for her foodstuff's demise. But it's Gina who saves the day by reprogramming the robot with her garage-door opener. Threat neutralized.
Eventually, they make it to the checkout aisle, but there's a big line-up ahead of them. Brit shifts forms and acts menacingly, but they all know her so it fails. She senses something behind her, and reacts to an attack by flipping the assailant. Out pops a leprechaun, who when is informed that he's caught, gives up his pot o' gold. Cha-ching!! Half is spent on repairs to the supermarket, and they leave for home.
Sensing resistance, the sergeant sends in the ninja leprechaun team to take care of the girls, who are already in the parking lot. Just as Gina is about to unlock the car door, Brit spots four hats with clovers poking up into view. Gina distracts them while Brit takes them out. In the back seat lie four more pots o' gold and a werecat with a big grin. Too funny.
That's when the big guns come out. A tank, parked in the lot on stakeout, is ordered to capture them. A car and tank chase erupts, Gina daydreams about money and men, the car is blown up, and the girls lose. When they surrender at Howitzer-point, they are magically whisked away to Ireland where they find themselves bound with rope before a trial.
Everyone is biased because of the threat "Gold Digger" poses to their gold. The lawyer for the prosecution then attempts to prove to everyone how the sisters are thieves by showing them, magically, Gina and Britanny's first adventure.
The location was Genghis Khan's fabled stairwell, and the excited (and greedy) Gina almost had to pull her uninterested sister along with her. Brit was stuffing her face with a bag of Cheetohs. They came across a mimic (an evil, sentient treasure chest with teeth), and as Gina went to pick its lock it snapped at them, claiming the treasure as its own. Gina and Brit agreed and turned to find other "unclaimed" treasure, but the mimic challenged them to a speed duel. If either could get a bar of gold before the mouth closed, they could keep the bar.
Brit smiled and accepted the challenge against Gina's concerns. On the count of three, the mimic snapped shut its lid, but Brit had all of its treasure (although she left a pearl out of kindness). The mimic demanded a retry, so she put it back. On three, the same result. Again and again, until it broke itself. Then the sisters walked away with the orphaned treasure.
The judge, even after seeing this scene, judges them guilty and sentences them to be hung. Brit tries to break free of the ropes, but they are magical. They try to buy time by scuffing their shoes, but the leprechauns outwit them there too. At the last second, Gina suggests that Brit change into her cat form due to the leprechauns fear of cats. She does so and breaks free of her bonds. Brit rescues Gina, reverts back only to be naked, and Gina lectures the leprechauns about how she isn't a thief.
They get transported back to town, and the leprechauns seek out a refund on the person who sold them all their artillery: Penny.
Fwa ha ha!! No wonder this is one of Mr. Perry's favorite comics.
The cover is beautiful, but surreal, what with the floating tank. It could've been better.
Inside, however, the comic is sheer comedic genius. The artwork is fantastic. There are parts that the drawings lack finesse, but those spots are immediately overlooked because of the humour in dialogue and plot involved. And then there are phenomenal scenes, with my favorite being Britanny's cheetah form, and the faces of the leprechauns when she changes back.
Also, this issue is just a great release on the tension valve that was the Lich King storyline, not that there wasn't laughter in those. We are reminded how big an anime fan Mr. Perry is by seeing the Giant Robo, Gundam and Transformers sight gags. His knowledge of military in-jokes is present with the things the leprechauns say while in action. And it's always nice to see a dungeon crawl in Gold Digger, and this issue thankfully has one. What a unique way to defeat a mimic!! Heck, what a unique way to defeat leprechauns!!!
A great comic, and definitely one that'll go down in GD history as one of the best. Too funny.
(out of four.)
Food Buffalo - Mr. Perry made reference that it is an inside joke...
The Lion Queen - perhaps a reference to Disney's "The Lion King"
Giant Robo - an anime title
"Boomshakalalaka" - almost what Marv Albert says, minus one "la"
Starkist - a canned tuna company
Robot in Express Lane - a small version of the Gundam unit from the self-titled anime
Brit's Conversation with the Ninja - right out of the Bugs Bunny textbook
"Game Over, Lads! GAME OVER!" - parody of that guy from "Aliens"
"You Got the Touch...", the Transport Truck - it's Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, playing the "Transformers" theme song
Goodyear - a brand of automotive tire
Cheetohs - parody of Cheetos snack food
the "Jaws" game - ???
Leprechaun-Magic-Sasquatuan-Sealskin-Ropes - Canadian Super Dave Osborne used to be bound in with 'genuine Saskatchewan sealskin bindings'
"A rainbow of colors!" - the whole comic, as usual, has the feel of the "Lucky Charms" cereal about it
Macro-Machines - parody of the Micro-Machines toyline
Oh, and any military reference the leprechauns use is apparently funny to those in the militia (of which, I'm not.)
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