Returning from their picnic in the Retreat, Britanny finally tells Gina and Brianna about her engagement to Stripe. All are happy except Brianna. Being part Gina and part Britanny, Brianna fells torn between happiness and utter sadness and jealousy over the announcement. This means, it's time to vent...
She deceives Genn into thinking that they're going golfing by asking him to be her caddie. Ten minutes later, they teleport to the Dragon Pharaoh's invisible tower which is an imprisonment chamber for the Earth's most evil beings.
Also nearby are Pee-Wee Talon and lackeys (Zelda, Galford and Ionis) who are collecting DNA samples, as usual. Ionis is given the task of retrieving suitable DNA from the supernatural beings. And as Pee-Wee and friends 'port away, Bri and Genn 'port in. They unwittingly let Ionis know that the tower is a prison, and he decides to make the best of it.
Inside, all the villains are lounging around doing non-evil things. They hate it. Along come the double threats of Ionis' dire-golems and our heroes. Upon discovering each other, a fight ensues. (Doesn't it always?)
Elsewhere in the tower, we find Ionis chatting it up with Maelstrom, a bad bad-guy. They agree to be mutual partners and attempt to take out the prison's main object of defense, the Dragon Orb. Evil creatures cannot touch or remove the almighty Orb from its power sink, but non-evil beings can. Ionis makes his minions (soulless creatures) try to remove it, but Bri blows them away.
She is about to take out Maelstrom when he offers her whatever she wants for the removal of the Dragon Orb. In a moment of weakness, Brianna actually contemplates what life would be life with Stripe. Maelstrom promises that no one would ever know any wrong was done, and all would live happily ever after. Genn cannot change Bri's mind, and says so.
This takes a LOT of willpower for her to do, and when she says that she just can't do it, she instantly loses all fervor in venting. Bri and Genn go home to talk. The Orb then teleports the tower away to somewhere less penetrable. Ionis is stuck with Pee-Wee again, and becomes Zelda's new sparring partner.
This is an excellent issue which begins to flesh out who Brianna truly is, and what defines her. She makes a hard choice here, and takes the repercussions with resignation. The issue also three-dimensionalizes Ionis, Genn, Maelstrom, and Salamander. A great storytelling job in this one.
Note: the Dragon Orb senses power within Brianna in this issue. Rumor is that it's magical in nature, derived from Gina's bloodline to the magician Theo Diggers. Further rumor states that she's the Lich King, but that one appears false.
I liked the cover, but felt that it could have been drawn differently. The interior art is phenomenal, as always. Not much else to say, except... what is Theo doing on the cover?!? ^_^
(out of four.)
Dire-golems - they vaguely resemble Lord Raptor from the "Darkstalkers" video game
"Would you? Could you? In the dark?" - paraphrase of "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss
"Do you feel lucky?" - From the Clint Eastwood movie "???"
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