Jetta is the last fertile werewolf, and must bear the children for their clan's future. Unfortunately, she is also a young warrior who has become quite bored (but still proud, never forget proud) of her stagnancy. This information, along with a history of how the lycanthropes began, comes directly from an unseen visitor to Eden, the werewolves' home.
Jetta places her pride and joy, Pojo, aside to train and maintain that warrior's edge. That's when Cheetah alerts her to the attention that her baby's life is forfeit in her clutches. Unless...
The werewolf shakes in rage as she submits to the werecheetah's demands, something that she's never had to deal with before. Cheetah invites her to a battleground, the prize being the young Pojo. The conversation is interrupted as her husband, Thabian, comes at Cheetah, forcing the abducter to make a hasty retreat, Pojo in tow.
Thus begins an EXCELLENT storyline.
Cheetah is really El Dorado's priestess, Tanya. She's out for revenge on Britanny for assuming that Prince Stripe actually thinks that she, over Tanya, is worthy of his attention. Tanya, after all, was brought up to be his queen and consort. She reasons that this travesty cannot go on, and so she has kidnapped the werewolf Pojo in an attempt to assassinate Britanny with the only enemy capable of killing her: Jetta.
(Elsewhere, Theo Diggers is getting ready to follow Britanny to El Dorado. Gina is going to Atlantis for her share of the reward. And Brianna is going to make time to...meet Genn, up close and personal. ^_^)
Back in El Dorado, a royal celebration is taking place. Britanny and Stripe dance away the night and all is well, for the party is being held for one reason. The city's oracle has discovered that today is Brit's day of birth. She is very, very happy.
Tanya interrupts the dance by telling Cheetah that she has a call from her sister on the trans-communicator. Brit promises Stripe that she'll be back soon, and Stripe is happy as he appears to have something to tell her. When they're alone, Tanya teleports Brit into the basement of her tower, where she gets sucker punched by a very angry mother...
(Part two of Tanya's plan involves the telling to Stripe, becoming Cheetah once again, that his proposal of marriage is a crapload. She only was using him for sex, and she never wanted to see him again. This devastates Stripe totally. Just as she leaves, Theo arrives and asks his daughter a question. But he learns that this isn't really Britanny, and he forces her to flee.)
Man, what a fight. Jetta beats the stuffing out of Britanny for stealing her child, and Britanny fights back because of the mental torture she got after Jetta's last beating. It's an insanely incredible fight between the two of them, with raw emotion and hatred as the perpetual motion generator. It just gets better and better, with neither woman getting the upper hand.
Theo just happens to teleport in, and is quite happy to see Britanny. He asks her what's going on when Jetta takes him out with a lethal blow. Seeing her father go down before her eyes, Britanny gets angrier than she's ever been and goes ballistic on the werewolf. She manages to finally get Jetta down, and prepares for the finishing blow when Thabian arrives, courtesy Tanya (of course. Couldn't let the werecheetah win, now, could she?)
Thabian, the cool-headed of the couple, only seeks his son. Britanny has no clue as she's tried to explain all this time, and escapes Thabian's grip on her. But when Jetta awakens, the two werewolves manage to subdue Britanny. Thabian protests against anymore violence because he knows Brit is innocent. Jetta won't listen. With a rock above her head, she thrusts it down for vengeance.
The rock is blown apart as Theo stands there, a HUGE hole ripped through his torso. He looks mean.
To Be Continued...
Sorry to tell you the whole story there. I really wanted to convey the anger and emotion that each character was feeling in the issue though, for the reason that that's what Mr. Perry did in 22 pages of excitement here. It's in the upper echelon of fighting comics, with little banter and just raw reactions. In here, the characters do just what they would if in real life, or in a real fight. It's amazing.
The artwork is some of his cleanest, clearest stuff since the series began. It is not a preview of what lies ahead for him, but instead the standard that all fans will come to appreciate. I got shivers just watching this movie act itself out before me. The cover is exceptional also, in that it tells a small story of what's going on.
Speaking of storytelling, Mr. Perry did the greatest job of introducing this comic that he ever had, or ever will (for the next 35 issues anyway...) The beginning of this story is akin to reading Neil Gaiman or Alan Moore, two very, VERY capable authors. It's not just the action that draws attention to this story, but the story itself that makes this issue possibly the finest in the entire series.
(out of four.)
See?!? I told ya so! ^_^
Pojo - looks just like Walt Kelly's "Pogo" character in that first shot
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