Atlantis is doomed by the means of the creation Armageddon, controlled by the evil Gyphon. While most of the Gold Digger heroes await either help or death, the Diggers crew, (Gina, Cheetah, Ace and Stripe), travel back home to do some last minute saving.
In their home mansion, Gina tells her dad what's going on in the world, what with the crisis and all. Meanwhile, Britanny gets more than playful with Stripe in the sparring area. Gina happens to come in at a quite awkward time, and the cheetah-form of Britanny lunges at her. This intimidates Stripe a bit, and he takes a time-out. While Gina and Brit chat, so do Dr. Diggers and Stripe. Things get semi-resolved, but Stripe still has apprehensions about Brit's feral side.
When Gina and Dr. Diggers meet up next, she asks him for help. It turns out that she needs to find a rare element called hindrium to make Stripe's artifacts work in tandem, thus destroying Armageddon. Unfortunately, hindrium isn't found so easily. Gina's dad helps her out, and she finds it easily.
Stripe and the sisters hop on board Ace's jet and head out to the Red Sea. Along the way, Ace is clipped by Dark Bird and her crew (whom we met in issue #2). A brief, but cool, battle takes place and Ace leaves the trio to find the hindrium.
Our heroes manage to get to the island right as their ten second entry gate appears. Inside they find a thick forest, dense enough to block out all the moonlight above. Gina tries to find the hindrium, but Brit gets the willies something fierce. She says that they should go when she's taken out by something big, mean and hairy.
Two werewolves, natural enemies of the werecheetahs, appear with all intent on killing Britanny. Jetta, the female, takes Brit on in a brutal fight. Thabian, her husband, sticks back to keep Gina and Stripe out of it. Which they don't, naturally.
A nasty, nasty fight erupts, and Britanny finally meets what could be more than her match. Throughout the entire battle, Jetta dominates Brit in almost every way. Britanny does possess more speed than her counterpart, but Jetta's strength keeps the werecheetah down. On the other side, Thabian can't quite handle Stripe and Gina. They manage to keep him at bay, and eventually, weaken him to the point of near-death.
Jetta hears her mate in trouble, and she takes off for him. Britanny gets in one last hit to the werewolves before they retalitate with fatal repercussions. Gina gets in a lucky shot right before the killing blow is delivered. A silver bullet, which she keeps on herself for last-ditch protection, wounds Jetta enough that the werewolves flee for an ointment.
Stripe finds the hindrium in the form of flowers, and gets to hold the deadly gun. Gina instead finds that this place is the Garden of Eden, and she and Brit are stunned. At a summons by Penny, still trapped in Atlantis with the monster Armageddon, Gina places the hindrium (in the form of flowers) and Stripe's artifacts into her backpack. Then she teleports the sack to Atlantis where it destroys Armageddon. Happy ending. ^_^
Man! does Gina look like Lara Croft here. It's the shades. (This issue came out in Mar 1993, too.)
So, this issue succeeds here in every way, except storyline. Don't get me wrong, the plot in this issue is fantastic. It just barely keeps with the previous three issues, is all.
The characters are top notch, and even get to be developed here. We skim Theo Diggers, Britanny's lust for Stripe, and Ace's natural flying ability. We learn about the werewolves, and see that Britanny isn't the best fighter in the GD universe, that she really fears death.
The fight scenes between Ace and Dark Bird as well as the werecreature scrap, are excellent. They play beautifully alongside the characters' banterings. The entire comic book is co-ordinated efficiently and exquisitely. Even the artwork is fantastic! Mr. Perry's true strength is his ability to detail how a scene is laid out, from the Diggers' mansion to the forest of Eden.
Amazing stuff. Except for the major story arc.
To express a belief that no one else will probably agree with (but do I care?), I think that Mr. Perry just wanted to wrap up a weak storyline containing a nonintimidating villain and a nonintimidating catastrophy, with a fun issue where it just ends. Almost like he wanted to put it out of his, and our, misery. In that sense alone, the issue is pushed above and beyond what he could have done had he tried to continue with a major battle against the big, bad Armageddon.
I'm probably wrong. Mr. Perry is the greatest artist and storyteller the nineties has seen. He'd more than likely do it good. ^_^
Oh, yeah. Moments to treasure here include the Flaming Skull bit, Brit's non-pawing, Mr. Perry's knowledge of the air force, Tanis' HILARIOUS pun, and Gina's luck.
(out of four.)
Frankenstein - Mary Shelly's book of a horrific creation
Turtle Pizza - the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" like pizza
"COBR-" - Snake-Head is Cobra Commander from the "G.I. Joe" cartoon
Photon Torpedoes - mostly seen in "Star Trek"
Diet Shasta - a soft drink, (and for the record, ALL diet pop makes me gotta #1).
"Row-Row-Row Your Boat" - the ultimate car song from hell
Tricorder - a device used on "Star Trek"
"Sure...UNsure" - from a deodorant commercial for Sure
"The Five-Fifteen" - believe it or not, Bugs Bunny coined that phrase
Gina & Penny's Communicator - also from "Star Trek"
Bambi - Disney's ever-lovin' doe
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