DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON

"ON THE RUN" | "AND THEN THERE WERE TWO"
"CAPES, LIES, & MICROCHIPS" | UNTITLED | UNTITLED | UNTITLED
Script: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Penciler: Khari Evans | Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colorist: Christina Strain | Letterer: Artmonkeys' Dave Lanphear
Assistant Editor: Nathan Cosby | Editor: Mark Paniccia
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada | Publisher: Dan Buckley

The first three issues have titles. The remaining three don't. The final issue is also missing credits! In a way, these production peculiarities symbolize the unevenness of the entire series. It starts out strong -- Palmiotti and Gray have given Colleen Wing and Misty Knight a new profession. Their company is still called Nightwing Restorations, but rather than being simple private detectives, they now work as bail bondswomen for the super-powered criminals of New York. It's a pretty neat idea; after all, assuming there aren't different laws for supervillains in the Marvel Universe, one would figure the lower level types who only do things like breaking and entering and robbing banks probably would be able to get out on bail after an arrest.

The story follows Colleen and Misty chasing down four criminals who have skipped out on their bonds and joined forces to carry out a robbery. Their target is Celia Ricadonna, a media and fashion mogul who, we are told, rivals Oprah in both popularity and net worth. But she's also a major player in the underworld, and has come into a posession of a computer virus which she plans to auction off to the highest bidder for billions of dollars.

And that's when the story goes irrecoverably off the rails.

UNION JACK AND THE DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON

(No, sadly this is not the title of an upcoming Marvel team-up style series. But could you imagine...?)

Remember the other day when we covered CAPTAIN AMERICA #254, in which young Joey Chapman took on the guise of Union Jack? Well, that was in 1981. Not much came of Union Jack for several years afterward. He made some appearances in the Marvel U.K. comics, where he joined the super-group called the Knights of Pendragon, and he popped up in John Byrne's NAMOR series in the U.S. for a two-parter involving Spitfire and a reunion of the Invaders. But overall he was dormant for quite some time.

Then in 1998, Ben Raab and future superstar artist John Cassaday produced a limited series titled UNION JACK, which served as a sequel to the original Roger Stern/John Byrne origin. Jack remained relatively low profile in the years that followed, with only occasional appearances in CAPTAIN AMERICA and a brief stint as one of Chuck Austen's NEW INVADERS, until he again popped up to headline a mini-series in 2006.

SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray | Pencils: Khari Evans | Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Paul Mounts with Christina Strain
Letters: Artmonkey's Dave Lanphear & Natalie Lanphear
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona | Editor: Warren Simons
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada | Publisher: Dan Buckley

Storywise, "Survival of the Fittest" is a vast, vast, vast improvement over Frank Cho's first SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL. Palmiotti and Gray squeeze more material into the first issue than Cho covered in his seven. The story begins with a group of pirates boarding the yacht of a crime lord called the Axe-Man and stealing his diamonds. But the ship is attacked by a monstrous leviathan. The pirates escape as the yacht goes down with all hands and passengers aboard.

The pirates, their boat damaged by the sea creatures, arrive at nearby "Monster Island". They run around, chased by dinosaurs and giant bees, and meet up with Shanna, who takes them to her "Swiss Family Robinson" style treehouse, where she now lives with Doc. But the pirates are pursued to the island by Axe-Man and his minions.

The ensuing story covers Shanna's and the Pirates' attempt to get to Axe-Man's seaplane, and their misadventures as they run afoul of a group of savage neanderthals living in a city of Nazi gold, and hordes of veliciraptors out to eat them. After lots of violence and running around the city, our heroes are whittled down to Shanna and two pirates, Dirk, and Ivan. Axe-Man is killed, and his surviving henchmen agree to help the pirates leave the island in exchange for some diamonds.

Shanna shares a kiss with the pirate leader, Dirk, and then he departs with the rest of his people.

SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL

This is old news to many comic fans, but please bear with me (or as relates to Shanna, bare with me).

Back in 2005, Marvel produced a limited series under the Marvel Knights imprint, written and illustrated by the great cheesecake artist Frank Cho, titled SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL. It was a reimagining of the character who was originally Marvel's answer to Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, set in its own universe independent of Marvel's main continuity.

The thing is, the title was originally intended for Marvel's adult-targeted MAX imprint, and was to feature plenty of gratuitous nudity. I was looking forward to the series, until Marvel changed it to Marvel Knights. At that point I resolved not to support it.