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Issue #1 By Johnny Undaunted The first issue starts with a
woman tied to a chair inside a sandglass. We learn that the woman's name
is Marian Steele (Steele? Martin? Delario? Make up your mind Tradewest!) who is
fighting the fight of her life. I thought this was some sort of metaphor,
but it turns out to be an actual event in this issue. Marian is an
undercover agent in the fictional semi-futuristic city of Oligopolis, a city
that was peaceful and quiet until Nightfall showed up. Nightfall, who is a
mysterious dark creature, is the boss of the most powerful crime syndicate in
Oligopolis. No one is able to stop him, except two siblings called the
Double Dragons. Marian Steele met the Dragons, who's real names are
William and James Lee (aka Billy and Jimmy), while working undercover. As
time passed by, Marian became attached to the Dragons, causing a romantic
conflict between Billy and Jimmy. Marian used children to pass on info to
the Dragons in order to foil Nightfall's plans. Why is this important?
You'll see. One day, Marian finds a
ledger containing all corrupted officials accepting bribes from Nightfall. As
soon as she gets the ledger, she comes face to face with Superluminal, one of
Nightfall's men. Who's Superluminal? He's the evil Flash that I was
talking about earlier. You don't need to know anything else, because he
will only show up again in the final issue. Superluminal knocks Marian
unconscious before she gets to shoot her gun. He takes Marian and the
ledger with him while a bunch of kids on a hover bike are watching. While
the kids are on a hover bike, one of them says, "We got 'wheels'. Use em", which
doesn't make sense. The kids decide to report this to the brothers.
Superluminal notices the kids, but he doesn't do anything. Why?
Because it's part of his evil scheme, not to mention that the Comic Code of
Authority doesn't allow killing kids. The kids go to the Dragon
House Headquarters, which is where our good guys are located. Here we
first learn about Sensei (that's not his title, that's actually his name), Billy
and Jimmy's teacher and grandfather. We also meet the Dragons themselves.
We learn that Jimmy is the serious half of the Dragons, while Billy is the Peter
Parker-wannabe of the two. As soon as the Dragons learn of the fact that
Marian is in danger, the Dragons decide to call upon the Dragon Force and the
Sensei tells them to do it in the Dragon's Lair, despite the fact that Marian's
life is in danger. The Dragon's Lair is where the Dragon Statue is
located, the source of the Dragon Force. The statue turns to life and
gives some short speech about Billy and Jimmy being the first twins in a
generation to hold the Dragon Force before turning back into a statue.
Then Billy and Jimmy hold hands and they turn from regular Billy and Jimmy to
Double Dragon mode, complete with Dragon Armor and a bunch of gadgets. The
costumes are drawn okay and they aren't as bad as those featured in the movie or
the cartoon, but Billy's costume for some reason is green instead of the more
proper blue. After turning to Double
Dragon mode, Billy and Jimmy go to the scene of the crime with regular
motorcycles instead of hover bikes, where a group of thugs are waiting for them.
Since this is an American comic book, heroes and villains converse while
fighting with each other, but thankfully the conversation is short. Billy
and Jimmy come face to face with Legerdemain. Who is Legerdemain? He
is a basically a poor plot device who tells the Dragons about Marian's
whereabouts. Legerdemain shows an image of Marian being tied inside a
sandglass. Legerdemain then gives the Dragons an hourglass in sync with
that of Marian's and Marian's whereabouts. On the way to Marian's
whereabouts, Billy and Jimmy come across a bridge filled with hired mercenaries.
Once again it's time for bad jokes and conversation. While beating up the
bad guys, one of the mercenaries throws dynamite, which blows up the bridge.
Billy and Jimmy nearly fall to their deaths and they lose the hourglass too.
After climbing to the other side, Billy and Jimmy fight against Exoskeleton.
Like the previous villains, Exoskeleton is a forgettable bad guy who doesn't
show up again until the final issue. Exoskeleton's role could have easily
been filled by Abobo or Burnov. After beating Exoskeleton the first time,
the Dragons get into an argument about the hourglass instead of advancing
forward, which allows Exoskeleton to throw a giant rock. The Dragons avoid
it and once again Exoskeleton is down. Billy and Jimmy finally find
the dungeon where Marian is held. After splitting up and finding their way
through the dungeon and defeating a group of "Shadow Warriors", the Dragons
release Marian from her sandglass prison, but no ledger. While the Dragons
are distracted, Marian shoots a Shadow Warrior who was behind Jimmy's back.
Because of this, the Dragons get into a silly argument, which is rather
ridiculous now that Marian is safe. Before, exchanging blows, Billy and
Jimmy get a telepathic warning from Sensei through the Dragon Force. Comments: While it has decent
artwork, the first issue of this mini series is filled with forgettable
villains, horrible dialogue and a cheesy storyline. And this is only a taste of
what's to come.
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