Welcome to Istanbul, Turkey, where Gina is attempting a trade between Erwin "Pee-Wee" Talon and his gene-warriors Zelda and Galford for the Infinity Pearl. In exchange, Gina hopes to get the Key of Aton which is the supposed key to an ancient Egyptian underground airport.
The trade goes off without too much hassle, and Gina is about to head out when a new treasure hunter rears his head. Ryan Talbot. Ryan steals the Key and succeeds in evading Gina's hurtbots while stealing her heart as well (or at least her hormones.)
Gina tracks him down the next day to the Sphynx and trouble ensues as she tries to go in alone against all of the traps. (Britanny is at the mall, and nonexistent in this issue.) Luckily, Gina frees Ryan from a trap she escapes and they form a partnership. For Ryan, it's to get the Sphynx's treasure. For Gina, she wants to learn about the ancients, acquire lost knowledge and information, and get into Ryan's pants.
The duo face traps, battle foes, learn ancient knowledges (I told ya), and flirt like squirrels in springtime. It turns out that the pyramids were built 2700 years ago by the lizard-like Amonians as a hyperspace port inbetween the conquests of planets. The Amonians strive, thrive and survive because they protect and battle for their leader, a planet-sized being called Aton.
The Key was lost 2690 years ago, and the port shut down. Now, Gina and Ryan find themselves facing off against an Amonian who wants to recall the rest of the fleet to destroy Earth as it poses a danger to the Amonians. He squares off against Ryan. The Amonian soon learns that Ryan has photographic reflexes, meaning he can mimic perfectly any martial arts movement or action he sees. Ryan still gets the crap kicked out of himself, and the Key is stolen.
Gina and Ryan follow the Amonian to a spacecraft and scrap with him again. Gina sneaks in behind the alien and disables the ship while Ryan sucker-punches the lizard, who is a sentient robot that just happens to blow-up in the ship's main computer. The hyperspace port begins to self-destruct, and the pair find themselves running for their lives to escape. Along the way, Ryan sees a humongous vault full of treasure but he has neither the time nor accessibility to grab it. They escape and set up a date.
I liked it. This issue had a lot of good fun in it, some great flirting and a well-thought-out background and history of the Amonians, who make this lone appearance so far in this series.
The first drawings of Pee-Wee are awkward, and not representative of his later visits in the comic. But the rest of the comic is drawn well, even though I still don't like Gold Digger drawn with this style of shading. The cover is good, but doesn't tell much of a story. (None, really.)
One last note: I do love when Gina's hurt-bots make an appearance. The way that Mr. Perry gives them personality adds so much to the comics they're in that one cannot help but to laugh. "Start a fight... PLEEZ start a fight..." HAH!!
(out of four.)
"We're done here, hurtbots... Transform and roll out!" - substitute "hurtbots" with "Autobots" and you've got a parody of the Transformers cartoon
Van Damme - first name of "Jean-Claude", star of many action films
Sesame Street, Kermit - the star of the children's show "Sesame Street" was Kermit the Frog
"Go, go, Gina back-pack!" - Gina's equipment is a parody of Inspector Gadget
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