Gina has just gotten a reading that shows an energy flux in the Bermuda Triangle. Wanting to be the one who discovers what lies beyond, she contacts Ace, her friend and pilot, to get her down there. Unfortunately, Gina has to spend the flight down with other cargo: cannisters of milk, crates of Mighty-O's, the adventurer Penny Pincer, and the treasure hunter Ryan Talbot.
After delivering the "breakfast foods" to an oil rig, the foursome head directly into the heart of the flux. They bust into a strange dimension filled with bubbles of places, and a dog flies past in a starfighter. (The characters look like they just stepped into the trippy 70s 'Spiderman' show.) The dog fires a missile at them, which turns into a dragon, then he steers the starfighter towards a bubble and enters. Ace easily evades the dragon, and they reason that the dog didn't want them following him for a reason. In they go.
The dog, whose boy-sidekick Benji accompanies him, enters the time bubble via his W.Back starfighter into 1784 A.D. He is going to nullify one Gregory Kelley, an inventor who will cause great grief for the canine-dominated future of Peachbody... oops, I mean, the dog.
In the dog's timeline, canines rule the world over their former 'masters' (the humans). A war is waging, and the technologically-depraved humans are getting the upper hand with a primitive device founded by Mr. Kelley's discovery of the ultrasound frequency. A device known as the dog whistle. (Enough of the history!! Back to the review!!)
A brief scrap with Benji later, the heroes drive off the mutt with a bit of ingenuity. They exit the time-bubble and face off again versus the dragon. Luckily, they manage to escape back to their own era.
And during this entire adventure the four manage to get on each other's nerves, play pranks on each other, get payback (not Vic...the chef from 'Alice', no, wait, that's Tayback, sorry), and work out their differences to defeat the common enemy. It's a story of heroism, really.
Things to note: this issue is the debut for Dr. Alfred Peachbody (the dog) and Benji, who play important villains in the future of this series. Also, Charlotte (aka Tweetie, the harpy) is introduced.
I don't know anything about the behaviour of the differing factions of the United States military (army, navy, air force, marines), but I do know that Mr. Perry was in there somewhere. Thus his perceptions of an oil rig captain could be dead-on. Anyways, the personality of the heroic, yet anal, captain made me laugh like nothing I'd read before. Ahem.
The end of an era also relates to the art style in this issue. This is the last time that we see Mr. Perry's shading mixed with the line art that he is well known for, as he drops the shading for the foreseeable future. I truly disliked his shading style when compared to the stuff that comes later in the series and in his career. However, I found this issue to be spectacularly shaded, surpassing even my bias towards it. Damn it, it's just a good looking comic.
Of the story, Mr. Perry says that the whole thing was done because he had a nagging curiosity of why Peabody (from "Rocky & Bullwinkle") was helping with "one of the most senseless slaughters in military history!" (Specifically, it was the episode where the Charge of the Light Brigade happens.) This whole issue is a farce of the Dr. Peabody and Sherman cartoon from the "Rocky & Bullwinkle Show." It does justice to the original.
Lastly, I love the cover. It's busy, but revolves well around the central point which is the aforementioned dragon.
(out of four.)
E.F.R.D. (on Ace's ship) - a re-lettering of Mr. Perry's name, FRED.
"We're not in Kansas" - Dorothy's famous line in "The Wizard of Oz"
Dog with Benji - parody of Dr. Peabody and Sherman from the "R&B" show. (see above)
W.Back - stands for Wayback, Dr. Peabody's time machine (see above)
Jinkies, Scooby-Doo - Gina's behaviour resembles Selma from "Scooby-Doo"
Krypto - Superman's super pet
GRIUNN, Godzilla sound fx - watch "Godzilla" and listen, kids.
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