Origin
Very little is known of Abbey’s origin. It is suggested that Secret Agent Zero is her father but that he gave up the care of Abbey so that she could live a normal life. At some point in her past she was engaged to Nathan Wilde.
Creation
She was created to be one of the original members of the Danger Girl team and appeared in Danger Girl #0 in 1997. As the members of Danger Girl are partially spoofs of Bond Girls, it is possible that her appearance was partially inspired by some of the earlier Bond Girls, and specifically her appearance often pays homage to Ursula Andress’s character in Dr. No, Honey Ryder.
Character Evolution
In the early series, Abbey’s personal development is often the focus of the story. She does not seem as skilled as her other teammates and often doubts herself, but as she progresses over the various series she shown to be increasingly confident and competent.
Major Story Arcs
Danger Girl
The original appearance of the Danger Girl team was centered primarily on Abbey Chase with the remainder of the team appearing much more confident and competent as compared to their recent recruit. In the original story Abbey is recruited onto the team, partially as she fits the profile and partially as the team is in need of an archaeological expert. The team’s first observed deployment is to save Abbey as she is in danger in Costa Rica after running afoul of an artifact thief. The team is able to save Abbey at the last moment (with Sydney piloting the helicopter and teammate Natalia on the ladder.)
Abbey is taken aboard the Danger Yacht where she meets the members of the team – Natalia, Sydney, Silicon Valerie and Deuce. Their next mission is to be to Paris where they hope to intercept an archaeological dealer known as the Peach as he is dealing a shield of some value to the team. Abbey goes undercover while others provide surveillance. After a double cross in a deal by the Peach a shootout occurs followed by a car chase. Abbey is able to chase down a helicopter in her souped-up sports car while Sydney follows in a troop transport. Abbey launches her car in the air and manages to pull the pin on a grenade on one of the soldiers in the helicopter before she falls. Sydney “catches†her in the canvas of the troop transport, and the two are forced to make their way to the next checkpoint. Unknown to them, the kind old man that gives them a ride is in fact Secret Agent Zero.
The team moves on to Switzerland where the Peach has the shield at a party. Abbey attends the party in the company of Johnny Barracuda and she is able to retrieve the shield before being forced to flee with Johnny. The escape on a snowmobile, and they are successful in outlasting their pursuers but then must also outrace an avalanche. They jump off of a cliff and land in icy water. They seek shelter nearby and are soon found by Sydney, who catches them almost in mid-kiss.
Once back to the Danger Yacht , Abbey determines that the shield forms a part of a trio of artifacts which when joined together give the wielder massive power. They determine that the criminal organization known as the Fourth Reich (and resurgent movement of the Second World War era Nazis) intends to retrieve the artifacts and launch a new war. They are unable to obtain the second piece (a helmet) as they are ambushed when they go to the collector’s house who is in possession of the artifact.
Sydney and Johnny are captured and taken to Hammer Island, where they see the effects of some medical experiments into superhumans. Meanwhile Abbey retrieves the last piece of the artifacts, a sword, from the bottom of the ocean. When she returns to the surface she finds that the team has been betrayed by Natalia, who has been working for the Fourth Reich. Natalia has also stolen the shield. Abbey and Secret Agent Zero infiltrate the island while Sydney and Johnny escape. As they are escaping , the two share a kiss as they expect imminent death but are eventually rescued. Abbey kills Natalia and the team manages to avoid the rise of the Fourth Reich and all remaining members successfully escape.
Kamikaze
The Danger Girl team is seen in a couple of other one shots and specials, but their next full mission is described in Danger Girl: Kamikaze. The action here follows the team as they are in Hong Kong on the trail of missing nuclear material and nuclear secrets with now only the two field agents – Sydney and Abbey. Valerie is on the trail of the suspected nuclear smugglers and the seemingly routine surveillance task turns into a shootout over the harbour. This also introduces the Russian agent Mikhail Strongonov and a mysterious female Chinese operative. Strongonov tries to kill Valerie, but she is saved in the nick of time by Sydney. The soon discover though that the nuclear device was actually a red herring as it contains only an old World War II film of the Japanese bombing America. They also find notes on a positronium device as well as some information about German flight routes.
The two field operatives head to some ruins in Angkor, Cambodia to look for the device, but find that the operative from Hong Kong has already beaten them there. The mysterious agent is revealed to be Mei, a Hong Kong police operative. The villain Shogunner attacks the three and Sydney is left behind in a pool of crocodiles while Abbey and Mei escape. Mei is introduced to the rest of the team while Sydney is still trapped. It is revealed that she is after a shipment of material for a bomb which was lot in transit from Germany to Japan. It was actually intended to become an anti-matter bomb by a Japanese general named Muramasa Akuhito and to be used against the USA. Shogunner has the same goals and is part of a group called the Kama. Soon the yacht is attacked by a Kama submarine and the leader of Kama, Empress Doken, reveals that she aims to fill the void left by Hammer’s demise. Valerie gets her hands on the now reconstructed bomb and sets it to explode sooner than expected. In the ensuing chaos, Shogunner is revealed to be Akuhito. Sydney arrives having escaped the alligators and stops both doken and Akuhito.
Hawaiian Punch
In this miniseries a villain by the name of Don Ka Nui is attempting to launch an attack on the coast of the United States. He is in Hawaii and he manage to hypnotize a U.S. admiral in in so doing can control the access codes to launch several missiles. Working together Abbey, Sydney, Johnny, Deuce and Valerie stop the threat.
Viva Las Danger
This story starts with the Danger Girl team in Las Vegas, who are being praised by Prince Akoo for retrieving a jewel. Soon after Abbey is attacked by his personal assistant Xyra, who reveals that Ako is in fact evil, and she must retrieve the gem before he uses it for vile purposes. She talks with the rest of the team and reveals that the jewel can be used to siphon the life force off of other people.
Sydney and Abbey pose as exotic dancers to infiltrate Akoo’s inner circle, but their plan eventually fails as Deuce and Valerie are captured. When the team (now with Xyra along for help) find Akoo’s lair he raises a group of zombies to attack them. The jewel is broken, but a Xyra retrieves it, she is revealed to be the evil master of the artifact. Akoo had been using the whole scheme as an attempt for Xyra to show herself. Valerie retrieves the gem and smashes it on the ground, killing all the zombies and Xyra at once.
Back in Black
In this series the Danger Girl team infiltrates a motorcycle gang in order to retrieve a powerful Native American artifact. They pose as bikers and go to bike week in Sturgis, South Dakota. While there they uncover a plot to use an artifact to resurrect the dead, but they meet the a Native American descendant that can harness the power. They eventually end up in Boston having to stop the threat there.
Body Shots
This story starts with Abbey on a mission in Japan. Her contact there gets killed by a mystery sniper. When she returns to base she gets an urgent message from Sydney and when she finds her it was just to see whether Abbey thought Sydney should buy a house. A series of nuclear explosions around the globe are used to get the U.S. president to surrender himself to a man named Franco who wants him dead. This action as well as that of the sniper are later revealed to be the action of a general working for the president. Sydney buys the house.
Revolver
In this miniseries Abbey is on the trail of missing Peruvian treasure, and Sydney faces the difficult decision to let her sister, Sonya, join the team.
Powers and Abilities
Although she is in top physical form, it is often shown that Abbey is not quite as skilled in hand to hand combat and other such physical acts as her colleague, Sydney. However, she seems to make up for it with her ingenuity and daring. he is adept at driving, so much so that Sydney willingly yields to her driving ability in chases. She is equally a natural with other forms of vehicles including motorcycles and tanks.
Other Versions
Batman/Danger Girl
In this miniseries and company crossover, the Danger Girl team goes to Gotham City after being informed that Donavin Conrad is trying to sell a mind control gun to the Joker. Batman does not like the involvement of Danger Girl, but neither does he like the threat which they pose. The Joker does not trust Conrad and attempts to double cross him as he sends Harley and Conrad to retrieve the codes to use the device. Abbey and Sydney come across Bruce Wayne, who invite them to a gala. The Danger Girl team faces the Joker but he manages to escape. Valerie finds a way to activate the bat-signal, but when Batman shows up a fight ensues between him and Sydney. They eventually reach a truce but only exchange information before parting ways. Johnny and Valerie have set up the villains to also attend the gala, hoping to catch them there. Johnny himself goes dressed as Batman and is unmasked before the real Batman arrives and stops the villains alongside the Danger Girl team.
Danger Girl and the Army of Darkness
In this series the team join up with the main character from the popular movie of the same name.
Danger Girl/G.I. Joe
After the acquisition of the Danger Girl characters by IDW it was decided to first launch the characters under the IDW banner with a crossover with one of the major properties at IDW, G.I. Joe (as they are owned by the same company it seems possible that these characters exist in the same continuity, though this is never confirmed.) The series starts off with a dog chase involving Scarlett and Flint and they are soon shot down. It is revealed that they were providing escort for a shipment of rediscovered missiles with great destructive power. They are soon shot down though and the missiles are taken by Cobra , who also take the two prisoners. Once in Cobra custody they come across Abbey Chase who is acting undercover, though the two members of G.I. Joe do not know this. Elsewhere the American president arrives to the USS Flagg and informs the Joe team to stand down and to not seek to free their teammates. General Flag orders them to stand down. The remaining female members (Cover Girl , Lady Jaye and Jinx ) come up with a plan where they will contact the Danger Girl team (Cover Girl had previously met Johnny Barracuda .) The team shows up and exposes the U.S. president as Zarana in disguise. Soon enough it is revealed that the Danger Girl team already has an operative in place and she informs them of the plan. Firefly is to head to Moscow and detonate one of the missiles while Major Bludd is to go to Beijing to detonate another. Three teams head out, one to each of the two cities and the third to the Cobra base. By now Abbey is under suspicion of Baroness , Destro and Cobra Commander and is captured by Zartan when she attempts to free Scarlett and Flint. While they are trying to escape a team of Low Light , Snake Eyes and Stalker arrive to free them. Meanwhile in Beijing a team of Jinx, Johnny Barracuda and Sonya Savage stop Major Bludd while a team of Sydney Savage , Cover Girl and Roadblock stop Firefly. It is soon revealed that there is another missile which is headed for the homing beacon which Zarana has placed on the USS Flagg. Silicon Valerie , Duke and Lady Jaye quickly deal with it. Meanwhile at the Cobra base Storm Shadow has arrived to stop the Joes and he engages Snake-Eyes in combat. Eventually this group is also able to escape, while blowing up the base and they are all reunited on the USS Flagg.