Webcomic / Danger Zone One

Reena and Madison in their police uniforms

Danger Zone One is an action/adventure OEL Manga webcomic written by Midnight and drawn by Katsu (Chapters 1 & 2), Zen Jirakun (Chapter 3), and Salaiix (Chapter 4-current). It has become progressively less safe-for-work since its debut, so reader beware that links to the comic may contain explicit nudity and/or sexual content.

Reena Saffron is fresh out of the academy and eager to begin her first day as a full-time officer with the Pallad City Police Department. But her idealistic nature and unwavering belief in justice is put to the test when she’s partnered with ‘Maniac’ Madison Wynter, a loose cannon officer with the Department’s Special Crimes Unit, whose methods stretch the law to its very limits. Even thought the two officers are polar opposites, they’ll need to find common ground if they intend to survive in Pallad City: a district so dangerous, it's known as 'Danger Zone One.'

The story takes place in a near future setting where megacorporations run the world. There are elements of science fiction and cyberpunk incorporated in the series, with appearances by rampaging power suits, synthetic black market super drugs (only featured in the novel series), and tentacle mecha (also only in the novels).

Danger Zone One updates weekly (every Sunday and Wednesday).

There is also an ongoing Danger Zone One novel series, which can be found exclusively on Amazon via eBook format. Midnight also writes another weekly webcomic, Welcome to the Machine, though it went under "indefinite hiatus" after the third chapter. The series has also garnered two spin-offs: The White Wraith, and GunRiot, which uploads every Monday.

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Danger Zone One provides examples of:

• 0% Approval Rating: The PCPD's trust ratings amongst the public are staggeringly low thanks to the amount of crime that happens all around Pallad City.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: "Decision Zone", "Doggone It", "Thanks, But No Tanks", and "Mad Machine" all deal with out of control robots and A.I. controlled weapons.
• Action Girl: Madison. Aside from being a skilled hand-to-hand fighter and proficient with a firearm (she won the annual Pallad City marksmanship pistol competition two years in a row) it's been alluded to that Madison was once a member of the Death Widow private military company.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Plenty of the chapter titles, such as "Morning Mayhem", "Fantasy Funland", and "Building Blitz".
• Animesque: The design and visual style is specifically drawn to appear like a manga, although it's not Japanese in origin.
• Attack Drone: Reena and Madison are attacked by one when investigating Volkan Island.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Nightmare Island three parter ends on this note. While Dr. Hastings and her Project 37 are dealt with, CEO Daedin Alacore was still able to acquire the data from Hastings to create more creatures like 37, and had wiped away all evidence of the events of the chapter.
• Brutal Honesty: Madison holds nothing back, especially when getting saddled with a new partner.
  Madison: I've run across your type a million times. Young. Inexperienced. Still have that innocent look on your face. This city can smell that innocence...like a wild beast would its prey. You're fresh meat. Nothing more. And this city's carnivorous.
• Catchphrase: Reena typically says "You're busted, pal!" while attempting to arrest a criminal. This is more prevalent in the novel series.
• Close-Range Combatant: Chief Hardiman has concerns with this not being par for the course for cadets ever since the Fast Track Academy Enrollment Program.
• Clothing Damage: Very frequent throughout the series.
  • After surviving a missile attack in chapter 1, both Madison and Reena's police uniforms are left in tatters.
  • The sole surviving member of the Volkan Island research base.
  • Madison gets her shirt torn apart in the middle of Building Blitz, and spends the rest of the story with her breasts exposed.
  • One of the descriptions for Fit For Fight reveals that the police uniforms are in such terrible condition, that it's common for them to easily tear apart during missions, which is blamed on a budget crisis preventing the manufacturing of durable uniforms.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Daedin Alacore, chairman of Alacore Industries was responsible for the all the deaths from the Nightmare Island arc, only working with Dr. Hastings in order to acquire data from her experiments and create mutant sharks of his own to be sold as super soldiers. He even has Hastings and her creature disposed of once he has all he needs.
• Corrupt Politician: Mayor Neville, from Chapter 2, once had a factory full of people burned down to collect the insurance money needed for his re-election campaign.
• Cowboy Cop: Madison's a loose cannon, but the Chief is hesitant to rein her in, due to her impressive track record and the undeniable results she achieves.
• Da Chief: Subverted with Chief Hardiman. Despite crippling department budget cuts, Madison's cowboy cop antics, and a shortage of officers, Hardiman stays relatively calm, albeit biding his time for retirement.
• The Dreaded: The mere mention of Madison's name sends most of her fellow PCPD officers into a panic.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Mr. Jack, despite attempting to blow up most of Pallad should he not get paid, doesn't approve of Miss Bliss' human trafficking operation in Chapter 13.
• Evilutionary Biologist: Dr. Hastings, from the Nightmare Island arc, who wants to annihilate mankind and populate it with her own mutant shark creatures.
• Fanservice: The main characters' outfits qualify, even before they get torn.
• First Day from Hell: Reena's first day as an officer in Pallad City involves her trying to bring down a rampaging power suit.
• Going Postal: Raymond Finkler, the first "villain" of the comic, goes on a rampage in a power suit he designed after getting fired die to budget cuts despite being a very loyal employee while sparing the latecomer-for-a-whole-month Langdon the same boot. On top of that, Gene Stayroff, the guy he was going after, took credit for his work, and his own wife told him not to come back home, having always expected him to be a failure.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • In a way, Drezz Vargo for "The All Hallows' Thieves", who supplied Mr. Jack with the explosives needed for his plan with the full intent on watching people die.
  • Evon Higgens, a mysterious benefactor, could be one for the "Nightmare Island" arc, as they were the one who made the deal with Alacore to acquire Super Soldiers, which led to Alacore making contact with Hastings and everything that ensued.
• Halloween Episode: Chapter 2. And Madison hates the holiday, presumably because the required costumes could make her look less of a hardass.
• Heroic RRoD: All of the torture and beatings Madison suffers throughout the series end up traumatizing her, with her body still recovering from all the pain she was dealt.
• Human Traffickers: The seductive Miss Bliss runs a human organ harvesting operation underneath Fantasy Funland, where young women are captured and sold for their organs.
• Jaw Drop: Reena does this in "Fit For Fight" after realizing her training is far from over.
• Law of Inverse Recoil: The standard Halvok 99 firearm has too much recoil for Reena to handle, as evidenced in the firing range and again during actual combat.
• Lovely Angels: Reena and Madison.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Piloting the VX-II power suit, Raymond launches a barrage of missiles at Reena and Madison.
• Mad Bomber: Drezz Vargo gets his kicks from starting fires and creating explosives, so much so that he lost his hands during an earlier ill-fated misadventure (not that it deterred him, once he refitted himself with cybernetic replacements). Drezz has yet to appear in the Danger Zone One webcomic, but is the primary villain in the audio drama
• Mr. Alt Disney: Dalton Trayer, from the "Fantasy Funland" two-parter, is clearly based on Walt Disney, from his looks, to the fact that he owns the titular mascot theme park.
• New Meat: A young rookie at the Pallad City Police Department, Reena gets this often.
  Madison: When we see action, hang back and stay out of my way. Don't need a dead rook on my hands, makes filing paperwork a bitch.
  Reena: I'm not a kid, you know! I'm an officer, just like you!
  Madison: Yeah, whatever.
• Oh, Crap!: Reena literally says this when the VX-II power suit launches a salvo of Viper-R9 mini-missiles at her.
• Private Military Contractors: Madison used to work for one of these called Death Window for three years under their "Scorpion Squad".
• Professor Guinea Pig: Dr. Hastings uses a serum on herself meant for surviving in her planned new world after seeing that her Subject 37 has been killed.
• Psycho Lesbian: Miss Bliss, who loves torturing women, plans to keep a captured Madison all for herself as her own personal pet.
• Red Baron: Madison doesn't get along with nearly anyone else in the department, causing fellow officers to refer to her as the "Ice Queen of the PCDP." She's also known as "Maniac" Madison for her reckless police tactics.
• Revenge Before Reason: When Raymond's laid off from his job at Horizon Global Solutions, he steals the VX-II power suit and goes on a rampage, targeting the supervisor responsible for letting him go (the very same supervisor who handed off Raymond's work to the higher ups as his own!).
• Rollerblade Good: Turbo Joe's "Street Boosters" can qualify for this, which he uses to temporarily escape from Reena.
• Rule of Sexy: Reena and Madison don revealing Halloween outfits when they're assigned as undercover security to protect the mayor at the Halloween parade.
• Shout-Out:
  • The "Halloween Hang-Up" Danger Zone Onesies features Madison choosing to dress up like Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise. One of the previous costumes she tries on is Christie's bondage attire from the video game, Dead or Alive 5.
  • On the notes of this page, Lab Assistant Nessa Koeb of Nex Coast comments on Subject 37 tearing apart their android RM-72 and mentions it had so much white blood.
  • There's apparently a reference to Judas Priest in here.
  • The final page of "Fit For Fight" has a picture of Duckman in the background.
  • Reena has an action figure of Johnny Five on her shelf.
• Souvenir Land: Fantasy Funland, containing rides, exclusive stuffed animals to win, and an underground human trafficking operation created to prevent the park from going bankrupt.
• Supervillain: Mr. Jack qualifies as one in Chapter 2, complete with jack-o'-lantern mask, costumed henchmen, and a criminal scheme that involves kidnapping the mayor and detonating a bomb in downtown Pallad City.
• Title Drop: Chapter 1, Page 14:
  Madison: Now you'll see why they call Pallad City 'Danger Zone One'.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Though no explicit date is ever given, the story seems to take place in the not-too-distant future, judging by the inclusion of power suits, bio-chip identification, and a one-off mention of combat androids.
• Worldbuilding: Mainly done in the descriptions on the pages.
• Xanatos Gambit: This is ultimately Mayor Neville's plan by the end of Chapter 16. Should the PCPD fail to stop the murders at Sumter Academy, Neville will blame them, have them shut down, and install his own privatized police force. But if the PCPD accomplish their goals in stopping the murders, Neville will take credit and receive public praise for entrusting the police with the case in the first place.

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