Writer: Tracey Wheeler Noonan
Artist: Ricardo J. Silva
Danger Studios, October 2026
There is something particularly and recurrently amusing about the idea of having to deal with bureaucracy after death. One would think that dying would at least get you out of administrative procedures, but apparently even the afterlife isn’t free from the sort of institutional nonsense we have to put up with in the living world. We have seen it most recently in popular culture in Marvel Studio’s Loki (the TVA begins with a 1950s ticket dispenser and a queue, and gets worse from there), and most memorably in cinema, in Beetlejuice. It is a common enough plot for it to be listed on the TV Tropes website: see https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CelestialBureaucracy.
So why does Dani Danger #1: And So It Begins seem so original? The comic is a creator-owned dark fantasy comedy written by Tracey Wheeler Noonan, with illustrations from Ricardo J. Silva. The story follows nineteen-year-old Dani Mannion, who awakens in the afterlife following her death in a car crash. Here, freewill has been erased, and the various authorities responsible for managing the souls of the dead expect everyone to accept the system as it is.
Unfortunately for them, Dani isn’t particularly good at following rules she doesn’t understand.
What makes the premise interesting is how it takes the familiar portal-fantasy concept of a protagonist finding themselves in the afterlife and uses it to explore institutional control. The hereafter is governed by organizations such as DeathCo (the Devil is the handsome CEO) and the Eternal Light Authority, along with an unfinished liminal realm. Rather than presenting the afterlife as some mystical place governed by incomprehensible cosmic laws, or even just a Kafka-esque bureaucracy, the comic gives it the distinctly modern flavor of a corporation that has managed to monopolize eternity.
Dani doesn’t initially set out to overthrow this system, however. She isn’t a revolutionary who arrives with a grand plan to liberate the dead. She’s a teenager still trying to come to grips with her own death, and find her missing best friend, Isa, all the while worrying about her younger sister, Lucy, who is still alive but was trying to contact her before her accident. These personal concerns give the story an emotional core that might otherwise be lost amid the metaphysical world-building.
Writer Tracey Wheeler Noonan does a good job of giving Dani a grounded, dryly sarcastic voice. This helps keep the story’s heavier metaphysical elements from becoming overly pretentious. There is something inherently funny about a surly millennial nineteen year old being forced to navigate the administrative machinery of the afterlife, particularly when the people running it seem to regard their authority as beyond question. Dani’s attitude provides a welcome counterbalance to the seriousness with which these institutions regard themselves.
Dani’s death is more than a convenient way to transport her into a fantasy setting. Her concern for the people she has left behind remains central to her motivations, and the contrast between her personal circumstances and the clinical way the afterlife processes souls gives the story much of its appeal. Beneath the comedy lies a genuine question about who gets to decide where a soul belongs and whether the individual has any say in the matter.
Our main reservation with this story is that the exposition occasionally gets in the way of the story. There are moments when character interactions give way to lengthy explanations of how the afterlife’s various factions operate. Some of this information is necessary to establish the setting. But slows down Dani’s search. The premise is interesting enough that we would prefer to discover more about the system through her experiences rather than have the narrative pause to explain its workings. Still, this is forgivable for a first issue, which has to establish the rules of its fictional world.
Mr Silva’s artwork takes an interesting approach, combining the clean, attractive character designs commonly associated with modern digital webcomics with the atmosphere of indie dark fantasy. The characters have expressive features and smooth shading, while the fine-line digital inking adds texture to their clothing. Dani’s blue hair streak gives her a distinctive look, and even details such as the folds in her baggy jeans seems very contemporary and young, both stylistically and thematically.
The coloring relies heavily on soft, airbrushed gradients and subtle lighting rather than flat cel-shading. Magical elements and other supernatural details are accented by bright digital glows. The backgrounds, meanwhile, are detailed and heavily rendered, sometimes with a quality that suggests the use of photo references. This creates a contrast between the stylized characters and the environments they inhabit. The approach has its appeal, although the difference in rendering styles can make the characters feel artificially inserted into their surroundings.
The panel layouts also have a distinctly modern feel, with floating figures and overlapping arrangements that bring to mind the visual sensibilities of vertical-scrolling webcomics. The result is a fluid presentation that suits the comic’s contemporary aesthetic.
Overall, Dani Danger #1: And So It Begins has a compelling premise . It has a protagonist whose motivations give the story a more personal dimension than its corporate-afterlife concept might initially suggest. The creative team still has some work to do in finding the right balance between explaining its world and allowing the story to unfold naturally. Nevertheless, the combination of dark fantasy, teenage crankiness, and bureaucratic comedy gives it a charming identity. Dani’s reasons for questioning the system provide a solid foundation for what comes next.
This title is available for sale here: https://dangerstudios.net/product/dani-danger-and-so-it-begins/