Gold Digger is absolutely littered with in-jokes, references, and other cultural humor. Fred Perry loves sliding references to anything and everything under the sun into his comics - even references to his other comics! Here is a small sampling of the references that can be found:
- Gina often says, "Go-Go-Gina-{whatever}" where the "whatever" is her backpack, car, or other handy device. This is a reference to Inspector Gadget, a classic cartoon from the 80's.
- Gina also often says, "Zoinks!" or "Jinkies!" These are Scooby Doo references. I doubt anyone missed this one.
- The Ginamobile Mk I has a button on its dashboard that says, "Warp Drive." When Gina uses it, she shouts, "Warp Factor Ten! Engage!" and hits the button. The car promptly stalls, which, I believe, is a reference to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
- In early issues, Gina carries around a "shock rod," which looks exactly like Luke's first lightsaber. (Star Wars reference, for those three of you who didn't get it.)
- Penny's pilot boyfriend, Kevin, who prefers to be called Ace, uses the phrase, "Call me Ace, huh?" and, "Call me Ace, yo?" several times. This is a reference to Don Bluth's classic arcade game, Space Ace.
- Dark Bird, one of Ace's enemies, sometimes flies "Nobra Tattlers," and one of her pilots is named "Snake-Face," both clear references to G.I. Joe.
- Dark Bird's first plane looks exactly like an X-Wing, and one of her pilots flies an A-Wing.
- Some of the Dark Bird stories have vague references to Area 88, an old Anime series that dealt with mercenary fighter pilots.
- Empress Lynn bears a distinct resemblance to Chun Li, from Street Fighter 2.
- Kahn, the librarian of the Library of Time, was trained by "Master Long." When Khan explains that only two others studied Master Long's techniques, two figures are seen in the background, who look a great deal like Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter.
- There is a psychotic, time-meddling dog named Mr. Peachbody, and his pet boy, Benji. This is a HIGHLY twisted reference to Mr. Peabody and Sherman, two characters from Rocky and Bullwinkle.
- At one point, the Ginamobile Mk III (I think) drove sideways. This is a reference to Riding Bean.
- As they run away from the badguy-du-jour, Cheetah warns Gina to "watch for trees." Gina piles into a tree several panels later. This is most likely a George of the Jungle reference.
- Brendan the werewolf mage, after stealing all the magic from all of Jade's other magic-users, shouts, "I have the power!" Those of you who remember He-Man, raise your hands.
- One of Brianna's weapons was named the V.B.F.G., short for VERY B.F.G.
- At one point, Cheetah puts on an outfit that almost exactly matches that of Shorty, from Bust a Groove.
- One of Gina's inventions is called Peebo, which is a joke on the Sony Aibo. But that's not all! Later on, she improves a Peebo into Peebochu... a small, yellow, electric-based mouse-ish thing...
- Most of the members of Edge Guard's names are anagrams of Thundercats names: Onoli (Lion-O), Tirga (Tygra), Thropan (Panthro), and Gaja (Jaga).
- One of the "Dimensional Guardians" is named Dee'Em, and looks exactly like Dungeon Master from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from the late '70s.
There are many other references to Slayers, Tenchi Muyo, Final Fantasy, and numerous other science fiction, anime, and video game sources.