ICYMI! Red Sonja: Black, White, and Red #4: From Iron Maiden to Tyrant Killer

The Iron Maiden

This story has an interesting premise.  A wounded Sonja tries to rescue her savior only to learn that there are more than one way to fight a battle.  The issue I have in reading this story is that Sonja is portrayed as a petulant child throughout her recovery.  It is possible that this story takes place earlier in her life but that is not made clear.  Sonja is headstrong and she does resort first to violence but I picture her as being very intelligent and she just is not shown in that way in this story.

The use of red is limited to Sonja’s hair, blood, and the roses.  It draws the attention of the reader to the statue of the maiden and with the dialog mentioning marriage, it links Oenila’s wedding scene with the roses in her hair.  The use of the red in Sonja’s hair makes her stand out as the main character to keep your eyes on.

The Iron Queen

The art style here is very different to the previous story.  It is very detailed and gritty.  It shows the characters in their real life glory with muscles and blood galore.  This is a story later, much later in Sonja’s life.  When we first see her, she is is old and the red is gone from her hair.  She is shown only with white hair and a withered frame on a throne.  She has forgotten who she was and it takes this siege to awaken the warrior spirit in her and she once again becomes a she-devil.

The red here is limited to the blood from the battle wounds and hair of a young Red Sonja when the Iron Queen remembers who she is. The most stunning panel is the panel showing the aged Sonja raising her blood stained hands in triumph with blood in her hair making hew once again Red Sonja.

Cold Monger

This art is much simpler than in the Iron Queen.  Sonja is younger in this story and the first glimpse of red we see are in the arrows Sonja fires to kill the attacking demons.  The only other red we see is first the hair of Red Sonja and then the blood of the final battle.  It is interesting that a few of the words in the sound effects are also red.  The final panel only shows the growth of red flowers, signifying a new birth. In Sonja, new birth comes in the red blood.

The story here is simple.  Sonja is lost in a frozen wasteland with no sun and no fire.  She learns that an evil king has taken possession of all the fire and the only other fire is conjured by magic.  Sonja decides to kill this evil king and in doing so she sows new life into the kingdom.  A straightforward story but the ending is a little enigmatic for me. In the confrontation, the king it looks like the king casts a spell on Sonja.  Her companion since the battle with the demons declares that there is no way to save the warrior. She then kisses the surprised companion and this creates a power in Sonja that causes her hair to erupt into red flames and she then beheads the king.  I do not understand what happened b cause we do not see Sonja after the final beheading.