Red Sonja #1
John Jack
Recap
An Empire is spreading across the Hyperborean age with fire and fury, and this next province in their sights is the She Devil with a sword's native Hyrkania! Meanwhile in Hyrkania a new queen has been quickly crowned, Red Sonja! It isn't long before the new queens fiery temper gets her in hot water!
Review
This first issue is a bit of a mixed bag, I like a lot of it, the art particularly, but it doesn’t feel like Russell has the voices quite right for a sword and sorcery epic set thousands of years ago. Frequently characters use modern colloquialisms that bother me greatly, having spent most of my youth reading the Hyperborean Age’s other more famous resident, Conan. Speaking of Conan for some reason in the opening scene the former king of Stygia swears to Crom, which is the equivalent of an Egyptian Pharoah swearing to Odin. Stygia is far, far South of Cimmeria.
Voices aside i like the idea of Red Sonja finding herself at odds with an invading Empire due to her hard head. That feels right. I’ll probably keep up with the story for a couple more issues but as of now i’m about 50/50 on my overall interest.
The art is really top notch on all counts, I loved the fight scenes particularly and this series plays it a little dirtier than the more stiff and grim Conan I’m used to. I was very pleased that the interiors didn’t display the practically nude Sonja of recent years, as i initially dreaded when the editor asked me to cover this issue.
Final Thoughts
A decent start if you like sword and sorcery tales and (maybe?) strong females. A bit too early to tell on that second one.
Red Sonja #1: The Return of the She Devil!
- Writing - 6/106/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 7/107/10
