Posted in: Comics | Tagged: aneke, Comics, dynamite, entertainment, gail simone, Marguerite Bennett, red sonja

Art And Character Moments Highlight New Red Sonja #1

Published Thu, 14 Jan 2016 07:00:51 -0600

Spoilers for Red Sonja #1

Dynamite is taking the bold step of having three of their iconic female characters and having them redesigned by the talented Nicola Scott. Combining that with a narrative direction from Gail Simone we are going to get a new Dejah Thoris, Red Sonja and Vampirella.

Yesterday saw the release of the new Red Sonja #1 from Marguerite Bennett and Aneke with various covers including the main one by Marguerite Sauvage.

The issue starts with Red Sonja trying to get the heart of the Thunder Bull of the Steppes in order to save the King of Hyrkania. Though successful in her mission, the end results are not what they had hoped. The king is still dying and he offers Sonja the throne when he passes. She realizes what type of leader she would be and declines. This leads to a year away only to return and discover whoever took the throne has done an amazing job in turning the country around and finding peace. She is basically out of work as a She Devil and is extremely bored. It stays that way until a crack in the utopia is discovered and she leaps into action… but that is the end of the issue.

This is an odd first issue. We start with action but then slow down to a snail's pace through the rest of the issue. This Sonja is a bit more introspective and when she decides against taking the throne because she realizes what type of rule she'd be, it is one of the most interesting moments in the book. She knows she would indulge in the power, satisfying her every desire. She knows she has no experience in governing and that she is better suited wearing a sword rather than a crown. We get more introspection when see three pages of her with consorts… though it's hard to tell whether these are memories or fantasies. They just kind of pop up while she is sleeping and you're not 100% sure how they fit.

The rest of the issue spends a lot of time showing how much better Hyrkania is with the new king but Sonja never takes the time to find out who the new king is. And that just telegraphs the fact that everything is not what it seems. But we have to wait for issue 2 to find out just how.

The look of the book is the star of the issue. Aneke's art along with the coloring of Jorge Sutil is very good and tells the story well. And the thing that a lot of people are talking about is the costume change… but here it's hardly noticeable. The Vampirella redesign is very drastic, but this is just going from the metal bikini to a metal tank top and leather skirt. It covers more but not that much more. It's not like it's a full suit of armor. She still shows skin, still has the long red hair and I don't think anyone would have a hard time picking her out on the page.

To recap: good art, nice character moments but very little story to get you hooked into the series. Hopefully issue 2 will give us more to dig into.

For more on Red Sonja #1, click here.

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