Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Cezar Razek, Comics, dynamite, entertainment, frank tieri, Red Sonja: The Black Tower

Writer's Commentary – Red Sonja The Black Tower By Frank Tieri

Writer commentary by Frank Tieri. Art by Cezar Razek. 

What is the Black Tower?

Sure, as we see in Issue #1, it's this towering, black structure that appears out of nowhere in the Hyborean town of Lur, resulting in mass confusion, fear… and a whole shitload of violence. But as we'll see as the series progresses, it's a lot more complicated than that. And even after it opens in issue #2, even after the true force behind it is revealed in #3, you're really not going to fully understand what the Black Tower is until our grand finale.

But anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's look in on when we first see the Tower, shall we? Sonja rides up to it and it looks scary as hell. Dark, misty, creepy looking birds flying around it… it looks like something right out of a Stephen King story, which is really what I'm going for here. Whether it's a house or an amulet or a car or whatever, King often uses these mysterious objects that pop up out of nowhere and cause chaos and misery to everyone they come in contact with. And we get a sense that's going to be the case here, even before our story even really starts.

Here's where Sonja shows up and Cezar's really done a great job here. I wanted this to be like Sonja's "Dirty Harry" moment. Gang of scumbags attacking Sandra Locke or whoever and Clint swoops in and blows all those fuckers away. That sort of thing. And Cezar's really pulled it off, Sonja looking mean as shit, turning one of those bastards' heads into a canoe.

I love this scene. Here you have Fengar Tolt, who's basically the lowest form of life there is. It's like if a hurricane or some other disaster happens and you got hit, Fengar's the type of guy that would loot your house and swipe your PS4 or your weed whacker or whatever he could get his grubby hands on. Basically just take a bad situation and use it to his advantage, however that may be. Which is what he's doing here…

Until Sonja shows up, of course. Now… you sort of almost have to admire his balls here. There are guys like this, trust me. That just don't give a fuck. I mean, he knows who Sonja is, he knows what she can do. He still unbelievably goes ahead and basically tells her to piss off, even goes so far as to poke her in her tit. Absolutely daring her to do something about it.

And she does. And suddenly Fengar's pointing days are now over…

Maybe my favorite scene in the book—Fengar gets what's coming to him. You try to rape somebody? Sonja stabs you in the dick with your own knife. That's what you get. End of story.

Well.. not quite the end. We'll see more of Fengar—or Swordless, as Sonja mockingly calls him– throughout the series, don't you worry. You don't lose your dick in a knife fight and not want some major payback to whoever did the slicing, ya know?

And then Sonja, frustrated with the people of Lur, rides off into the sunset. But… as we see in the very last panel of the book, not without some suddenly very interested parties taking notice.

So Sonja's on their radar now, and all I'll say is whoever—or whatever—is in that Black Tower may very well spell the end for our favorite She Devil with a Sword. (And no, folks, that's not a spoiler. We say that in the very first page of the book…)

For more on Red Sonja: The Black Tower #1, click here.

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