Creative Staff:
Story: Marguerite Bennett
Art: Aneke
Colors: Jorge Sutil
Letters: Erica Schultz
What They Say:
As her people turn warlike and become more vicious than even their enemies, Red Sonja battles to save Hyrkania from its own army. Racing to the throne, with a price on her head, Sonja finds herself entangled in the charms and wiles of a mysterious and beautiful performer… and when the face of the King is revealed at last, Sonja is captured in intrigues more deadly than any she has known!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After a year abroad, Sonja returns to her homeland, Hyrkania, only to find much of it changed. At first, the changes seemed to be for the better: villages became cities and health, prosperity, and education seemed to be the new norm. However, all that paint only served to hide the rotten infrastructure beneath—forced conscription into the army, violent expansion of Hyrkania’s borders, and abuse of power everywhere. Sonja manages to save a family trying to flee this hawkish new version of her country, but can she save her entire nation? The only path she can take will take her straight to the throne she denied only a year ago, and to the man who now sits upon it.
The climax of the story takes place within a theater. Sonja travels there to confront General Taerga—the woman responsible for a great deal of the death and destruction ordered by the King. It’s there in theater that we meet Midyan, an actress, and see just how far Hyrkania has fallen. See, over the past few months, more and more rewrites have been “requested” by the General and other people in positions in power. At first it was just a joke or two, poking fun at their neighbors. The rewrites escalated to entire scenes devoted to creating and enforcing the idea of Hyrkanian supremacy and denigrating and dehumanizing the other nations.
This isn’t something you typically see in a barbarian tale, and it’s excellent. Bennett understands that it takes more than military might to make a nation go insane. The powers that be must win over the hearts and minds of the populace, or else their plans will never reach fruition. As the saying goes, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and in some cases, that proves true.
Sonja tries to talk sense into the theater patrons, only to face a hostile mob, seemingly possessed by the words they heard. The Devil with a Sword manages to escape with Midyan, and when they catch a moment, Sonja asks her if the plays are enchanted: “Are the plays written in cursed ink, I mean? Or on paper made from human skin? Some dark witchcraft, that the stories would drive the people that hear them to such cruelty and madness?” Midyan’s reply, “No, Sonja. No,” and the anguish on her face (drawn superbly by Aneke) tells the whole story: magic wasn’t necessary to incite cruelty and madness in the people—it already existed, waiting to be awakened.
When Sonja finally reaches the capital and the “Falcon Throne,” she finds a much warmer reception than anticipated and a shock when she discovers who sits on the throne now. I won’t ruin it, but it’s a moment that twists the knife even further and makes this fight even more personal and meaningful to Sonja.
Aneke draws this issue with a light touch, enhanced and highlighted by Sutil’s surprisingly light colors. She does an excellent job drawing both the big action moments and the smaller, more emotionally-driven scenes. And her pacing and panel placement are top-notch. This is a comic that is as well drawn as it is written and the two parts of the storytelling work together to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
In Summary:
Red Sonja, Vol. 3 #2 (that’s a mouthful) is another solid issue under this new creative team. Everything you love about the Devil with a Sword remains, but new and unexpected corners of her world are plumbed, adding to the already rich story and setting. If you’re a Sword & Sorcery fan, you should be reading this. Dr. Josh gives this an…
Grade: A
Age Rating:
Released By: Dynamite Comics
Release Date: February 17th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99