The end.
Creative Staff:
Story: Luke Lieberman
Art: Drew Moss
Colors: Dearbhla Kelly
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
What They Say:
Red Sonja and the Barren’s journey comes to its conclusion. Sonja’s reluctance to do battle has been stripped away. Woe be the dead men who step in her path. From LUKE LIEBERMAN (Red Sonja: Price Of Blood) and DREW MOSS (Vampirella/Red Sonja).
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the main storyline having ended a few issues ago with Mark Russell’s run, Luke Lieberman has put in a solidly fun epilogue overall in the couple of issues since. I do think it would have been better to just end it previously and run this separate as a mini, but what’s done is done. Lieberman has some fun here in wrapping things up quickly and hitting a lot of different notes which can make it a little offbeat at times, but it does what it needs to, sometimes rushed, sometimes slowly. Drew Moss continues to put in a solid book here with a great look for the characters and settings so it feels like the time and place but not just a carbon copy of every swords and fantasy book out there. It’s grimy and distinctive enough and you feel the dirt and dust of it all easily.
What we get here is a very fast-moving series of events that brings us to the conclusion and a different homeland for Red Sonja that she will always return to defend. Initially, she and the ministers we’ve followed the last few issues are making a mad dash back home and following the messages that Isolde has sent through birds to know what’s up there and how to plan for it. On the flip side, Isolde has given herself willingly to the young conqueror from Turan in order to stave off the battle to come, knowing the amount of bloodshed and what will happen. He’s incredulous as expected but insists on following through with things because of youth, the desire to conquer, and the way he was raised. Isolde offers other ways to win here that will work out for both, but the reality of a young leader following in footsteps is what drives things.
Sonja’s arrival brings sus some fun action to it but it’s just such a rush of events as it unfolds that you don’t get quite what we had in prior actions. It’s something that you kind of just ride along with more than anything else and see how Sonja enjoys it and what it turns into. There’s even a minor song sequence of sorts which made me chuckle but didn’t compel me to really get into it. But it’s all largely worth it for the final pages as we see Sonja and Isolde working together to cement things and then to dig into the way both of them think of each other and how they plan for the future. I like the bond that we have between the two even if in this arc the time together comes across as a few minutes total overall.
In Summary:
Red Sonja continues to be a great character and this storyline worked well enough to provide some additional closure, taking place years after the previous storyline ended. The writing was spot on and the artwork was great and we got more gorgeous covers out of this run so I can’t complain in the slightest. I’m going to miss this iteration of Sonja more than any other that I’ve read in the past decade but I know there are a lot more in my future to sink my teeth into and enjoy.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment | Amazon | ComiXology
Release Date: June 23rd, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
