A new round of tales by strong creators for the she-devil with a sword.
Creative Staff:
Story: Gail Simon, Dearbhla Kelley, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Art: Walter Geovani, Soo Lee, Jonathan Lau
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
What They Say:
The greatest tales! The most amazing storytellers! Red Sonja, like you’ve NEVER seen before…all presented in beautiful black, white, and red!
Superstar GAIL SIMONE returns to The She-Devil With A Sword with artist WALTER GEOVANI, for a tale spanning Sonja’s entire life…
DEARBHLA KELLY and SOO LEE spin a story of interlaced intrigue and savage adventure…
HASSAN OTSMANE-ELAHOU and JONATHAN LAU feature a conundrum for Sonja, in the form of a foreboding, fire-breathing dragon…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With any number of Red Sonja books out there at a given time, finding ones that really work for you can be hit or miss unless you just consume all things Sonja. I like the variety and attempts at finding new ways to tell tales with the character, so getting an anthology-style book of short stories is definitely up my alley. We get a number of good talents here, and some familiar ones that have worked with the character before, and that results in some solid fun to be had.
With the opening tale, it’s a really solid 10 or so page montage piece that takes a look at Sonja’s life from birth to her ending day. Gail Simone will always come back for a Red Sonja story when she can and working with longtime Sonja partner Walter Geovani only makes it all the more enjoyable. The two have a great shorthand in understanding each other with this character after what they’ve produced before so what we get here is kind of a recap but it’s really haunting in watching it because of all these key moments. Geovani’s artwork is great here in capturing so many moments and it unfolds well even with there being no dialogue, allowing you to key in on certain moments and just enjoy that aspect of it.
The second tale from Dearbhla Kelley and Soo Lee provides another fun view of Sonja that’s more light-hearted but with some really detailed and great artwork that works well with this coloring style. Here, Sonja gets tripped up by a simple trap set by a young girl that claims to have lost her parents to bandits. Sonja’s opted to bring her to the next village they come across and for the girl, it’s a chance to spend time with the legend and that has her going on and on (and on!) about Sonja’s supposed tales while also almost getting into a lot of trouble along the way. Rua is pretty fun with this and Sonja’s expressions throughout, especially with the minor twist at the end with the final panel, really works well to show the more human side of Sonja.
The final tale with artwork from Jonathan Lau is an interesting one because it largely takes place without any dialogue. Sonja has come for the bounty on a dragon but there’s complications and untruths about the whole thing that she discovers by the end, which has her setting things in motion in a fun way to go after the king that’s playing a long game here. The majority of the chapter involves Sonja making hard progress toward where the dragon should be and Lau’s artwork is the real draw here to see how she fares, especially under this color design. Lau’s artwork has long been great but the use of the reds here really stands out and particularly because Lau has such a great and distinctive take on Sonja when it comes to her face. I love the more striking design here and the details overall.
In Summary:
Not a lot of characters can sustain an anthology book (and a couple of ongoing series at the same time) but Red Sonja has so much to offer that it’s really ideal. Dynamite gets to do some shorter one-off tales with a lot of great talent without having to secure heavy commitments. That works well for them, the creatives, and the readers as I’ll take any chance at a Gail Simone story or more Jonathan Lau artwork like this. It looks great and has a lot of fun stuff here even when it’s deadly serious.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 22nd, 2021
MSRP: $4.99
