See you in hell takes on new meaning by the end here.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner
Art: Moritat
Colors: Matt Carter
Letterer: Dae Sharpe
What They Say:
Red Sonja is a woman possessed, and we DO mean possessed! Lucky for her, she’s also a one-woman army, which is good, as she’s about to face off against an army! The price on her head, the missing crown, the rage of a certain wizard—it all comes home to roost this issue! AMANDA CONNER, JIMMY PALMIOTTI and MORITAT dish out the ultimate punishment where it’s deserved, and there’s plenty of punishment to go around!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a lot of years of reading works by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, I’m continuing to thrill at how this storyline is working out as it’s dense yet flows wonderfully with all of the movement and action. It reminds me almost of a theatrical piece storyboarded tightly, which works really well when it comes to the artwork. It’s all laid out in a way that allows for Moritat to shine even more than usual. His talent is not wasted here as we move across the lands, deal with some great characters, and put Sonja in positions where expressiveness is key. The end result is a really richly detailed book that has a ton going for it in making these places and characters engaging and alive in so many ways.
The book spends almost all of its time with Sonja but I do love that we get some time with the queen and King Gerrod. With the two awkwardly talking about their relationship that existed prior to her marriage to the now-dead king, it doesn’t take long for Gerrod to make sexy-eyes at her and for her to just get back under him. It’s old-school stuff for the genre but it plays out hilariously here because the two have a long-existing dynamic that’s now been freed. Except for the part where the prince and princess come back to save her from what’s coming from the volcano only to see what’s going on between the two. That the prince really does just slice his head off mid-hump is completely bonkers and hilarious, though I appreciated that the blood didn’t splatter everywhere – at least visually.
With Sonja, so much of this is just her fight and flight as the volcano is active and getting ready to blow. The problem is that Bahira is there and he’s intent on dominating over her again and it turns into a chaotic but wonderfully illustrated extensive sequence from Moritat as they go back and forth over it. I love the flow of it and it’s worth it, just at first, to read it without looking at the dialogue at all. Just admire the flow of the fight and then go back to see what’s being said as an accent over the larger relationship. Sonja’s a delight in handling all of this and we see as she continues to do her best to save a few people, especially Tuma, as they race down the mountain and try to find a way to get away from all the lava that’s now flowing around. It does end on a big enough tease to make you want to see what the final escape will be, but the whole thing between her and Tuma really makes these final pages special.
In Summary:
While I partially expected this installment to wrap up the storyline, I’m excited to see where it goes next and that not everything was being crammed into a standard six-issue block. Palmiotti and Connor have a lot of things going on here but it’s still kept small and tight overall and there’s a good sense of forward motion throughout. Moritat is really delivering some gorgeous artwork here that Matt Carter is bringing to life beautifully with the color design. The big fight sequence is great but I also really loved the old-school feeling of the sex scene between the king and queen of different kingdoms that we get. There’s a good mix of humor and comedy in all of this but it’s still played straight and serious in the right way. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 24th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
