Things get a little weird.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mirka Andolfo, Luca Blengino
Art: Giuseppe Cafaro
Colors: Chiara di Francia
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
What They Say:
After rescuing her from the gang of the ferocious Three-Eyes Shezem and realizing how dangerous the dormant power inside her can be, Red Sonja vows to never part with Sitha…until she brings her back to her real family. The little girl seems to come from a mysterious village hidden on the peaks of distant Kithai, a place where only women can access…but the road to reach that remote kingdom is long and full of dangers. The first is the Feud of the Seven Capestri, where the she-devil with the sword will be taken prisoner by the cruel Baroness Drang…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Mirka Andolfo, as she writes alongside Luca Blengino, has had a strong run as the series has progressed with their time spent with the character. The story continues to move forward overall but is, supposedly, designed for these good jumping-on points for people to see what’s happening, especially if those gorgeous covers draw in new readers. Giuseppe Cafaro is handling the artwork with Chiara di Francia doing the color design and it’s really great. There’s a really great sense of color to this that gives it an almost film-like feeling at times. It’s richly detailed and immerses you in this engaging world in a really great way. I love the look of the cast and the expressiveness that we get as well.
With the battle getting underway in the previous issue with the pirates basically overtaking the slaver ship that Sonja and Sitha ended up on, it’s been a pretty rough fight from the get-go here. Sitha’s in a mild panic but Sonja is holding her own against the invading horder. It does get worse when the captain of that ship arrives and is eager for a fight. It’s been long months without a fight for him and the oversized man really sees Sonja as a fascinating opponent with the skill all while using just a standard blade instead of her own specialty blade. It’s a lot of fun to watch it unfold as you see how she manages to cause him to cause a lot of damage to the ship he’s invading, making the whole thing problematic for everyone.
But their real problem is that as the fight has gone on, the ships have sailed into something unexpected that comes with this sea. They’ve come across an island that has pushed the battle to the side as they’re now under two moons instead of the usual one. And the stones at the beach are alive with one giant eye! It’s pretty creepy as it plays out so that when the flying eyeballs come down from the cliffside to starts attack people – and to directly kidnap Sitha – you know it’s just going to be a mess. It’s really disturbing in how it’s presented and the visual design is fantastic here. Sonja’s attempts at saving Sitha are as expected and you know she’s going to keep at it in the next installment. But seeing Sitha pulled away like that really sets a tone.
In Summary:
This issue is pretty heavy on the action with the battle aboard the ship and it really does dominate it. It works well with Sonja having a good opponent to play against but the book became a lot more interesting once they hit shore and a new mystery is there. I don’t expect it to be a long journey there as the main focus is keeping Sitha moving and this has the feel of a fly-by-night adventure. A very intriguing one.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 25th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
