The hard choices of leadership.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Russell
Art: Mirko Colak
Colors: Dearbhla Kelly
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
What They Say:
Like an all-consuming fire, the armies of Dragan The Magnificent pursued Sonja The Red until there was nowhere else to flee. The corpses of her people scattered before her like charred rabbits, she turned to face his exquisite wrath. And prayed in vain for death to take her quickly. The epic continues by MARK RUSSELL (Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, The Flintstones) and MIRKO COLAK (Conan).
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This volume of Red Sonja is moving both slow and fast in interesting ways. There’s a lot going on here since Sonja returned home and got thrust into the position of queen and Mark Russell has this war being executed well, almost in a theatrical kind of way with lots of small offshoots with expansions in the past and present. Mirko Colak only seems to get better and better with each issue, working more of the familiar situations in new ways while also giving us some interesting new places to check out through the flashbacks. I love the harshness that we get from this book in both locations and characters, which comes across even better with Sonja’s people and the things they’ve survived as it’s worn on their faces through his artwork.
The two-track approach continues to work well here as the storylines intersect from time to time. For Sonja, she’s dealing with her war council on figuring out the next plan. While there’s a faction that wants to defend and fight for their territory, Sonja is leaning the other way. She knows on some level that there will be sacrifices because if not then you lose everything. What aids her in determining her course of action is the young woman that had joined up whose country was overrun by Zamora before. It’s through her that it’s made clear that Dragan and his war are all about assimilating others into their fabric, to remove their cultural identity and make them just like the Zamorans. It’s a standard approach overall to apply to the conquered but can lead to a lot of problems down the line. But knowing that, that makes things easier for Sonja to figure out.
The flashback side informs a lot of this for Sonja as she was taught about loss by her instructor and that makes it easier for her to know what to do. With not everyone evacuating the lands before, she has to drag as many of them as she can while they plan to seek some sanctuary in the forests to the west. But bringing those people along for the ride means using force, which is problematic, but we also see how Kryon ends up falling into a trap while out doing just that. You knew he would be targeted after his position became clear in regards to Sonja previously and having the Zamoran’s figure out a way to use that information in order to drive a wedge into Sonja’s plans make sense. The problem is figuring out whether Sonja is cold enough to do what needs doing in order to protect the larger population of her people.
In Summary:
Red Sonja has had a lot of strong runs over the years from great creative teams. This fifth volume series from Russell and Colak is exactly what I’ve been looking for in order to feel really connected to it. Sonja isn’t a reluctant queen here but she is one that will do what is necesssary, remembering the lessons of the past and applying them as she can in the here and now to save her people. It’s a singular focus with a lot of angles to play but I love how she’s handling it as more often than not she doesn’t feel like the central character, but rather part of the ensemble. Russell and Colak are delivering my favorite run of the series and it has so many places to still go and explore and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 5th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
