Thursday, August 25, 2022

Comics Review: The Immortal RED SONJA #5

IMMORTAL RED SONJA #5
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Dan Abnett
ARTIST: Luca Colandrea
COLORS: Ellie Wright
LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry
EDITOR: Nate Cosby
COVER: David Nakayama
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2022)

Rated Teen+

“The Knight's Tale”


Red Sonja is female high fantasy and sword and sorcery hero.  She first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23 (cover dated February 1973) and was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith.  Red Sonja was loosely based on “Red Sonya of Rogatino,” a female character that appeared in the 1934 short story, “The Shadow of the Vulture,” written by Conan the Cimmerian's creator, Robert E. Howard.

In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing comic books featuring differing versions of the character.  The latest is Immortal Red Sonja.  It is written by Dan Abnett; drawn by Emiliana Pinna or Alessandro Miracolo or Luca Colandrea; colored by Ellie Wright; and lettered by Jeff Eckleberry.  The series is set in the Britain of legend and finds Red Sonja (“Sonja the Red”) in possession of two cursed items – a soul-possessed chain mail and an accursed blade (“Gwynbur”). Neither will let her go until she helps restore the fallen, lost kingdom of “Logres,” and its mighty rulers, the Paindragons.

Immortal Red Sonja #5 (“The Knight's Tale”) opens as Sonja battles cave-dwelling wights.  She has to, for she and her male companion must go deeper into the cave in order to find the “Abyssal Spring.”  According to her chain mail, the spring's waters will restore the memories of this man who was once Lanzlot Lak, one of the High Paindragon's greatest warrior.

Now, Red Sonja can be free of her curse, but there is always a complication...  And Sonja the Red might not like her end of the deal.

THE LOWDOWN:  Since July 2021, Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is Immortal Red Sonja #5, which is one of many, many Dynamite Red Sonja comic books that I have read.

Immortal Red Sonja is Dan Abnett's spin on the Arthurian legend, with Red Sonja being the spin.  Although each issue of this series is connected to the others, obviously, Abnett deftly composes each one so that it can act as a standalone story, a kind of fairy tale within the larger tale.  Thus, the reader can read one issue and not feel obligated to (or stuck with) reading the next issue.  Of course, Immortal Red Sonja is so good that...

The art team of artist Luca Colandrea and colorist Ellie Wright bring this story to life.  Colandrea's big panels and smooth action thrill without losing the sense of fantasy here.  As a special treat, Wrights colors accentuate the Sonja boob show Colandrea offers readers in this fifth issue.

So, yeah, you want to try this Red Sonja spin-off title, dear readers.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Red Sonja comic books must read Immortal Red Sonja.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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