Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Comics Review: RED SONJA Volume 6 #12

RED SONJA VOLUME 6 #12
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Mirka Andolfo and Luca Blengino
ART: Giuseppe Cafaro
COLORS: Chiara Di Francia
LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry
EDITOR: Nate Cosby
COVER: Mirka Andolfo
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2022)

Rated Teen+

Based on the characters and stories created by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Robert E. Howard

“Mother” Chapter Twelve


Conan the Barbarian #23 (cover dated: February 1973) saw the debut of a high fantasy, sword and sorcery heroine, Red Sonja.  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 Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), the creator of the character, Conan the Cimmerian.

Dynamite Entertainment is now the publisher of Red Sonja comic books.  One of the recent titles, Red Sonja Volume 6, is under the guidance of popular Italian comic book creator, Mirka Andolfo.  It is written by Andolfo and Luca Blengino; drawn by Giuseppe Cafaro; colored by Chiara Di Francia; and lettered by Jeff Eckleberry.  In this new series, Red Sonja accepts the bounty to bring a girl named “Sitha” to a broker who will send her to her true home (Kithai).  The girl, however, becomes attached to Sonja and calls her mother and an adventure begins.

Red Sonja Volume 6 #12 opens outside of the village of Agaras-Bulba, the true home of Sitha.  Tricked about the girl's fate, Red Sonja now truly sees her as a daughter.  She returns to the village and into the mountain where Sitha is to be sacrificed.  Are things going to unfold as Sonja wishes?

The demon Xamul is free at last, and the High Priestess of his cult is determined to harness her power.  The fate of the village and of Sitha hangs in the balance.  Can Red Sonja save her daughter and guide an enslaved people to freedom … and fight a god?

THE LOWDOWN:   Since July 2021, the marketing department of Dynamite Entertainment has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is Red Sonja Volume 6 #12 which is the latest of several Dynamite Entertainment Red Sonja comic books that I have read.

What a lovely series Red Sonja Volume 6 is.  Mirka Andolfo and Luca Blengino have fashioned in this series one of the best Red Sonja comic book series that I have ever read.  Yet it took me until the end to truly understand it.  This iteration of Red Sonja was not only a tale of mothers and daughters, but it was also a tale about home.  For Red Sonja and eventually for Sitha, the world is home and you can always find people that can be family, friends, mentors, and maybe even lovers.

I highly recommend this series with its beautiful art by Giuseppe Cafaro and fiery colors by Chiara Di Francia and steady drumbeat lettering by Jeff Eckleberry.  I think it will make a wonderful two-volume trade paperback collection or even one big hardcover.  Readers should be able to discover the wonders of Red Sonja by Mirka Andolfo for years to come.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Red Sonja and of Mirka Andolfo will want to try Red Sonja Volume 6.

A

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


https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/
https://www.facebook.com/DynamiteComics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOH4PEsl8dyZ2Tj7XUlY7w
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynamite-entertainment


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Comics Review: "THE MAGIC ORDER 3 #2" Recalls Moore "Swamp Thing," Gaiman "Sandman"

THE MAGIC ORDER 3 #2 (OF 6)
IMAGE COMICS/Netflix

STORY: Mark Millar
ART: Gigi Cavenago
COLORS: Valentina Napolitano
LETTERS: Clem Robins
EDITORIAL: Sarah Unwin
COVER: Gigi Cavenago
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Gigi Cavenago; Matteo Scalera with Giovanna Niro
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2022)

Rated M / Mature

The Magic Order created by Mark Millar at Netflix


The Magic Order was a six-issue comic book miniseries written by Mark Millar and drawn by Olivier Coipel.  Published in 2018-19, The Magic Order focuses on the sorcerers, magicians, and wizards – in particularly the Moonstone family – who live ordinary lives by day, but protect humanity from darkness and monsters of impossible sizes by night.  A second six-issue miniseries, The Magic Order 2 (2021-22), was recently published.

The Magic Order 3 introduces the Asian chapter of the The Magic Order.  A six-issue miniseries, this third installment is written by Millar; drawn by Gigi Cavenago; colored by Valentina Napolitano; and lettered by Clem Robins.  The series finds Cordelia Moonstone focusing her attention on the Asian chapter's Sammy Liu and his impossible wealth.

The Magic Order 3 #2 opens in 1982 on that one night of the year when the Magic Order and those from whom they protect us call a truce.  They meet in abandoned factories and suburban homes across the world for some hard partying.  Not everything is debauched, as is the case with Leonard Moonstone and a woman named Salome (Mama Moonstone).

Well, now, it's time for some reunions.  It seems that time is neutral, but sometimes … time runs out on old deals, old oaths, old treaties, and the spells on old men.

THE LOWDOWN:  I used to think that The Magic Order was my favorite Mark Millar written, creator-owned comic book.  Now, I know it is.  I think I'm still stuck on The Authority when it comes to my all-time favorite Millar comic book.

I found a review in which the writer basically called Mark Millar's writing, especially on characters, shallow.  Follow Mark on Twitter, and you will discover that he is nostalgic, as comic book fans are want to be.  On the other hand, Mark's comic book writing is often free of nostalgia and sentiment, which is basically the potting soil for a substantial portion of American comics.

Mark and John Romita, Jr.'s Kick-Ass may be the most revolutionary comic book of the twenty-first century because it liberates the superhero comic book of sentiment and nostalgia.  In Kick-Ass, the characters are inscrutable and their motivations and wants are ever shifting.  It isn't that they are either rational or emotional; it is that what they want changes.  What they want and what they can do comes up against reality, and all hell breaks loose.

In The Magic Order 3, Mark's characters are inscrutable, mystifying, and incomprehensible.  For all the power they possess, they are ensnared by the rules of the Magic Order, but rules are bound to the time in which they were conceived.  The characters' power has not made them super-human; it has simply made their humanity more dangerous for them and for everyone around them.  Mark's character's aren't shallow.  The personalities that he has them present may only be a front or fraud, and, as readers, we assume we know what they want.  Comic book readers want decades of consistence from fictional characters.  Mark suggests that want and desire make the fictional characters (like humans) consistently inconsistent, which in turns fills his comics with great moments of the wonderfully unexpected.  There is always a surprise, and because of Mark's great characters, the surprise makes sense.

The other guy who is making The Magic Order 3 so great is Italian artist, Gigi Cavenago.  Cavenago conveys the sense of chaos and magic in Mark's scripts, and, most importantly, the sense of impending doom.  The Magic Order 3 #2 is unremittingly dark.  Cavenago rips off the sheen of sparkly magic with storytelling that revels in the gloom.  These characters all seem like bad or dangerous people, and whatever we expected from the series, Mark and Gigi aren't going to give it to us.

They respect us enough to give us the best, and The Magic Order 3 #2 is one of the best single-issue dark fantasy comic books since the days of Alan Moore and company's Swamp Thing and Neil Gaiman and company's The Sandman.  This is the comic book Marvel wishes Doctor Strange could be.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Mark Millar and of The Magic Order will want to read The Magic Order 3.

A+

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


https://www.mrmarkmillar.com/
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://twitter.com/mrmarkmillar
https://twitter.com/netflix
https://twitter.com/themagicorder
http://www.millarworld.tv/
www.imagecomics.com


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, August 29, 2022

BOOM! Studios Shipping from Diamond Distributors for August 31, 2022

BOOM! STUDIOS

JUN220445 ALICE EVER AFTER #5 (OF 5) CVR A PANOSIAN $3.99
JUN220446 ALICE EVER AFTER #5 (OF 5) CVR B NORD $3.99
JUN220412 FIREFLY 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 CVR A ASPINALL $7.99
JUN220413 FIREFLY 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 CVR B YOON $7.99
JUN220414 FIREFLY 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 CVR C PREMIUM VAR $8.99
MAY220321 HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #8 CVR A ALBUQUERQUE $3.99
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MAY220323 HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #8 CVR C BODYBAG VAR BURNHAM $4.99
JUN220388 POWER RANGERS UNLTD DEATH RANGER #1 CVR A VALERIO (C: 1-0-0) $7.99
JUN220389 POWER RANGERS UNLTD DEATH RANGER #1 CVR B FOIL (C: 1-0-0) $8.99
JUN220420 VAMPIRE SLAYER (BUFFY) #5 CVR A ANINDITO $4.99
JUN220421 VAMPIRE SLAYER (BUFFY) #5 CVR B BLOOD RED VAR FRANCAVILLA $4.99
JUN220448 WE ONLY FIND THEM WHEN THEYRE DEAD #13 CVR A DI MEO $3.99
JUN220449 WE ONLY FIND THEM WHEN THEYRE DEAD #13 CVR B INFANTE $3.99

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Dark Horse Comics Shipping from Diamond Distributors for August 31, 2022

DARK HORSE COMICS

APR220325 BREAK OUT #3 (OF 4) CVR A GORHAM $3.99
APR220326 BREAK OUT #3 (OF 4) CVR B FORNES $3.99
JUN220466 MINOR THREATS #1 (OF 4) CVR C FOIL HEPBURN $4.99
APR220308 SIN CITY DLX HC VOL 06 BOOZE BROADS & BULLETS (4TH ED) (MR) $100.00
APR220307 SIN CITY TP VOL 06 BOOZE BROADS & BULLETS (4TH ED) (MR) (C: $25.00
MAR220393 VAMPIRE HUNTER D OMNIBUS VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) $19.99

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Dynamite Entertainment Shipping from Diamond Distributors for August 31, 2022

DYNAMITE

MAY220600 AOD VS REANIMATOR NECRONOMICON RISING #1 CVR L FLEECS METAL $100.00
MAY220601 AOD VS REANIMATOR NECRONOMICON RISING #1 CVR M FLEECS SGN AT $49.99
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JUN228696 VAMPIRELLA YEAR ONE #2 CVR O FOC PARRILLO ULTRAVIOLET $3.99

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IDW Publishing Shipping from Diamond Distributors for August 31, 2022

IDW PUBLISHING

JUN221634 D & D RAVENLOFT ORPHAN OF AGONY ISLE #3 CVR A UNDERWOOD (C: $3.99
JUN221635 D & D RAVENLOFT ORPHAN OF AGONY ISLE #3 CVR B HOWELL (C: 1-0 $3.99
JUN221641 GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #297 CVR A GALLANT $3.99
JUN221642 GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #297 CVR B SULLIVAN $3.99
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JUN221666 TMNT BEST OF BAXTER STOCKMAN $5.99
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JUN221671 TRANSFORMERS SHATTERED GLASS II #1 CVR B HEMU (C: 1-0-0) $3.99

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Image Comics Shipping from Diamond Distributors for August 31, 2022

IMAGE COMICS

APR220173 ANT #5 CVR A LARSEN $3.99
APR220174 ANT #5 CVR B RETRO 70S TRADE DRESS $3.99
JUN220158 ASTRO CITY METROBOOK TP VOL 02 $34.99
JUN220273 HELLCOP #10 CVR A HABERLIN & VAN DYKE (MR) $3.99
JUN220274 HELLCOP #10 CVR B HABERLIN & VAN DYKE (MR) $3.99
JUN220275 HELLCOP #10 CVR C HABERLIN (MR) $3.99
JUN220276 HELLCOP #10 CVR D HABERLIN (MR) $3.99
JUN220287 LOADED BIBLE BLOOD OF MY BLOOD #6 (OF 6) CVR A ANDOLFO (MR) $3.99
JUN220288 LOADED BIBLE BLOOD OF MY BLOOD #6 (OF 6) CVR B CAFARO (MR) $3.99
MAY228044 LOADED BIBLE BLOOD OF MY BLOOD #6 (OF 6) CVR C TALASKI (MR) $3.99
MAY228045 LOADED BIBLE BLOOD OF MY BLOOD #6 (OF 6) CVR D LESNIEWSKI (M $3.99
MAY228046 LOADED BIBLE BLOOD OF MY BLOOD #6 (OF 6) CVR E GLASS (MR) $3.99
JUN220289 MAGIC ORDER 3 #2 (OF 6) CVR A CAVENAGO (MR) $3.99
JUN220290 MAGIC ORDER 3 #2 (OF 6) CVR B CAVENAGO B&W (MR) $3.99
JUN220291 MAGIC ORDER 3 #2 (OF 6) CVR C SCALERA (MR) $3.99
FEB220137 SCUMBAG TP VOL 03 (MR) $16.99

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