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Red Sonja (Dynamite Comics) is one of my favorite comic book characters and it’s not because she’s a buxom redhead in a chainmail bikini who wields a sword like no one in her realm.
Last month she finished off her last adventure in Issue #25 and last week I stopped at my local comic book store to pick up my weekly stash and to my excitement, a new Red Sonja adventure awaited me.
Red Sonja is a warrior from Hyrkania (modern day Ukraine/Russia) and has become the figure from which all other female warriors are based on.
Originally depicted in Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian #23 back in February of 1973, she went on to get her own comic book when she moved to Dynamite. When she moved they kept her dressed exactly as she was, in her chain mail bikini.
The history of Red Sonja tells us that when she was seventeen, a group of mercenaries burned their house down and killed everyone in her family but Sonja. They raped her and afterward, the red goddess Scathach heard her pleas for help and gave her immense skill in handling the sword, with the condition that she never lay with a man, lest he beat her fairly in battle.
Enough of the history, let’s get on to the new comic book!
The Emperor Dragan The Magnificent has conquered Stygia and is now condemning everyone to death one by one, including the former King of Stygia. The former king tries to get out of his death sentence by trying to convince Dragan that the people of Hyrkania are poor, not educated and that it’s not worth invading their territory.
Dragan thanks the former king for his counsel and orders him into a sack filled with scorpions, rats and, for some reason, a goat. The last thing Dragan says is, ”Prepare a journey to Hyrkania…”
We then move to the wastelands East of Hyrkania where we see a rare fully clothed Red Sonja riding on horseback. The horse is dying and Sonja is being hunted by three men. When they see the dead horse one of the men decides to go check the saddlebags when he takes the blade of Sonja through the throat.
Sonja steals his horse and with the other two right on her tail, that horse takes a tumble after getting hot with a nicely placed arrow. But that doesn’t stop Sonja from dispatching the last two men hunting her.
This issue is taking al kinds of twists and turns as the writers set up the series. Now we find ourselves at the Council of Elders in Hyrkania where they are talking about what an amazing warrior Sonja is and how she’s in Hyrkania for a purpose.
That purpose apparently is to e elected Queen of Hyrkania. If you think about it, that does seem a bit odd as kings and queens aren’t generally elected, but this is a comic book, so no biggie, right?
Of course, there’s a bit more to the story but I’m not giving away all the good stuff. You need to go out to your local comic book shop and read it for yourself.
What I can tell you is that I’ve read just about every Red Sonja comic book out there and never have I been disappointed in a series. Yeah, it’s only the first issue in a new series, but as a writer, I can see how the writers of this book are setting up the plot not only for the March issue but also for the rest of the series.
I give Red Sonja #1 five purple goatees out of 5.
J.R.’s Weekly Pull List
Each Wednesday (new comic book day) I make my way over to Comic Force, my local shop and see what they have pulled for me that week based on my subscriptions. Here’s what they had for me this week.
I’m bummed that this marks the end of Black Panther VS Deadpool, but there is a new (second current series) of Captain Marvel that just came out this week. This will be a short, five-issue run while the issue #1 that came out a couple of weeks ago will be a longer series.
Shazam #3 DC
Freedom Fighters #3 DC
The Fash #65 DC
Books of Magic #5 DC Vertigo
Batgirl #32 DC
Grimm Fairy Tales 2019 Giant-Size Zenescope
Daredevil #2 Marvel
Captain Marvel Braver & Mightier #1 (of 5) Marvel
Captain America #8 Marvel
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Red Sonja photos courtesy Dynamite Comics. Black Panther vs Deadpool photo courtesy Marvel Comics.