Comics Review: The Immortal RED SONJA #4

IMMORTAL RED SONJA #4
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Dan Abnett
ARTIST: Luca Colandrea
COLORS: Ellie Wright
LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry
EDITOR: Nate Cosby
COVER: David Nakayama
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Junggeun Yoon; Joseph Michael Linsner; Lesley “Leirix” Li; Lobos; Dominic Glover; David Nakayama; Gracie the Cosplay Lass and Jim Donnelly
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2022)

Rated Teen+

“The Lady's Mirror”

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 Luca Colandrea and 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 saves the fallen, lost kingdom of “Logres.”

Immortal Red Sonja #4 (“The Lady's Mirror”) opens as Sonja, guided by her talking, cursed chain mail, is searching for the tower of the Lady of the Lake.  But what if they are sailing in the wrong lake and headed for the wrong Lady?  And this “Lady” is really possessive.

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 #4, 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.  “The Lady's Mirror” is partly a standalone story, but it also serves as an opportunity for Red Sonja to find something important to her quest.  I must say that this is quite a story, as Abnett has weaved sword and sorcery and Arthurian legend into quite a tapestry.

I look forward to each issue, and I hope Immortal Red Sonja has a long run.  Inventive plots and beautiful art with pretty colors and relevant lettering … what else do you want in your comic book?

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

[This comic book includes “Dynamite Dispatch” July 2022, which features an interview with writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson about his new James Bond comic book series.]

A-

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


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