One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Queen Sonja #1

GOOD THING: This is the first Red Sonja story in a good while that has felt like a Red Sonja story. Most of the issue is devoted towards a standard "recover the stolen treasure" quest.

BAD THING: For a book called Queen Sonja, there's surprisingly little about Sonja having ascended to a throne. Indeed, apart from the three page introduction which brings us the news that Sonja's land is being invaded, the entire book is told in flashback. It just seems kind of sloppy to have this scene THEN go to telling the story of how Sonja became a queen in the first place. We already know from the title that she's going to succeed on her quest and survive another four months.

This issue represents a reboot of the franchise and a good jumping on point for new readers. There is no reference to the previous series, save for a note on the title page that says "For a time... the world was a different place and time ripped asunder."

In other words, the entire Brian Reed run DID NOT HAPPEN and we are back in the true Hyboria. And thank goodness for it!

I would be remiss if I did not mention that the original artist for the previous Red Sonja series, Mel Rubi, is returned and has proven himself as capable as ever. Gone are the endless splash pages that polluted the Brian Reed run on the book - say hello to panels and well-blocked action sequences!

The short version is that despite a little too much fan-service (even by the standards of sword and sorcery comics), this is a return to form and a good start on revitalizing the character after nearly two years of ambiguity and nonsense.