GOOD THING: There's a very good flashback story here, detailing Red Sonja's background in a way we've never seen before. Specifically, the period immediately after the loss of her family in which she made her living as a thief before becoming a mercenary. While this has been discussed before, precious few stories have mentioned this period of her life and none - as far as I can remember - have depicted it. It does a very good job of making Sonja out to be a typical teenage girl, albeit it an unusually gifted and overly confident one.
BAD THING: Remember the excellent Emma Frost mini-series published by Marvel Comics a few years ago? The one which had a very good coming-of-age story that many young teen ladies might enjoy reading had they not been scared off by the porn-tastic artwork of Greg Horn? Think about that... and then look at the cover of this issue.
Makes you weep, doesn't it?
The Final Verdict: A typical Red Sonja cover conceals a most atypical Red Sonja story, which adds new insight into her character and her past like nothing we've seen in recent memory. A must read!
I have the one unauthorized Red Sonja issue that, uh, Cross Plains I think it was called, put out. It had Steve Lightle art. It was in this period of Sonja's life as well, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteCross Plains Comics, yes. I read that one as well. Had to send away to Australia to get a copy, that's how rare it is. An ex-girlfriend wound up with the issue...
ReplyDeleteI believe that one depicted an older Sonja, though. Not quite the age she was whens he met Conan... but definitely not a teenager.
Is it just me, or does that Sonja look a little like Allison Scagliotti?
ReplyDeletehttp://media.monstersandcritics.com/people/Allison_Scagliotti/images/group1/AHS-001335.jpg
Dammit, now I want to see her in the Sonja movie...
It does!
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