Red Sonja #75 - A Review

Though the last pages of Red Sonja #75 declare this the end of the lost Nemedian Chronicle of Sonja The Red, we know that Sonja's adventures will continue shortly in a new series written by Gail Simone.  I hope some of the readers Simone will no doubt attract to this title are inspired to take a look at the preceding volume.  For Eric Trautmann has ended this volume and his run on Red Sonja with an epic to end all epics.


Even now, the issue opens with a splash-page detailing the action thus far - a rare thing in comics these days and even rarer in the final issue of a long-running one!  Describing the action thus far past an epic battle between an established villain and the forces Sonja raises up against him seems pointless, given the complexity of the tale so far.  Besides, Trautmann does a fine enough job summing things up on his own.  By issue's end, all the outstanding story-lines are settled and all of Sonja's debts are repaid.  Trautmann even revives one plot-thread I had foolishly thought resolved - the matter of Sonja's evil twin, created through a dark magic mirror. 


Sadly, the artwork doesn't come close to living up to the story.  I've complained in my past reviews of Marcio Abreu's failings as an artist and my previous complaints still stand.  His faces look odd and his characters poses are forced.  He also has a curious habit of magically manifesting white schoolgirl panties about Sonja's loins whenever he decides the artwork requires an upskirt shot.  That is something I shall not miss in the coming volume of Red Sonja. 

Perhaps Trautmann might come back to the Scarlet She-Devil in a mini-series at some future date?  We can but hope.  Still, if this is the last time he ever writes Red Sonja, at least he went out on a high note.