'Red Sonja Volume One: Queen of Plagues' – Gail Simone, Walter Geovani (Dynamite)


The last comic book I reviewed here was only just over a week ago (good old 'Slaine'...) but before that, we have to go back about a month for a quick post on 'Judge Dredd: Judgment Day'. It's clear then that comic books are not being spoken about enough here right now; lets do something about that, shall we...?

Now, I love a good 'Sword and Sorcery' tale as much as the next person and seeing it all happen in a comic book is pretty much my idea of heaven; the two forms just go together perfectly. I've never read any 'Red Sonja' though, mostly because I used to think it would just be full of ;chainmail bikinis' and that wasn't something I fancied reading on the bus to work... Don't judge me (well, judge me a little), I didn't know any better. Until now that is. Watching the 1985 movie got me interested (and lockdown means no more bus rides) so I thought I'd check out some 'Red Sonja' comics. I picked 'Queen of Plagues' because it said 'Volume One' and that's always a good place to start... ;o)

Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, intends to pay back a blood debt owed to the one man who has gained her respect... even if it means leading a doomed army to their certain deaths! Who is Dark Annisia, and how has this fearsome warrior accomplished what no god nor demon has been able to do: force Sonja to her knees in surrender?

I'll come straight out and say it. I picked up 'Queen of Plagues' yesterday evening and didn't put it down until I'd finished it. I'm actually more than a little disappointed that the second volume is going for more money, second hand, than I can find. It looks like I'm going to have to jump straight to Volume Three and miss out on on a large chunk of story. The first volume of Gail Simone's 'Red Sonja' has done this to me.

The plot appears very simple but that's just to draw you in and get you reading; no great chore as the payoff is that we get these little snippets of backstory that gradually build into Red Sonja's life. It's all very gradually done and it's like you're getting a whole other story for free. Can't complain about that ;o)

The plot remains fairly simple throughout (although there are a couple of neat little twists right at the end) but I wouldn't necessarily see that as a bad thing as this approach frees up room and really gives the characters a chance to shine, Sonja in particular

Simone's treatment of Red Sonja really fleshes the character and lends her a depth that is vital, at this early stage, if Red Sonja is going to carry a run of books by herself. Red Sonja is almost peerless with a sword but that is driven by childhood trauma and a desire to do right by people who can't look after themselves. So, She's a character with depth and a character who makes for any number of battle sequences that are all great to watch play out. Sonja is also a character with an enemy that can easily best her and you don't get a lot of that in theses kinds of comics. It's really refreshing to see, to be honest.

This approach also casts the whole 'chainmail bikini' in a new light. It's almost like Red Sonja is saying, 'Here I am, a woman, and that doesn't matter; what matters is that I'm going to kill you if you stick around. Please, just go while you can.' Men never seem to learn that lesson though and the fun lies in seeing them get taught. There are some great swordfights and they're not all abut how great Sonja is, just most of them ;o) For such a simple plot, it's surprising how much other stuff is happening here. There's even a little examination of how Red Sonja's world can be moved to come to terms with, and benefit from, science. This leads to the question of how much Sonja's honour sets society back in terms of what could have been achieved.

All of this is illustrated wonderfully by Walter Geovani who just gets the machismo of Sonja's world, and how easily it can be popped by the right woman with a sword (or ladies with bows, it's great to see how Sonja's attitude encourages other women to be the best they can be, it's also funny to see Sonja slope off to the nearest Inn while this is happening). Simone's storytelling Geovani's art just work really well together and I'd love to see how it develops over future books.

It may be a while before I make it onto Volume 2 (payday is a way off yet) but I'll have to now because 'Queen of Plagues' was so good that I don't really have a lot of choice in the matter ;o)

Anyone out there reading Gail Simone's run on 'Red Sonja'? What did you think of the books?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘The Long and Hungry Road’ – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Black Library)

Image
After not finishing ‘Witchbringer’ (not the book’s fault, I still think it could be worth your time), I thought I’d change pace a little and go for a short, sharp burst of something instead. Something that would blow a few cobwebs away and wake me up a bit :o) Now in my experience, there’s nothing shorter and sharper than a Warhammer short story so that was the direction of my reading taken care of. And as far as the focus went… I’ve read a few Warhammer tales, in my time, but I’ve never read a tale that looks at the events of the 41st Millennium through the eyes of the rapacious Tyranids. So when I saw ‘The Long and Hungry Road’ on Amazon, it pretty much chose itself. To face a Tyranid invasion is a waking nightmare. The skies darken with spores, your mind echoes with alien screeches, and countless weapon-organisms descend upon you with razor teeth and claws. How much greater would your horror be, to realise that the hive ship above thinks nothing of your fate – that it crushes you
Read more

'Mad God' (2021)

Image
It's that time again where Youtube throws me a 'Shudder' advert and I think to myself, 'I'm paying five quid a month for this, I really should watch something, lets give it a go...'   This time round, 'It' was the film 'Mad God' and the trailer was this mad batshit crazy shot of stop-motion horror that was over before I'd had a chance to get my head round it; leaving me pretty unsettled but with no clear idea just why that was... That's all I need sometimes, I was in... It's almost an hour later and, damn, that was grim, bleak and... What the hell just happened? A corroded diving bell descends amidst a ruined city and the Assassin emerges from it to explore a labyrinth of bizarre landscapes inhabited by freakish denizens. That is about all I can tell you about 'Mad God' and that's only because I had a quick look on IMDB and that was all IMDB could tell me... 'Mad God' is any number of things but it's not
Read more

‘Worms of the Earth’ – Robert E. Howard.

Image
Page Count: 27 Pages I have a copy of this on my shelf and the plan was to pick it up for a read on the way into work this morning. Well, that was the plan but I was half asleep, leaving the house, and totally forgot… No matter though, that’s what the Kindle app is for (although if I’d been a little more awake, I’d have read it off Project Gutenberg instead, you can find ‘Worms of the Earth’ Here ). 99p later and my ‘commute reading’ was secured 😉 I always seem to fall into the trap of just reading ‘Conan’ stuff whenever I fancy reading a little Howard. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that there’s a lot of his other stories out there that are more than worth your time when you come across them. ‘Worms of the Earth’ is very much one of those tales but you knew that already, didn’t you? You didn’t? You should do something about that, take it from me… After witnessing one of his subjects die at the hands of Roman governor Titus Sulla, Bran Mak Morn vows vengeance on Sulla but at w
Read more