Review: Immortal Red Sonja #9

This fun little run, with its comedy based theme is nearing the end, as Red Sonja has had a change of sorts to her current predicament. Though this change has a more important ramification than just affecting her.

The villain stands revealed; Mordred now free from the cursed armour, leaves Sonja and her friends in order to search for the possessed sword, Caliban. Now, it’s up to Sonja, Lanzlot, Gawain and Merlin to stop Mordred’s horde initially and plan on how to stop Mordred from his quest for Caliban!

I have been surprised by the humour level in Dan Abnett’s writing in this series. The odd couple effect of a reluctant helper in Sonja and her cursed “know more than her” chainmail has been fun from the outset. This relationship has been the backbones and most enjoyable aspect of the run to date. Therefore, with the chainmail’s recent exorcism, Abnett has a truly lost one of the key elements of the book. The interactions between the Sonja’s gang and the wild mumblings of Merlin, humorous in its own way, fails to capture the previous funny highs. Abnett has to be on his “A” game to combat this and does so by delivering a more action based issue where Sonja flexes her She-Devil muscles, even with a broken sword!

With the main relationship, and the subsequent comedy inherent within it, artist Luca Colandrea steps up to make the most of the absurdity, to most if not to Sonja, of taking a battle to an army with a broken sword. Colandrea also gets to flex his “magical” styles with Merlin stepping up in the battle. The cartoony stylings allows for visual humour, though without its’ written counterpart, its not as effective as in previous issues. The colors from Ellie Wright remain a bright affairs indicating the lighter tone of this series in comparison to other Sonja books on the rack. Jeff Eckleberry’s letters also try to convey a sense of fun to proceedings. Finally, there are a raft of covers to choose from; buyers choice wins out!

With the main aspect of the book standing revealed, this book has kind of misplaced its uniqueness, which is a huge shame. Still with Abnett on board, there is a sense of the writing falling in line with more standard expectation. Of course, now that she is free from the curse, I hope that Sonja returns to her usual clothing choice. I guess that Immortal Red Sonja was fun while it lasted. I just didn’t expect for that end to be issue #8 prematurely.

Writing – 3.5 Stars

Art – 3.5 Stars

Colors – 3.5 Stars

Overall – 3.5 Stars

Written by; Dan Abnett
Art by; Luca Colandrea
Colors; Ellie Wright
Letters by; Jeff Eckleberry
Published by; Dynamite Entertainment

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network