Review: Legendary Red Sonja #1 One-Shot

Mixing genres is something of a comic book staple; especially when it comes to characters set in different time periods from those we expect. Batman for examples mixes it up well with horror, may be not so well with sci-fi; Green Lantern has mixed it up with Captain Kirk and even Wonder Woman has hung out with everyone’s favourite Cimmerian, Conan. Now it is the turn of Red Sonja, pulling double duty of sorts as not only are we in the Legendary Neo-Victorian age, Sonja is meeting a classic, and one of my favourites, literary character.

Tasked with recovering a delicate painting of dubious origins to save the reputation of a famous socialite; imagine trying to get a post of Twitter today and you may get the idea. In doing so, a flirtatious fight hints at something more sinister about the artist and the paintings themselves!

Katana Collins weaves a story that fans of the Neo-Victorian version of Sonja should enjoy. There are plenty of alternative elements to enjoy. Throw in some Indiana Jones types of scrapes and a very distinguished horror character and you have the makings of a romp. The obviousness of the big bad is twisted around just enough to be almost surprising. The dialogue works well enough, though there is slightly more tell than show for my liking. I understand the need for this style of writing, not everyone is au fait of some of the influences that are prevalent throughout the book.

For many people, me included, part of the attraction of Red Sonja is the look of the character herself. Kewber Baal does a great job in mixing traditional Sonja vibes with the Neo world in which this Legendary Sonja lives. Baal also makes the best use of camera angles, assisting the fine lines on show to deliver great action shots, poses and an overall sense of adventure. There should be a horror element involved and this is probably the weakest area of Baal’s work. Still, the majority of the art is beautiful with Sonha fully rendered. Colors are provided by Schimerys Baal with a deep and dark scheme, almost velvet like in places. Simply gorgeous! Jeff Eckleberry’s letters are on point; the book is quite wordy in place (another example of tell not show), Eckleberry works hard to ensure that the verbiage doesn’t impact the pace of the action scenes.

I will be the first to admit that I may not have given Legendary Red Sonja the attention she deserves, possibly for a couple of reasons. One, I like Sonja in her time for the most part; Amy Chu’s fun run is an exception to that rule. Secondly, there is a ton of Sonja books and runs published by Dynamite. With that said, I was quietly impressed by this one-shot, maybe it’s time to revise my stance a little.

Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Katana Collins
Art by; Kewber Baal
Colors by; Schimerys Baal
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