Review: Red Sonja - The Complete Gail Simone Omnibus H/C

For many creators, writers and artists, there is a time when they hit the high notes.Â Be it John Bryne on Fantastic Four, Chris Claremont on Uncanny X-Men, Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Jim Aparo on Batman, they are all of their time.Â A possible halcyon of days where the quality of their books seems to transcend the medium in way that many of today’s event driven books and creators may well never achieve.

For a while, there was a time when Gail Simone may have found herself on that list.Â Simone was catapulted to fame in her run of issues in the original Birds of Prey volume.Â Stops at other DC character mainstays, such as Wonder Woman would prove to be fractious in opinion, before returning to the Birds as a spin off from Brightest Day.Â Unfortunately, perhaps due the oft mentioned “editorial” interference or the idea that DC was setting up for Flashpoint and the big reset button, this series didn’tÂ quite have the same punch.Â Secret Six was a fun book, though following a divisive Batgirl run, which I will say I enjoyed quite a lot, Simone could have bee considered a creator of her time, which had passed.

From the ashes of one famous comic book red head, rises another red head for which Simone would come to share an affinity.Â This book is the proof of that affinity and holds dear one of the biggest, misused and most often forgotten secrets of creating comics books; the characters and the creators have to fit together!

Simone’s various Red Sonja mini series are collected here, in their complete format.Â Through Sonja, Simone gets to truly flex her creative muscles in a manner that she hadn’t been able to do since 2003 on Birds of Prey #56.Â Dynamite may be seen by many to be just an “licencee”, but in reality aren’t the majority of comic characters a brand on to themselves?Â Simone writes in way that displays a love for her craft and a confidence that seems unshaken by the perceivedÂ misfires that seemed to dog her DC reputation.Â This collection shows that there is more to Sonja than a chain mail bikini, even if the loss of the classic look upset a few, the writing, pace and the sheer excitement of the various runs certainly brought fans back around.

During Simone’s Hyborian Age wanderings, she was joined by a hearty band of creators.Â Up first is artist Walter Geovani, an under appreciated artist whose style of not showing a lot of details developed over time to present a consistent Sonja.Â Geovani is ably helped by a swathe of colourists, mainly Adriano Lucas who gets to color a range of environs.Â Other colourists;Â Elmer Santos, Alex Guimaraes, Marco Lesko and Vinicius Andrade add their versions and schemes in way not to upset the balance.Â Since these first issues hit the rack, Simon Bowland has become the go to letterer for Dynamite, and rightly so.Â Finally, included in this tome are a number of covers by Jenny Frisson who manages to mesh elements of cheesecake and subtle femininity to her covers.

This hard cover is a great way to look at a body of work of writer who has worked hard to remain ahead of the game, a writer who has diversified their style to encompass dark and gritty, (Batgirl), flights of fancy (Conan / Wonder Woman) and a wicked sense of of flirty fun in the recent Domino book, all of each is touched upon throughout this collection.

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

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Gail Simone
Art by; Walter Geovani and Noah Salonga
Color by; Adriano Lucas, Elmer Santos, Alex Guimaraes, Marco Lesko and Vinicius Andrade
Letters by’ Simon Bowland
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