HOMERO RIOS TALKS RED SONJA / BARBARELLA: SWORDS & GUNS | Comic Crusaders Podcast #778

WEPA! Putting Red Sonja and Barbarella in the same comic sounds insane until you start looking at what these two women actually have in common. One comes swinging a sword through brutal fantasy worlds while the other has spent decades exploring some of the strangest corners of science fiction, but both have survived by refusing to let anybody else define who they are.

Writer Homero Ríos joins me on the Comic Crusaders Podcast to talk about Red Sonja / Barbarella #1, the upcoming Dynamite Entertainment crossover pairing the two icons for the first time. Homero is joined on the book by artist Diego Yapur, his collaborator on Rome Eternal, giving the creative team some history before tackling two characters carrying decades of their own.

The challenge goes far beyond simply throwing a sword into a spaceship. Homero has to respect what readers already love about both characters while finding a reason their stories belong together. Red Sonja comes from survival, violence and sword-and-sorcery tradition, while Barbarella brings exploration, sexuality and cosmic sci-fi into the equation. Finding the place where those voices collide is where the fun really starts.

We get into writing licensed characters, balancing decades of continuity with new ideas, collaborating with Diego Yapur, and what Homero has learned on his journey from Mexican indie comics and Heavy Metal to working with globally recognized characters for Dynamite.

We also talk about the deeper themes connecting the story, including memory, destiny and what happens when characters used to controlling their own lives suddenly find themselves caught inside something much bigger.

Red Sonja / Barbarella #1 arrives November 4, 2026 from Dynamite Entertainment.

Check out my conversation with Homero Ríos as we get into comics, creative collaboration, sword-and-sorcery, science fiction and what happens when two completely different genre icons finally crash into each other.

THE CRUSADE NEVER ENDS! WEPA!