Gail Simone and Walter Geovani have been given the task of bringing back Red Sonja and “rebooting” her story once more. Can they do it and make it interesting for a new reader? Yes. They really can.
Written by Gail Simone
Illustrated by Walter Geovani
THIS IS IT. Red Sonja gets a fresh new attitude by the dream team of writer GAIL SIMONE (Batgirl, Birds of Prey) and artist WALTER GEOVANI (Prophecy, Witchblade), on the book they were born to create. Sonja pays 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!
This thrilling new series features covers by the top female artists in the industry, including Nicola Scott, Colleen Doran, Jenny Frison, Fiona Staples, Amanda Conner and more. You do NOT want to miss this re-introduction the She-devil with a Sword!
Okay, I want to get this out there before moving on: I have never read a “Red Sonja” comic before this one. This review is coming at Gail Simone and Walter Geovani’s “Red Sonja” #1 from the eyes of someone completely new to the character. That being said, the story of Red Sonja found within the pages of this #1 is exactly what someone looking to be introduced to the character would want. Simona and Geovani have constructed something of an origin story for Sonja that explains most everything needed to know about her rather simply and doesn’t ever overburden it’s narrative with the origin it’s trying to tell. Which is exactly what I was hoping to get from the issue.
Simone starts fairly simply in introducing Sonja to the reader. Sonja is shown to have survived in the dungeons of a castle for who knows who long in a splash page beautifully rendered by Geovani that shows just how awful conditions Sonja has survived in thus far. And then, with five simple words, Simone is able to make Sonja’s first word’s chilling to the bone. It’s a really effective opening, from set-up banter from King Dimath and his aide that helps both set things up latter in the issue and flesh out the world to the bone-chilling introduction to Sonja in a perfectly used extreme close-up panel. Right off the bat Simone and Geovani have engrossed the reader in Sonja’s story without even really showing her. It’s a pity, then, that that is the most effective scene in the issue.
From such a well constructed opening, the issue moves to show Sonja in action in a scene that illustrates exactly why Walter Geovani is such a good fit for this book. As Sonja quickly dispatches three thieves in a quick, but brutal manner, Geovani gets to showcase a fight that most other comics would be jealous of. In only two pages he shows Sonja as fast, brutal and an excellent swords-woman without the need of a dialogue save for a single one-liner to cap off the scene. Geovani’s art excells throughout as he continues to make Sonja feel real (there’s no anatomically impossible pose just for the sake of titillation in sight) and even formidable despite having kept the ‘metal bikini’ armour from previous incarnations. The moody colours from Adriano Lucas only help Geovani’s art with an expressive palette that keeps the world feeling authentic without going for the usual modern fantasy palette of making everything look brown. The world is realised and feels accessible through the art despite it’s fantastical nature.
However, while the art excels throughout the issue, Simone’s writing is where it falters. The opening two scenes are still excellent and very easily introduce the reader to Sonja and convey everything they need to know about her. And the issue itself is, overall, enjoyable. The trouble is that after showing Sonja dispatch the thieves, Simone quickly drops exploring Sonja for new readers in order to thrust her into a very quickly put together training montage. It seemed to come out of nowhere and just as Simone had shown how interesting Sonja could be in just a few pages, a ‘train the villagers to withstand a coming attack’ montage felt too simple for what Simone had set up in the opening. As the issue approached it’s last page it felt less impressive as it did in it’s opening pages which is simply a shame. The very final page instead of having me bouncing in excitement for the next issue had me thinking “Oh, they’re going with that? Ok.” which left me missing the feeling the opening pages gave.
Despite the falter at the end of the issue, Simone and Geovani have still created a comic that serves an excellent introduction to Red Sonja as a character. They both fully understand what makes her impressive and formidable as an action hero yet have already shown that they can make her an interesting and complex character with subtle character-building moments peppered throughout. And props must go, once again, to the fact that at no point does the issue feel the need to show Sonja butt and boobs in the same panel through an impossible pose to keep the reader’s intention. It kept with good writing, good art and an interesting character.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – For such a strong opening, a more interesting climax would have been better, but definitely one to check out nonetheless.
