I’d never even glanced at an issue of Red Sonja until this reboot, so Gail Simone’s take on the cut-throat redhead is my first journey into the realm of Hyrkania.
To put it bluntly: the series (save possibly the first issue) has not been a lot of fun for me. Can Gail Simone pull Red Sonja out of the dirt and start showing me more proof of her critical acclaim? Red Sonja #4, is it good?
Red Sonja #4 (Dynamite Comics)
Hmmm, I recognize this cover. By golly, it was Dave’s cover of the week!
When we last left Sonja she was “just inches from death, when voices from the past call her away from digging her own grave, to fight possibly the last battle of her life, against the woman who taught her everything she knows about combat!”
Sounds a little weird, right? Though the beginning of this issue actually drew me in more than some of the previous ones; despite some cheesy as hell and over the top dialogue the first four pages of this comic told a nice, concise story of our antagonist.
That being said, the main Sonja time in this issue is totally wasted. I attribute that mostly to the fact that Sonja is in some weird, drunk, blinded, unconscious state so she really isn’t that interesting of a character. And when the action finally does start it’s just a totally predictable fight that wasn’t at all necessary. I must say, however, that although the battle wasn’t well executed and didn’t really serve the story that well the ending sets up for the next issue nicely.
What I really liked about this issue (and should have been the main focus) was the backstory portion of the comic. Although it was totally predictable and not at all different from the other backstories thus far in the series I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. I like seeing Sonja and Annasia before they were enemies. If they had only worked out their differences they could have been a really formidable pair.
I don’t think Gail Simone understands something. We didn’t buy this comic to see action from Toda (I’m pretty sure Gail Simone just misspelled the word “toad” and went with it) or Sonja’s servants. They are not interesting characters. The opposite actually, they’re quite boring. But yet, most of the issue focuses on them and their crazy antics. Blah.
6.0
- Fun back-up story
- Solid beginning
- Art is good, not great
- Focus on the good characters!
- Dialogue is as cheesy as fermented milk
Is it Good?
Not really; I enjoyed some parts of it but really some of the parts of this comic were just boring and unneeded. The art was pretty good though, so this issue can be praised for that attribute.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login