Red Sonja Vol. 1: Queen of Plagues Author: Gail Simone | Language: English | ISBN:
B00IGB8ZA2 | Format: PDF
Red Sonja Vol. 1: Queen of Plagues Description
Gail Simone (BATGIRL, BIRDS OF PREY) gives the iconic
fantasy heroine a fresh new attitude! Red Sonja, the She-
Devil with a Sword, intends to pay 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! Who is Dark Annisia, and how has this fearsome
warrior accomplished what no god nor demon has been
able to do: force Sonja to her knees in surrender? An epic
tale of blood, lust, and vengeance, “Queen of Plagues”
takes Red Sonja from the depths of her own grave to the
heights of battlefield glory.
- File Size: 95329 KB
- Print Length: 160 pages
- Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment (February 19, 2014)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00IGB8ZA2
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,083 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
Red Sonja has always been a conundrum for me. At her worst, she’s reduced to some sort of half-assed Brave style character: rebellious and take charge, but still just hands down adorable. At her best (which is really just a different side of seeing her at her worst), she’s pretty much just Conan the Cimmerian with tits. And despite my love for Robert E. Howard and his dark eyed creation, I could never truly muster the same adoration and respect for his fire-maned kinda-sorta creation.
In July of last year, Gail Simone of Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman fame took the reins. And quite frankly, she has made a believer out of me. Red Sonja, Volume 1 collects the first six issues of Simone’s dark fantasy reboot, and this book pops. Between the amazing dialogue, the gorgeous art work, and the exciting adventure, this book has everything a fantasy reader could want (unless you’re into hobbits–and screw those people anyhow).
Volume 1 collects our newly-reinvented Sonja through her first adventure, Queen Of The Plagues. The storyline hops back and forth between the past and present, which is usually a story device that I truly dislike. Seriously: flashbacks make me all soft. Regardless, Gail Simone does a brilliant job of tying Sonja’s latest grand escapade with her origin story. Neither one feels forced or tacked on–indeed, they complement each other marvelously, allowing for a graceful story without distracting us from crashing battle axes or tall gouts of gore.
But beyond all the flashing sword and sorcery, the thing that impressed me most about these first six issues was the humor.
Let me reiterate that I am seriously not a fan of chainmail bikinis anywhere, ever, and if it were not for the beautiful writing in this book and the beautiful art and how both combine to feature a great number of strong, gorgeous, powerful, interesting women on adventures and how it doesn't objectify any of them, I would not read this. There are a lot of women in proper combat gear and in proper fighting stances for most of this story. Even Sonja herself ends this TPB in a full body suit.
While I am not planning to pick up any of the "Red Sonja" stories that have come before Gail Simone's run on the series (besides the one Spider-man crossover Sonja's been in), I cannot wait for more of Simone's run on this comic. There's supposed to be a volume 2 and I plan to get it. The writing is simply beautiful. There is so much humor in this TPB that I was grinning for most of it. The characters came alive and they were a joy to get to know. My favorite part is the different ways Simone features women without making them eye candy for the softcore porn crowd. There are women who are bloodthirsty, soldiers, gladiators, drunks, pacifists, mothers, sisters, daughters, hunters, undercover, peacekeepers, slaves, naive and very intelligent.
Walter Giovani's art is a joy to see every page. He does great with details and he has quite the workload with all the fighting scenes in this book, especially the army scenes. The color is gorgeous and this is, overall, a beautiful TPB. It also contains all of Jenny Frison's single issue cover art pieces and several others collected in the back from Nicola Scott, Amanda Conner, Colleen Doran, Fiona Staples, Stephanie Buscema, Nei Ruffino, Meriah Benes, Agnes Garbowska, Pia Guerra, Ming Doyle, Becky Cloonan and Jill Thompson.
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