Queen Sonja #1 – Review

by Joshua Ortega (writer), Mel Rubi (art), Luke Lieberman (executive editor)

The Story: We are introduced to Sonja, the warrior queen of Sogaria, whose realm is being invaded by the Emoran army. Then, flashback to four months earlier, when Red Sonja was hired to help a small territory defend itself against Sogarian raiders. She takes the job, but her first encounter with the enemy turns out to be far different than she expected.

What’s Good: I can’t say enough about Rubi’s art. The action sequences are dynamite, the jewelry, clothing and weapons vivid, the “camera angles” varied and interesting, the faces expressive and the settings evocative. The first page is a great example of the draftsmanship that Rubi brings to the table, with an intricate crown, expressive posture and grip, smooth, but textured skin and shining gems. Rubi treats us to a several splash pages, and it’s worth mentioning that the actual dialogue and text-box writing is quite sparse. Most of the story is told through the art and this was a wise choice by Ortega.

In the parts where we hear Ortega’s voice more directly, the individuality of each character shines through the dialogue. One of the brigands she deals with in the first part of the story doesn’t use pronouns. Another says “prolly” instead of “probably”, which says a lot more about him in one mispronounced word than most writers and artists could show us in a page. Ortega gives Red Sonja a few one-liners, in part because she makes at least three dramatic entrances in this first issue.

There is also a back-up story by Roy Thomas, Estaban Maroto, Neal Adams and Ernie Chan from the mid-seventies that has been recently been re-colored by Jose Villarrubia. It is an excellent story and the new colors and printing on better paper really outshine the pulpy paper and give the story more power. It was also a real treat to see some Neal Adams work re-colored as if it was new.

What’s Not So Good: Very hard to complain about such a great book. For the record, I might have criticized Sonja’s state of occasional or partial undress gratuitous in other settings, but the fact is that this is part of how she was conceived by Robert E. Howard and how the setting perceives her.

Conclusion: You get a whole lot of quality story and first class production for only $2.99 with Queen Sonja #1. I started reading Red Sonja because of podcasts I’d heard from Dynamite, but I’d felt a little lost jumping in mid-story. This is a great issue to get on board.

Grade: A-

–DS Arsenault