Red Sonja #1 – Review

Gail Simone (Writer), Walter Geovani (Artist), Adriano Lucas (Colorist)

The Story: To settle a debt of honor, Red Sonja has to train poor villagers how to defend themselves from a brutal horde in a few days.

The Review: I have to confess, I didn’t particularly have high expectations out of this one. It is a sad thing to say, but I have close to no knowledge of who Red Sonja is and what she does, as her character, to me, consist mainly of being a epitome of fanservice. Let’s face it, to those left in the dark, a woman clothed in the thinnest of armour that leaves pretty much nothing to the imagination may lead a lot of readers to think so about the character. The only reason I was interested to begin with, beside the fact that I do rather like the sword and sorcery genre, was that Gail Simone, the writer who brought us the delightful Secret Six was going to be the one telling us stories with this character. With the knowledge that she is quite talented when it comes to strong female characters and female-centric book, could she be the one to make me see the character in a different light?

It is, much to my surprise, pretty much what she did. Not only is Red Sonja a character that has many facets, which Simone manage to show us here, but she also does so in a way that makes it interesting for the readers to explore further. She is a brute, a savage with a sword that can beat most without even thinking about it, yet also able to show mercy and compassion during a fight. She can be bashful and without any reservation, yet has a personal level of honor that shows she has a code even though her violent tendencies may lead otherwise. In the very first issue of this first volume, Simone shows us just who is Red Sonja in a way that feels compelling, proving that she is much more than mere eye candy. I have no problem saying that my initial thoughts on the character were wrong and that thanks to Simone, I have seen the error of my way. The bikini armour may still be there, but the character filling it is interesting.