Red Sonja (Dynamite Volume 2)

Before we begin

This blog will be focusing on Gail Simone’s run, as well as any spin-offs, crossovers, or sequels released around its publishing.

Background

Red Sonja

Aliases: The Curse of Hyrkania, The Devil/The She-Devil, Sonja the Red, The Devil Witch, Sword Mistress, Queen of Malice, Scourge of Maleficence
Nicknames: Sonjita, Majestic Blade Mistress, She of the Excellent Cleavage, Blessed Sonja of the Flashing Blades, Sonja the Hunter, Sonja the Unstoppable, Mud Sonja, Firehair, Sonja of the Covert Dagger
Occupation: Warrior, mercenary
First appearance: Red Sonja #1 (July 17, 2013)
Likes: Ale, sex, adventure stories, Annisia, Conan
Dislikes: Wearing dresses, wizards, kings, motorcycles

Backstory

“Know also, O Prince, that in those selfsame days that Conan the Cimmerian did stalk the Hyborian kingdoms, one of the few swords worthy to cross with his was that of Red Sonja. warrior woman out of majestic Hyrkania. Forced to flee her homeland because she spurned the advances of a king and slew him instead, she rode west across the Turanian Steppes and into the shadowed mists of legendry"

- The Nemedian Chronicles

In the ancient land of Hyborea, there exist tales of a fearsome woman with scarlet hair. Some call her a self-sacrificing warrior of virtue and a hero to endangered women. Others view her as a cowardly seductress and a violent, drunken wench. Then there are those who consider her a blood soaked warrior who’s earned the title of Devil. No matter what she’s described as, all these descriptions tie back to one name: Red Sonja.

But before she grew into a figure of legend, Sonja was born in Hyrkania to loving parents and brothers. As a child, she grew up hearing stories of the legendary warrior Amena, which inspired her to follow the lifestyle.

One day, after failing to hunt a stag, Sonja’s family discovered their home was being burned to the ground by the conqueror Ryshak the Grand, who went on to slaughter Sonja’s family before her eyes. After escaping and killing a would-be rapist, twelve year old Sonja buried her people and went on to train for the purpose of killing Ryshak, eventually slaughtering him and his entire group over the course of four hours.

The Swords of Sorrow crossover has Sonja state she was 11 when she killed the marauders, but this is contradicted by the solo run and her Pathfinder: Worldscape profile.

At some point Sonja was forced into slavery under the nation of Zamora, where she’d need to fight for her life against the other prisoners. In this slave pit, she became sisters in arms with a fellow survivor named Dark Anissia. When they refused to fight each other, they were tortured and abandoned, only to later be discovered by King Dimath during a time of war. Now free from her imprisonment, Sonja swore loyalty to the king.

Some years later, Dimath would call upon this loyalty for a favor. Hoping to prepare his people for war against the oncoming Zamoran army, Sonja was assigned to train the defenseless farmers and craftsmen of his kingdom. Though she initially struggled with their lack of combat experience, Sonja and her students would be forced to adapt when the Zamorans launched an early strike led by Annisia, who’d gone mad and believed the souls of the other slaves were haunting her.

Dimath became one of the victims of Annisia’s delusions, and Sonja discovered she was now infected by the Zamorans’ deathly plague. With her army defeated and the entire nation’s lives on the line, Sonja was forced to surrender and exile herself to save them.

Forced into the frozen mountains and slowly dying of plague, Sonja was left to fend for herself, and after two fortnights in the cold, Sonja was discovered by the bodyguards Dimath had given her. However, despite being rendered blind by the plague, there was good news: Dimath’s son had found a cure. With her sight restored, Sonja was ready to take revenge on Annisia and arranged a duel at their old arena. But things would take an unexpected turn when they discovered the coliseum was actually a trap set by their former master, King Bazrat of Zamora.

Having remained in the shadows all these years, Bazrat had tricked Annisia into joining his army and burning entire villages by convincing her she was saving them from the plague. But in truth, the “plague” was nothing more than a poison he’d been using on his enemies in his rise to power, a journey Annisia had unknowingly aided in.

Horrified and furious at what she’d done, Annisia first attempted to sacrifice herself to save Sonja, but when that failed, the two sisters teamed up to fight off his forces. Though they were aided by the arrival of Sonja’s soldiers, Bazrat wouldn’t die by any of their hands, instead falling victim to his own poison after his cupbearer betrayed him. Annisia died soon after when Dimath’s son Tiath stabbed her in the back. Quickly deducing that Tiath was a double agent, Sonja killed him in response and assigned her bodyguards to serve as the new royals.

Leaving the kingdom behind, Sonja then became involved with the dying king Samala, who wanted to have a final party before his death and prayed on Sonja’s hatred of slavery to get her to help organize. With the lives of 1000 slaves on the line and a deadline of one month, Sonja ventured to locate the six greatest artists in cooking, dancing, sword fighting, etc. While searching for the chef Gribaldi the Magnificent, Sonja found herself taken prisoner by his current captives, the cannibalistic Bogmen. Fortunately, they’d escape after Gribaldi’s search for exotic ingredients angered a tribe of lizard people, who ate the Bogmen in revenge.

The next on her list was Kalayah the Magnificent, a ringmaster Sonja personally despised for his abuse of animals. However, things quickly went awry when Kalayah was viciously mauled by his own animals, forcing Sonja to substitute him for his student, Rat.

The third person Sonja retrieved was Aneva, the princess of a castle full of prostitutes, who killed a sadistic pursuer and revealed her past as a farmhand who’d been trained in combat. After that was Osric the Untouched, a master swordsman with a vow of celibacy who beat Sonja’s ass in more ways than one. Though she’d later get her revenge during their rematch and force him to join. The fifth to join their group was the stargazer Plaitus, who had been imprisoned for his heretical teachings, and finally there was the dancer Rakaua.

With all six artisans rounded up, Sonja presented them to Samala, but despite his festive attitude, Sonja quickly surmised he intended to go back on their deal and rebelled. Sonja was quickly knocked out and imprisoned. Realizing they’d been double crossed, Sonja’s allies helped free her and took on Samala’s forces, while the king was left to die while puking his guts out from Gribaldi’s poisoned mushrooms. The party’s atmosphere may have been ruined by the chaos, but Sonja and her party left on good terms, with Sonja returning to Aneva’s brothel to relieve her long pent-up frustrations.

This good fortune wouldn’t last long, as she was soon employed by a local village to kill the soul stealing sorcerer Kalas-Ra. Though she succeeded in her goal, Ra used his dying breath to curse Sonja so that any slight, no matter how insignificant, would drive her into a rage. Unaware of this, Sonja returned to the village a hero alongside Havan, an up and coming sorcerer who mistook her for a powerful sorceress. But as she partied with the locals, everything took a turn when the bar’s owner accidentally spilled wine on Sonja, causing her to beat him to near death. This, combined with her fury at seeing her father’s killer, caused Sonja to leave the tavern in search of the man.

Unexpectedly, the killer, Fellan, would seek her out, revealing his side of the story and asking her forgiveness. But thanks to the curse, this only succeeded in making Sonja kill his mercenaries. Nearly driven mad by her own bloodlust, Sonja plunged her hands into a roaring fire, burning them so she’d never be able to use them again. This decision regained the townspeople’s loyalty, which was only emboldened by the barkeep forgiving her.

As Sonja lay bedridden, Kalas’ brother Katharas entered the town to seek revenge on the woman who killed his family. At the same time, Sonja was able to overcome the curse’s effects and helped Havan restore his lost powers to battle Katharas. The Firemaker’s conjurings made quick work of the sorcerer’s monsters, and Sonja personally killed Katharas herself. Unfortunately, she would collapse shortly after from the infections caused by her burns.

With her conscience drifting into the afterlife, Sonja encountered Death herself, and to prove her worthiness of living, she fought the spirit and won. Upon waking up, she, the townspeople, and her old companions (including a revived Annisia) celebrated by drinking at the bar. And after some time searching for him, she finally located Fellan and forgave him for what he’d done.

From there, Sonja went on to have many other adventures, saving the Daughters of Erlik from having their library destroyed by Empress Laranda-Fa, avenging Amena after she was killed by marauders, and discovering the source of the Bloodroot alongside Annisia, Conan the Barbarian, and the she-pirate Belit. She’d even go on to help Conan destroy the source of the Bloodroot, aid him in times of war, and help kill the resurrected sorcerer Thoth-Amon.

At one point she was transported to an alternate universe called the Worldscape, where she was promptly enslaved by Empress Camilla and turned into her prized fighter. With the help of the others trapped there, Sonja was able to revolt and eventually returned to her world, though in the process she lost her memories of Worldscape.

Personality

Like past iterations, Gail Simone’s Sonja is a fierce, honorable warrior with no fear of man, beast, or demon who’s so ready for battle she sleeps with a throwing dagger under her pillow in case someone tries to attack her. She’s willing to lend her weapons to those who need them, and will put them out of their misery at their request. She also has no qualms with threatening others, whether it’s to motivate her allies or issue a warning to enemies.

She’s also got some serious anger issues. As a firm believer in giving the dead- especially royalty- proper burials, she will become infuriated if their bodies are misplaced. The only thing that can make her show similar anger is animal abuse, which disgusts her so much that she’s reluctant to kill them, and will only do so if she needs to eat or put them out of their misery. Her anger can even flare up during combat at times, though it’s more of a detriment than helpful.

While she later learned to reign in her temper (sort of) enough to forgive her father’s killer, this hasn’t stopped her from occasionally feeling guilt and remorse over their deaths. There are times where she’s believed she doesn’t belong with anyone and has tried to bond with those she sees as similar.

Unlike other versions of Red Sonja, this one has no vow of celibacy and thinks it’s the stupidest thing she’s ever heard. Instead, she is very open about her sexuality, to the point of being a nymphomaniac. During her quest to find Samala’s six artists, she continually thought about having sex and admitted she doesn’t care who it’s with as long as they’re limber. She proposed a Bogman and his wife for sex despite referring to them as “dirty, filthy, swamp-dwelling scum,” fucked a wish granting forest god, and helped reinvigorate a depressed Conan with slow, passionate sex. She’s so overtly horny that being shown a harem was enough to excite her after weeks of feeling pent up.

If that wasn’t enough to set her apart from the other Sonjas, this version puts their love of ale to shame by making her a complete alcoholic. She thinks about it regularly and gets angry when she doesn’t have it. Even when infected by a poison that’s slowly killing her, she still asks for alcohol over food or weapons, planned to visit a village that contains a cure so she could rest and (mostly) drink, and asks for wine while being treated.

Despite being reluctant to pray to them. Sonja still swears by the gods, like saying “Tarim’s blood,” “Mitra’s Circle,” or “Mitra’s balls” when surprised, invoking Tarim when confused, Mitra, Ishtar, and Derketo when annoyed, “gods of the abyss” when exhausted, and begging the “goddess” for aid. However, she doesn’t go to churches due to feeling intimidated by them.

She has occasionally referred to herself in the third person, takes pride in being insolent, is extremely foul-mouthed, lacks table manners, and has a strange sense of humor

She hates wearing dresses and considers later periods of fashion to be torture. She has a natural distrust toward wizards, princes, kings, and emperors. During her brief time in the modern era, she expressed a dislike toward motorcycles.

Experience

From a young age Sonja was shown to be a skilled hunter, tracker, and marksman. At age 12 she killed her first man and took down an entire camp of marauders without being seen.

Her years in the Zamoran slave pit helped mold her into a formidable warrior, capable of beating swordsmen like Osric, who had never been wounded in a fight before. She even managed to overpower accomplished sorcerers, wolfmen, giant octopi, the she-pirate Belit, Conan, and Death itself. Later on in life, she continued serving as a gladiator in the world of Pathfinder, eventually becoming their reigning champion.

She’s capable of fighting at both close and long range while blind. She’s also extremely pragmatic, willing to use anything in her surroundings to gain an advantage, steal an enemy’s weapons, use human shields, throw dirt in the eyes, and go for bites, headbutts, and low blows.

Strength

Red Sonja (2013) #1:

Stabs a man through the head, elbows another, and throws her dagger into a third’s skull.

Severs a raider’s arms.

Kicks a man hard enough that he collapses a table.

Slices a troll’s ankles, stabs into a troll’s brain, and kicks the man from earlier in the balls.

Elbows a man and breaks another’s nose with a punch.

Knees Sadisto in the balls and punches him.

Slices gladiators throats.

Kicking a man in the gut causes him to spew blood.

Decapitates Sadisto.

Decapitates, kicks, and stabs some Vikings.

Kills some crocodile men and yetis.

Legends of Red Sonja #1:

Stabs a wolfman in the chest and bludgeons him with a silver rock.

Cuts through and bites a giant octopus’ tentacles, then stabs it in the eye.

Legends of Red Sonja #2:

Kicks a man and slams him into the ground.

Kills some slave traders.

Legends of Red Sonja #3:

Stabs Zaul and Horthak.

Decapitates three men at once.

Legends of Red Sonja #4:

Splits a necromancer’s skull and destroys her walking stick with a kick.

Legends of Red Sonja #5:

Decapitates Pazyryk.

Conan/Red Sonja #1:

Beats Kalayah in two blows.

Slashes Conan and causes him to spit blood.

Cuts Conan on the side and stabs his leg.

Conan/Red Sonja #2:

Headbutts Belit and overpowers her off screen.

Kills an infected animal.

Decapitates a massive snake.

Conan/Red Sonja #3:

Stabs a man in the leg.

Elbows a guy while stabbing another in the leg/crotch, then smacks a man with a mace.

Throws a trident into a king’s chest.

Her sword clashing with Conan’s is said to have made mountains quake in fear.

Cuts Conan across the chest, draws blood by biting him, then simultaneously breaks his nose and knocks him out.

Conan/Red Sonja #4:

Throws her dagger into Thoth-Amon’s chest and stomps it into him.

Cuts through the tendrils of one of the Travelers.

Swords of Sorrow #2:

Tackles Tars Tarkas through a portal and knocks him out.

Clashes with Dejah Thoris.

Holds back and throws Woola.

Amputates, decapitates and kicks some Shardmen.

Swords of Sorrow #3:

Decapitates three dinosaurs at once.

Swords of Sorrow #6:

Stabs Prince Charming in the chest.

Swords of Sorrow: Red Sonja/Jungle Girl #1:

Pulls Jungle Girl down a hillside and kicks her away.

Punches a Shardman, cuts another on the back, and slices one in half.

Swords of Sorrow: Red Sonja/Jungle Girl #2:

Snaps a spear in half.

Swords of Sorrow: Red Sonja/Jungle Girl #3:

Cuts some Shardmen in half.

Red Sonja/Conan #1:

Stabs a man through the waist.

Slices a man’s throat.

Red Sonja/Conan #2:

Severs a man’s hand, then slices his partner’s throat and stabs another in the stomach.

Stabs a guy in the chest.

Pulls a giant monster’s foot out from under it.

Hits an attacker with a chop to the throat and impales him through the chest.

Red Sonja/Conan #3:

Stabs a dark spider and cuts it open.

Red Sonja/Conan #4:

Kicks Thoth-Amon into a portal.

Pathfinder: Worldscape #1 & 3:

Impales Valeros through the stomach

Pathfinder: Worldscape #3:

Gouges a man’s eyes out and stabs him through the head.

Amputated several warriors off panel.

Pathfinder: Worldscape #5:

Clashes with John Carter, impales him, and disarms him.

Beats Xanesha to death with a scepter.

Pathfinder: Worldscape - Red Sonja:

Kicks a man in the face.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #1:

Smacks a man with a saddle and kicks another.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #2:

Kicks a guard’s shotgun and breaks another’s nose with an elbow.

Kicks Tarzan off of her and staggers him with two more.

The narration says she’s turned away battalions through strength of will.

Cuts Tarzan on the side.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #4:

Kills a shopkeeper with a punch.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #5:

Scratches Eson Duul’s chest, kicks him in the face and makes him spit blood, then smacks him with a shovel.

Severs a pterodactyl’s talons.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #6:

Backhands a man, knocking his teeth loose and drawing blood.

Cuts some dinosaurs.

Kicks Carl Snyder in the balls and punches him in the throat.

Speed

Red Sonja (2013) #1:

Dodges a bandit’s sword swing.

Red Sonja (2013) #2:

Dodges Anissia’s axe.

Red Sonja (2013) #4:

Dodges a trident swing in a flashback.

Avoids a sword slash while blind.

Red Sonja (2013) #5:

Disappears from sight as people are looking directly at her.

Red Sonja (2013) #6:

Blocks a slash from behind and dodges another from Annisia.

Red Sonja (2013) #9:

Dodges a guard’s spear.

Red Sonja (2013) #10:

Dodges a slash from Osric.

Red Sonja (2013) #11:

Avoids being shot by crossbow bolts from behind, then blocks another with a stick.

Red Sonja (2013) #13:

Escapes a collapsing cave.

Red Sonja (2013) #14:

Simultaneously dodges an arrow and catches another, then ducks under a mace.

Red Sonja (2013) #18:

Avoids daggers thrown at her.

Red Sonja (2013) #100:

Dodges a slash from behind.

Dodges a boar man’s mace twice.

Red Sonja #1973:

Dodges an axe several times.

Avoids blow darts and boulders.

Conan/Red Sonja #1:

Blocks a slash from behind from Conan.

Conan/Red Sonja #3:

Dodges a mace.

Avoids a slash from Conan, with the narration saying she’s faster.

Dodges another slash.

Swords of Sorrow #2:

Dodges Dejah Thoris’ sword swings and later blocks one from above.

Swords of Sorrow #5:

Escapes a car while a tank shell is flying toward it.

Swords of Sorrow: Red Sonja/Jungle Girl #2:

Tackles Jungle Girl away from a chariot.

Red Sonja/Conan #1:

Blocks swords coming at her from both sides, then ducks under another.

Ducks under a sword slash.

Pathfinder: Worldscape - Red Sonja:

Dodges a shot from a radium bullet.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #2:

Dodges Tarzan’s attacks despite him being faster than her.

Ducks under a punch from Tarzan.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #6:

Dodges a punch from Carl Snyder.

Durability

Red Sonja (2013) #2:

Crushed under a horse’s corpse.

Bludgeoned by Anissia’s axe hilt.

Backhanded and choked by Anissia.

Stabbed in the leg by Anissia.

Red Sonja (2013) #3:

Smacked by a sword hilt in a flashback.

Red Sonja (2013) #5:

Has her blood drained by leeches, which would take a week to recover from.

Red Sonja (2013) #6:

Takes a punch from Annisia.

Red Sonja (2013) #8:

Endures Kalayah stomping on her fingers until they bleed.

Red Sonja (2013) #16:

Her soul gets hit by Death, only to get back up.

Red Sonja (2013) #18:

Stabbed in the leg and cut on the side.

Shot in the shoulder by an arrow and remains conscious for the rest of the fight, though she passes out immediately after and is bedridden for several days.

Conan/Red Sonja #1:

Takes a punch from Conan.

Conan/Red Sonja #2:

Cut by Belit’s knife.

Knocked back by Thoth-Amon.

Conan/Red Sonja #3:

Stabbed in the side by a sword.

Takes a punch from Conan.

Swords of Sorrow #2:

Unfazed while slamming against a cliffside.

Swords of Sorrow #6:

Slits her wrist.

Swords of Sorrow: Red Sonja/Jungle Girl #1:

Kicked by Jungle Girl.

Red Sonja/Conan #1:

Chokeslammed onto a bed by an ogre.

Red Sonja/Conan #3:

Stabbed by a spider’s leg.

Red Sonja/Conan #4:

Knocked back by a massive blast from Thoth-Amon.

Pathfinder: Worldscape #5:

A kick from John Carter knocks her back and leaves her bleeding, yet she gets back up. He then cuts her with his sword, but she powers through it to counter.

Tackled by Tara Tarkas.

Pathfinder: Worldscape #6:

Smacked by a gorilla’s staff.

Pathfinder: Worldscape - Red Sonja:

Gets shot by a radium bullet, which is normally lethal, then endures having the bullet removed.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #1:

Shot in the arm by an arrow.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #2:

Slammed into the ground and backhanded by Tarzan.

Tackled and backhanded by Tarzan.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #6:

Takes a punch from Carl Snyder.

Scaling

Conan

Sonja has bested the Cimmerian in combat and could’ve killed him if it weren’t for her honor.

Conan can casually lift and decapitate grown men and giant ogres.

Took the brunt of the damage when he and Sonja were at ground zero of this explosion.

Intelligence

Red Sonja (2013) #1:

Knows a recipe whose repulsive taste will let her circumvent her hangover.

Red Sonja (2013) #4:

After being blinded by a poison, she tracks targets by sound and scent to kill them.

Red Sonja (2013) #6:

Deduces that Tiath was the one that poisoned her and that he was working with Bazrat.

Red Sonja (2013) #7:

Can tell a man’s been trailing her for four days.

Deliberately alerts the bogmen to her presence so they can take her to their chef.

Red Sonja (2013) #13:

Is a skilled tracker.

Red Sonja (2013) #18:

Sets up a decoy to distract the Vipers.

Ties a horse’s reins around a man’s neck and commands the horse to drag him.

Red Sonja (2013) #100:

Deduces that a child is an expert with a slingshot because of the calluses on his hands.

Identifies a weak spot in a boar man’s armor and tricks him into hitting himself.

Can tell that removing the arrow in Amena’s heart would kill her.

Red Sonja #1973:

Convinces a cannibalistic troll to let her pass by offering her pursuer.

Pathfinder: Worldscape - Red Sonja:

Quickly figures out how a gun works.

Red Sonja/Tarzan #2:

Can speak English.

Abilities

Stamina and Endurance

While it doesn’t come up often, Sonja has some impressive displays of stamina. As a twelve year old, she was able to dig the graves for her entire village and fill each one, and as an adult she could still fight after going four days without sleep or three days with little food, no sleep, and constantly being pursued.

Pain Tolerance

Sonja has powered through being shot in the shoulder and stomach and withstood the pain of having her hands burned to the bone.

Agility

Can leap over a fire to grab her sword.

Swordsmanship

Sonja is immensely skilled as a swordswoman, and precise enough that this impalement somehow isn’t lethal.

Close Quarters Combat

When she isn’t using her sword, Sonja will gladly engage others with her fists and feet. She’s defeated a guard in two blows, stunned attackers with chops and punches to the throat, and beaten Osric the Untouchable in close quarters.

Marksmanship

Sonja has shown numerous instances of being able to hit targets from afar. Her father has said she’s better with a bow than anyone else in their village. She shot her parents’ killer in the throat as a twelve year old, euthanized an abused bear while in an audience, landed a headshot from across a campground while drunk, and could perform accurate kills while blind.

Stealth

While committing her first murders, a twelve year old Sonja killed an entire group of marauders over the course of four hours. And as an adult, she could sneak up on enemies from below while distracting them with decoys.

Horse Riding

As a Hyrkanian, Sonja’s skill at riding horses is so adept it’s akin to sorcery.

RPG Abilities

The comic series Pathfinder: Worldscape transforms Sonja into a tabletop RPG character and gives her many new abilities. You can find them here.

Powers

Fourth Wall Awareness

In a really out of place joke, Sonja at one point acknowledged she and Jungle Girl are in a crossover comic.

Arsenal

Bikini Armor

Sonja’s main outfit, crafted by the armorsmith Gerd. It’s useful for distracting men with her curves.

Chainmail Armor

Given to her by Prince Tiath, it’s said to be the finest chainmail in the land.

Broadsword

A double-edged broadsword that serves as Sonja’s main weapon.

Scimitar

During her time in Camilla’s arena Sonja wielded a scimitar instead of her usual broadsword.

Dagger

Usually kept at her side, Sonja can use her dagger up-close or for long-range kills. She also keeps a throwing dagger under her pillow while sleeping.

Horse

Sonja is often depicted on horseback when traveling to other locations and sometimes into battle, with the horse usually appearing black, white, or brown. Being a horse, it should be able to reach a speed of 44 mph and kick with 2000 lbs of force.

One of her horses, Clover, immediately responded to her commands. She got killed by some hunters in the Tarzan crossover.

Bow

Sonja’s wielded bows on occasion, using it to hunt and defend herself while in the mountains.

Rope

Useful for ensnaring enemies of any size.

Sword of Sorrow

A futuristic ebony blade that was forged by the time traveling warrior (and the witch from Snow White) Traveler specifically for her. The Sword of Sorrow allows its wielder to understand other languages and is one of the three swords capable of piercing Prince Charming’s flesh. It can also be used to travel anywhere in any time period or universe at the cost of spreading cracks through the timeline with each “jump.”

Radium Gun

A futuristic gun Sonja stole while in the Worldscape. It has an ammo capacity of at least 25, and its cartridges will explode when exposed to sunlight.

Feats

Killed Ryshak the Great and his band of marauders
Killed a group of mermen
Killed Tiath
Defeated Osric in their rematch
Successfully freed Plaitus
Killed Kalas-Ra and overcame his Unforgivable curse
Saved the Daughters of Erlik from being killed and having their library burned by Empress Laranda-Fa’s enforcers, the Vipers
Threatened Laranda into leaving the Daughters of Erlik alone
While imprisoned, she and a boy won their freedom by killing the king’s boar man
Freed a group of Hyperborean slaves
Proved her innocence after being accused of murder
Killed Lord Sadisto and freed his slaves from a gladiatorial arena
Killed the zombified necromancer Zaul
Worked with Conan, Belit, and Annisia to stop Thoth-Amon from spreading Bloodroot to the world
Defeated Conan
Teamed up with the various heroines of Dynamite to save the multiverse from Prince Charming and his forces of darkness
Helped Conan kill a resurrected Thoth-Amon
Became the interdimensional champion of the Worldscape
Teamed up with Tarzan to kill the time traveling Cimmerian warlord Eson Duul
Is everybody’s type

Weaknesses

Sonja might be extremely deadly, but she’s not infallible. More skilled opponents like Osric and Tarzan have beaten her before, and she has a really bad temper that can make her sloppy during combat. And while she can power through a good amount of pain, poisons can still affect her and will easily do her in if untreated. In terms of stranger weaknesses, she’s allergic to leeks.

Conclusion

Going into this, I knew from various threads that Gail Simone’s run on Red Sonja was really divisive, with some people praising it as the best thing Sonja’s been in and others considering it the worst. Personally, I feel like the series is a mixed bag with some good highs and abysmal lows.

The artwork is easily the best part of this series. I loved Walter Geovani’s work in Prophecy and the Sonja miniseries Unleashed and Wrath of the Gods, and save for a few ugly or awkward expressions here or there, the quality holds up really well. Everything else is where the inconsistencies start to set in.

The first arc, “Queen of Plagues,” was a great start, though I could tell early on the humor would be one of the series’ weaker points. Sonja’s bodyguards Ayla and Nias were poor attempts at comedic relief, and their jokes and nicknames for Sonja mostly fell flat. I also got bored pretty quick when a character would go “We’ll do X and Y. Okay, not Y… Mostly Y.” The only comedic moments that got me to smile in this arc were these pages.

Fortunately, the action and story picked up the slack. The plot felt like a combination of several previous Red Sonja stories, but it was enough to keep my interest. Sonja was characterized really well, a bit more temperamental and rougher around the edges than usual, but nothing offensive. Annisia made for an interesting antagonist with her insanity and how brutal she became. It reminded me a lot of Dimitri from Fire Emblem. While the way she died felt like it was just there for shock value, the sendoff was still well-written.

The “Art of Blood and Fire” arc was where the cracks started to show, with the biggest among them being Sonja’s characterization. The previous arc had Sonja as this brutal, honorable warrior. Now she’s a constantly angry, sex-crazed alcoholic who feels like a bad parody of Conan. And binging this arc in the course of one day, I grew really tired of the constant remarks about her smelling bad, especially with how it kept tying into her sex drive. Look, I’m not a prude, but if you’re going to have sex jokes in something, either space them out or give them some variety. Don’t just repeat the same joke where Sonja walks up to one of the artists, goes “Hey, you. I haven’t had sex in weeks. Let’s plow,” then gets rejected because she hasn’t bathed and smells bad.

I also felt the scene where she mocks Osric’s vow of celibacy was a bit weird. In isolation it feels like a fun joke, and it being juxtaposed with Osric kicking her ass at the end is funny. But having read previous Red Sonja stories, several of which show the main character having sex with and without the vow of celibacy, it feels kind of like a petty shot at previous writers. It also doesn’t help this scene’s coming off several instances of the sex proposal jokes, and with that context it just comes across as annoying.

Besides that, I totally called Samala betraying her when she brought the artists. What I didn’t expect was for the final battle to be so underwhelming. Just as things start to get good, it fizzles out when Samala dies and then we end it off with Sonja going to a brothel. Great way to end your story that takes up 6 of your (technically) 19 issues.

Issue 0 was a good palate cleanser after the boring waste that was the last arc. In fact, it’s probably the best I’ve seen from this series since Queen of Plagues. Malak was one of the few instances in this run where the comedy actually worked, and Sonja honoring him by hanging a flag over his grave was a great way to end it.

The “Forgiving of Monsters” arc was just alright. It wasn’t irritating like the previous one, but I didn’t have any strong feelings toward it either. At the very least it had a competently written Sonja who wasn’t constantly bitching about not having beer and sex, and the characters that were introduced sure did exist. Havan was a fine companion. I thought it was neat when Sonja motivated him to get his fire magic back, but that’s about it. Kalas and Katharas were both incredibly boring, vapid antagonists. Give me Thulsa Doom or Kulan Gath anyday over these wastes of space. And Fellan had an interesting backstory and personality. It’s a shame he barely shows up, runs off after the first scene where he talks with Sonja, and doesn’t show up until the very end of the arc. But at least the final conversation with him and Sonja is written well.

The last two issues feel completely tacked on and forgettable. I read through them twice just to see if I could find anything to say, but all that comes to mind is the fight scenes are alright and Sonja’s new hairstyle at the end looks terrible.

Issue 100 was an anthology, and as short as they were, it was great to see authors like Roy Thomas, Michael Oeming, and Luke Lieberman come back to write Sonja. The last story by Lieberman was easily the highlight of it all, partially because we get to see Sonja and Osin back together, and the final scene with Sonja talking to her father’s ghost was really good!

1973 was solid for the most part, though I wasn’t really a fan of Gail’s story “The Hanging Tree.” The stories by Sonja’s previous authors (Oeming, Thomas, Lieberman) are consistent with how they write her. Gail in this issue writes her as a drunken, violent mess who for some reason constantly speaks in the third person, then halfway through she’s suddenly a lot calmer and rational. You could probably justify by saying she was drunk at the time and sobered up after she was knocked out, but that feels Like a lame excuse. The characterization’s especially bad since the last two stories have great depictions of Sonja for what (as far as I know) were David Walker and Cullen Bunn’s first times writing her, and one of them didn’t even have dialogue!

Legends of Red Sonja was decent. I’ve always loved these stories where you get to hear the different in-universe viewpoints of a character, and the stories from Gerd and Jenny were amusing. Showing the main story from the perspective of her enemies made it pretty unique, and it was cool when we got to see her take each of the Grey Riders down.

The Conan crossovers felt like great throwbacks to the Marvel stories, especially with Belit’s involvement and the camaraderie between Sonja and Conan. They were easily the best stories for this period of Sonja.

After this, I’d accidentally skipped over Pathfinder: Worldscape and Swords of Sorrow, which I didn’t realize until plot points and characters from SoS showed up in Red Sonja/Tarzan. As soon as that happened, the otherwise decent series lost the plot and went completely off the rails, which just left me confused. Once I finished, I went to Swords of Sorrow to see what I missed, and it was pretty good. It’s just that the cast was WAY too bloated and I either had no idea who most of them were or kept mixing them up. I also felt the whole “Prince Charming and his forces are misogynist” point they kept bringing up was extremely on the nose.

Then I read through the spinoff/miniseries Red Sonja/Jungle Girl. I really wasn’t a fan of this one. Marguerite Bennett’s writing didn’t feel like Sonja. The way she talked felt way too modern and peppy, and the constant attempts at humor fell flat. Halfway into issue 2 I started skimming the pages, and I went all the way with issue 3 just because I felt like reading it would be a waste of time.

And after all that, I finally went through Pathfinder: Worldscape, which was perfectly fine. Erik Mona did a great job at writing the characters, and it was cool to see Kulan Gath come back after so long, though it’s a shame he didn’t do anything. Sonja getting a radium gun was a novel idea, and at least it got more screen time than Black Tower where she has a laser pistol for two pages and it never shows up again.

Here are some quotes I considered using in the opening instead of the Nemedian Chronicles:

“Come then, dogs, slavers, conquerors of children. Face one educated blade if you have the courage.”

“I’d say you’ve got about five minutes left to live. Give or take five minutes. Draw your weapons, fool. Your final challenge is RED SONJA!l