Dynamite Entertainment 2020
Written by Mark Russell & Bryce Ingman
Illustrated by Craig Rousseau
Coloured by Dearbhla Kelly
Lettered by Hassan Otsman-Elhaou
Prince Cyril's plan to murder Sonja The Red is diverted, due to battles with giants. But from the battles comes a discovery, and a mysterious collection of allies begins to unite.
At first I thought this is cute but the interior artwork wasn’t really up to what I consider to be Red Sonja standards. Still the story has elements that make it enjoyable and when I saw issue two and I read this it changed everything in my mind about what this book is. There is this undeniable and honest transformation that takes place in this issue for the reader. The effect that it has on the reader and the way that they connect to it. What these folks are doing here is rather impressive in how it manages to change the reader without changing the story and unless you actually start to read it, both issues, you won’t be able to understand this as much as I'm trying to explain.
The way that this is being told is extremely well done. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented rather nicely. I find myself enjoying how the young Emperor, the stories he learns from and his rather unexpected growing up since this little journey started. The character development we see plays a huge role in the enjoyment of the book. If those around him started respecting him then perhaps young Cyril would be different but the learning curve that he is currently going through makes watching his transformation fascinating. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way we meet and see new characters, new threats and new opportunities arise. The way that this book is structured and how we see all of this working together to create the ebb & flow is among the reasons to read this.
There aren’t many books like this where the lady of the hour doesn’t even appear though she happens to be the centre of attention. Once you realise she probably won’t even show up at all and this is a story set in her world and we get to see parts of it, inhabitants and locals that we’ve never seen before a new kind of appreciation starts to form.
The interiors here have their own charm and charisma that you come to greatly appreciate. The linework here is nicely laid down and the style that we see is really unique to this book. There is this interesting way that we backgrounds utilised throughout the book and how we manage to see depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope is well done. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a solid eye for storytelling. The colour work is very nicely rendered here. I like the way that we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work.
This is such a better story than I had actually expected it to be. It is one of those rare gems that you find because you are looking for something else and yet once you realise it it’s too late because the story captured you mind and soul.