Legenderry: Red Sonja

Legenderry universe

by Marc Andreyko, Aneke (Illustrations), Sergio Fernandez Dávila (Illustrations)

From the pages of Bill Willingham's Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure... it's Red Sonja, the crimson-tressed rogue and ruffian, facing off against science run amok. Against a Neo-Victorian backdrop of clockworks and Tesla coils, fantasy's most fearless heroine sets sail through a whole new world of adventure and intrigue! After a year on the run under the assumed identity of Magna Spadarossa, Red Sonja returns to fiery form as an ale-swilling, rapier-swinging ship captain... but it's only a matter of time until she's called to action, drawn into a madman's plot to conquer the world! Befriending Elizabeth, the undead bride of Victor Frankenstein, Sonja discovers that the evil scientist has been kidnapping inventors and professors to steal their secrets and raise an unstoppable monster army. Will the She-Devil with a Sword unravel the plot in time, or will she fall victim to the mad doctor and his ally, the dreaded Captain Nemo?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Steampunk, Fantasy, Pirates, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2015

About the author

Marc Andreyko is a comic book and screenplay writer, best known for writing the 2000s ongoing series Manhunter for DC Comics.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Sonya + Steampunk x League of Extraordinary Gentleman = OK

[Allie · Rating 1 out of 5]

BONUS FILM AND TV QUOTES (New look, same great taste!)

The only thing Steampunk about this are the goggles Sonja wears on top of her head.

Laaame. So lame.*

Sit back and let me tell you about this pfft of a book. (No spoilers.)

~To start off, yeah -- it was a bit cheesy; kind of in the same vein as Harley Quinn's cheesiness. I can handle that. Hell, sometimes I crave it when I'm in an I-don't-want-to-think-too-much-about-this mood. But then Sonja starts talking to a female barkeep. This is how that goes:

Barkeep: Red! I didn't know you were back in the city!
Sonja: Just got here, Bitsy. Could I trouble you for a towel and a hot whiskey?
Barkeep: Yer never no trouble at all, Red dearie!
Sonja: Bitsy, you are a silver-tongued sorceress! If you were a man, I'd kiss you on the mouth!

...um, did I miss the part where Bitsy was a silver-tongued sorceress?...[scrutinizes the single panel]...nope. Nothing. There's nothing to see here, folks. Next!

~Sonja meets the bride of Frankenstein. Is this cool? Yes, this is cool. They have a nice chat. Elizabeth tells Sonja how she became said bride. Oh, you men are all alike; seven or eight quick ones and then you're out with the boys to boast and brag. YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!** They have a drink together --well, Sonja has a drink, anyway. Aww, they're bonding! They pull out a map to discuss how {omitted spoiler} is connected. Sonja enjoys a cigarillo. Sweet! But that's when Little Miss Frankenstein decides to step back into the shadows. Why? Because she is used to others recoiling from... | ...this. Bum bum buuum: Elizabeth uncovers her face!...er, I mean...she covers it BUT THEN recovers it! Oh, snap!

~Sonja meets Professor Pierre Arronax. (Oooh, professors are cool.) Wait...who? Ohhh, you mean that guy that Patrick Dempsey played in that crap 1997 mini-series? (Not worth the asterisk.) Yeah, that's Pierre Aronnax. One r, two n's. Don't worry, I get that same mixup with my last name. Hey, I donate annually to Wikipedia, so I feel obliged to bitch and moan when people don't use it, okay? Back to Pierre What's-his-name. He's walking Sonja back to her room, and during their first and only conversation, Sonja asks Pierre how he could be a part of {non-spoiler}. He answers, using certain un-spoilery words. One and only conversation over, he opens the door to her room and tells her to be sure to drink your Ovaltine.*** Ahem. He tells her to be sure to eat because she needs her strength. She removes the lid from her food tray and abracadabra! There's a signed note from ol' Pierre, using the same un-spoilery words he used in answer to Sonja's {non-spoiler} question! Professor, or magician? True! Who are you, Perry Mason?****


~Sonja meets Captain Nemo. Again, class -- this is cool. Remembering there's no spoilers, he has something glaringly obvious on his face. [Skips forward several pages.] Hey! It's gone! Thank the lawd, it's g... not gone. It's back. Oh, okay. Unthank any unseen divine intervention, it's not gone. Damnit, Janet.*****

I could go on, I really could. But I've already stayed up way past my bedtime to write this. The book was shit. It's over. Go home. Go.******



*Metalocalypse
**Young Frankenstein
***A Christmas Story
****Clue
*****Rocky Horror Picture Show
******Ferris Bueller's Day Off

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Legenderry: Vampirella before I read this volume, and I liked this much better. The Vampirella series required more knowledge of the Legenderry series, where this one stood on its own.

We have Red Sonja in a steampunk universe, and she's not nearly as chaste here as she used to be. Victor Von Frankenstein is assembling and army of his undead creatures to take over the world. Elizabeth Frankenstein is now an undead Bride of Frankenstein. Victor has turned Captain Nemo into a monster and now controls the nautilus. Add in the Island of Dr. Moreau and some Great White Sharks and you have a pretty cool story. The art is nice as well.

Overall a strong series. If you're a Red Sonja fan you will probably enjoy this take on her.

[Florin Pitea · Rating 2 out of 5]

So-and-so script. Decent graphics, but nothing to write home about. Not worth a second reading.

[Greg (adds 2 TBR list daily) Hersom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how a feel about how Red Sonja's character is interpreted - she's a warrior and redhead, other than that she's quite different than Sonja's is usually portrayed.
But this is still a simple fun read, like comics back in the day.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 3 out of 5]

É melhor que a da Vampirella.
Mas também tem o Capitão Nemo zumbi arrancando a cabeça de um tubarão.
Pouca coisa é melhor que um personagem clássico fortemente descaracterizado como um morto vivo que usa um turbante, aparentemente, impermeável arrancando a cabeça de um animal selvagem para salvar o Demonhão Ruivão caracterizado com uma pirata que se envolveu em um plano para a dominação mundial do nosso cientista maluco favorito, Doutor Frankenstein.
A ruiva tá bem melhor caracterizada e os desenhos são bem mais interessantes também, o problema é que não tem picas de steampunk como prometia o título, mas tem o Capitão Nemo zumbi arrancando a cabeça de um tubarão.
Então acho que vale a pena.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.5 of 5

I have read quite a few great Red Sonja titles lately, and like many fans of the genre and fans of Robert E. Howard, I've always liked the character. And so I had no hesitation to request this additional title - Legenderry: Red Sonja. Now, what I need to disclose is that while I enjoy reading comics and graphic novels, and there was a time when I read a lot of them and was very into knowing everything I could about the market, those days are mostly passed for me. I still have an appreciation for the medium, but I in no way stay current on who's publishing what, where, when or why. So how was I to know that this isn't a 'traditional' Sonja story or that "Legenderry" was in fact a reference to a popular, previously published title that was steampunk. Or that like the Legenderry predecessor, this book was steampunk. Yes. Steampunk. The bikini-chain-mail-wearing swords-woman was placed in an alternate, steampunk world.

I didn't understand this. I didn't understand why it was being done. I was looking for a good Red Sonja story and all I could think of was that this was totally unnecessary. Taking Sonja out of her element dramatically changes the character. She's a creation of her environment. Put her in a new environment and she's a very different character. After each story I asked why anyone bothered to make this 'Red Sonja' - this was a different individual with red hair and the hint of chain mail.

What I am getting at (if I haven't been clear) is: Why was this Red Sonja? The way this read, it was any kick-ass female fighter and they named her Red Sonja to try to draw in a few suckers, like myself. I don't appreciate being taken for a sucker.

In the story, Sonja interacts with Victor von Frankenstein and Captain Nemo, bringing two other literary characters into the mix.

If I could get over the fact that it was totally unnecessary to make the character Red Sonja (which I clearly can't), then the story itself was very nice. There were some interesting twist (primarily surround Frankenstein) and the art was decent.

For a 'steampunk' story I don't feel it really captured the steampunk aura. It was, however, a nice adventure story that takes place about the turn of the century.

Looking for a good book? Legenderry: Red Sonja is a steampunk themed adventure story that doesn't take advantage of the bad-ass swordswoman aspect of the character. The art is nice, though.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Legenderry: Red Sonja' which is set in Bill Willingham's Legenderry universe takes Red Sonja and sets her firmly in the Victorian/Steampunk era. I expected to not like it, and I actually enjoyed it.

Red Sonja has a ship and a crew and she finds herself in port. When she chances into a local bar for some fun, she ends up getting involved in an adventure that will take her on an adventure weaving through some famous fictional characters of the era, including Victor Frankenstein and an army of his undead henchmen. The journey takes her to a fortress run by Frankenstein and she finds an interesting ally. When her ship is sunk, she is picked up by an unusual invention and meets another famous character of the era. Even with new allies, the fight against Victor seems hopeless, but this is Red Sonja, and she's not afraid of a good fight.

It's a bit odd to see this character in a different era, but I think the story stays mostly true to her nature. There's not a lot of down time for drinking and carousing, but that gets implied at the beginning, then the story rockets forward and never really lets up. There are some good twists and turns along the way .

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Dynamite, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp with a neat version of the characters. The crossover factor is really the best part.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even with the darker tones borrowed from literature this story is lighthearted and occasionally funny. Some moments are pretty useless and the ending is rushed, but it's still worth picking up. If you're not looking for something too serious, it's perfect.

Frankenstein has succeeded in reviving the dead and wants to create an invincible army. He has sent several of his resurrected monsters to recover an escaped scientist named Woychek. The latter stumbles into Red Sonja who takes an interest in him. She is joined by Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, also a resurrected monster, but one who is trying to help Woychek. Frankenstein's plans will have to contend with Sonja.

Sonja follows the captured Woychek by sea, but her ship is destroyed by Nemo's submarine. The resurrected Captain Nemo is also controled by Frankenstein and Pierre Arronax is Frankenstein's first recruit, but his faith comes from fear. He helps Sonja escape by giving her a knife she uses against Nemo. This frees him from under Frankenstein's control and the two of them band together until he gets dismantled and she gets captured again to be used in Frankenstein's machine. Elizabeth isn't fully controled by her husband, so she frees Sonja who destroys the machine and kills its creator.

[Marko · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a case where the setting and idea are relatively solid, but there's no story to match it. We get a nice Steampunk setting featuring Captain Nemo and Doctor Frankenstein and a rapier-wielding pirate woman called Red Sonja. While this might be a nice idea for a setting of a story, what we get is a simple no-brains-required romp where Sonja stops a megalomaniac from taking over the world. No interesting plot twists, no interesting features to establish the world beyond what I already wrote, no interesting characters.

The story begins with the death of Doctor Frankenstein's wife and we see him despairing as he witnesses her death. However, this grief or its reasons are never revisited and they don't seem to have anything to do with the story (the Doctor Frankenstein that features on the rest of the pages seems a very different character). Captain Nemo is just there as window-dressing... And the same is true for Red Sonja's name. There's no reason to call this character Red Sonja other than to draw in readers who are familiar with the original comic book character. There's no similarity between them whatsoever.

Not worth the time and effort of reading it, unfortunately.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book works fine as a reimagining of Red Sonja as a pirate queen. It's a fun adventure with literary references similar to 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.' However, as a Steampunk story, it does fall flat. The book has no real Victorian feel, and the tech is less gonzo and more like an alternative take on modern devices. There aren't even any airships in sight. Instead, we have an Edgar Rice Burroughs-like adventure on the high seas with a nod to Jules Verne. The story is a fun enough read even if nothing new here to see. I did enjoy the story and the artwork was serviceable if unimaginative, but I would have liked some more steam in it and a stronger feel of peril and tension in the proceedings. This was a middling book that did not deliver what was expected but did not disappoint.

[♛ Garima ♛ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always liked Red Sonja. She is immortal, badass sword-wielding with the slinkiest bikini possible. Okay, so the last part might not be my favorite but in this universe, she dresses up conservatively.

Red Sonja meets Victor Franklinestien in this steampunk verse is an absolute delight to read. Who knew a pair of pants can make such a difference in Sonja 😂

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Re-Imagining! :D Review to Come! :D

[Edward Petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just didn't have the same feel as the original. Didn't even feel like it could exist in the same universe.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steampunk Red Sonja = Genius

Red Sonja. Victor Frankenstein. Captain Nemo.

I didn’t read the previous volume, but I don’t think it’s really necessary. This one is just a lot fun. It’s like popcorn at an action flick. There may not be a lot of depth, but there doesn’t need to be.

It’s light, and it’s a quick read, and Red Sonja kicks ass. What else do you need to know?

Recommended if you like your action light and fun. And you know what Red Sonja would say if you miss this?



Thanks to NetGalley, Diamond, and Dynamite Comics for a copy in return for an honest review.

[JC Denton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entretenido sin más. Dibujo, pues eso, está bien dentro de los cánones del mainstream americano, la historia me la he acabado porque la tenía empezada y tal pero personalmente no me ha atraido nada, un encontronazo con Nemo, con Frankestein, con lo que intentan traer elementos góticos de una manera muy infantil y en mi opinión poco afortunada. Si no tienes nada mejor que llevarte a la boca o te gusta La liga de los hombres extraordinarios en versión todo a 100, adelante, sino, creo que puedes aprovechar muco mejor tu tiempo y más cuando el personaje que debería ser más atractivo, Red Sonja, me parece muy desaprovechado.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spin-off sequel to a mash-up of licensed characters set in blatantly token Fantasy Land Number One? Remind me how original graphic novels and comix can be, please. Until then there is some small pleasure to be had in this volume, which has sooooo much that is familiar about it, left, right and centre, but all in all isn't bad. It's a bit unclear just how and why some of the characters behave as they do towards the end, but on the whole the important one, Red herself, survives this steampunk-lite entry to her canon reasonably well. And hey, at least it's not as bad as LXG.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a far out type of story, but fun nonetheless. Red Sonja was a little more on the fun side than serious which was nice. Overall a solid read.

I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

started well but felt like there wasn't enough story to last the whole series so it drags in places. Still on the upside it always felt like it was in in the world of Legenderry unlike the Green Hornet series which seemed to think putting brass everywhere was enough

[Burgoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun stuff. If you think the concept is fun, you'll like it.

http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2015/1...

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nice spin off series from the main mini series. Nice art and writing Very recommended

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really didn't sit well with me. Frankenstein and Red Sonja just don't mix well.

[Pearl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.