Red Sonja: Blue

Red Sonja: One-shots

by Peter V. Brett, Walter Geovani (Illustrator), Mel Rubi (Illustrator)

Peter V. Brett, New York Times bestselling author of the Demon Cycle, takes the reins for this special issue, teaming up with fan favorite artist Mel Rubi to take Red Sonja back to her barbarian roots-and the She-Devil isn't going without a fight! When an unfortunate encounter with a demon deprives her of her trademark chainmail bikini, Sonja is forced to don a familiar blue fur tunic for the remainder of this adventure. Brett brings a mix of deft characterization, wry humor, and hard action to this one-shot homage to the Sonja legacy, honoring longtime fans while offering the perfect stand-alone story for new readers.

Genres: Comics

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

Peter V. Brett is the internationally bestselling author of the Demon Cycle series, which has sold over four million copies in 27 languages worldwide. Novels include The Warded Man, The Desert Spear, The Daylight War, The Skull Throne, and The Core. Other works include the Red Sonja: Unchained graphic novel and the Demon Cycle novellas The Great Bazaar, Brayan's Gold, Messenger's Legacy, and Barren. The Desert Prince, the first installment of his Nightfall Saga, published in August 2021. The sequel, The Hidden Queen, is due early 2024. He lives in Brooklyn.

www.petervbrett.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/PVBrett
Instagram: https://instagram.com/pvbrett/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PVBrett/
TikTok: @PVBrett

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, action-packed and nicely drawn. Enjoyed it. Moving ahead to 'Unchained' now.

[Hrishabh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ridiculous armor, Ridiculous storyline. This is male fantasy tropes taken to extreme.

[John Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is a Red Sonja story, and one that stuck with me since the first time a read it a while ago (not for that reason, you perverts). It also serves as a good origin story for Red Sonja's other iconic outfit, the blue fur tunic. While I'm not a big fan of the "no one can sleep with me unless they can defeat me in battle" aspect of the character, this is an example of the writer actually making that work. For one, she explicitly says that it only works if she loves the man, which really alleviates a ton of the agency issues with it. The conflict she has with the boy she rescued from the wizard is very compelling, as he wants to go adventuring away from his mother's smothering presence, while Sonja knows he's not ready for such danger. The artwork in this by Walter Geovani is absolutely stunning to behold. Simultaneously not oversexualizing Red Sonja, while also doing a great job of showing beauty in violence, if that makes any sense. There's a reason why he is the default Red Sonja artist at this point, because he does a great job of bringing this world to life. The final panel is what truly stuck with me here. A true tragedy. Red Sonja was only looking out for the boy, but in her drunken stupor while also in self defense, she beheaded him. It is so haunting.

★★★★½