Red Sonja, Vol. 1: Scorched Earth

Red Sonja Vol. 5 (Collected Editions)

by Mark Russell, Mirko Colak (Artist), Bob Quinn (Artist)

No man knows the place of her birth, nor where she learned to wield a sword to shame many a male. They know only that she is called The She-Devil of The Hyrkanian Steppes. That, and RED SONJA. MARK RUSSELL (The Flintstones) and MIRKO COLAK (Conan) bring a savage tale of metal and blood. A world conqueror possesses a massive army and a fatal prophecy. A bastard sorceress craves revenge. And a fearsome red-haired warrior is made wartime ruler of a homeland set for decimation.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, Fiction, Comic Book

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 13, 2019

About the author

Mark Russell is the author of God Is Disappointed in You and Apocrypha Now. He also writes the comic book series Prez and The Flintstones for DC Comics. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russell takes a different tack with Red Sonja. She's suckered into becoming the Queen of Hyrkania just in time to be invaded by an Emperor attempting to take over the world. Russell's Red Sonja is cold and calculating as she attempts to save her people while outnumbered with little resources. Gail Simone's danger-loving, promiscuous mercenary is nowhere to be seen. Russell's trademark wit does shine through at times, mostly when the Emperor appears.

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decidedly okay arc of Red Sonja sandwiched between two fantastic issues (#1 and the Lord of Fools one-shot, assuming this volume will collect it, which it should). Mark Russell is one of my favourite modern writers, and he occasionally does go into full Mark Russell mode on this Red Sonja run, but so far I'm not entirely in love with his take on the She-Devil. It's definitely good, just feels a bit too safe — Sonja is very somber and serious as a character here, far from the delightful boozer and fuck-up seen in the Gail Simone run which I really adored. And this first arc overall is very much a serious war story and social commentary with only occasional glimpses of Russell's signature sour sense humour. Lord of Fools one-shot is absolutely brilliant though, and I hope that it signals the direction the book will take in the following arcs. By no means was this a bad read, just not the best, especially coming from Russell.

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Red Queen

Not lightweight at all. Lots of fascinating complexity as they build an early life history for Sonja.

I wanted more of her. Like I always want more of Zorro ⚔️

Art varied between 6 and 9 or 10. But a great deal of it was good. And there were lots of full page drawings of her beauty and strength.

I will say 3.75. The plot seemed a bit erratic and choppy at times.

Looking forward to more.

[Jason Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story and wonderful art. I could read these comics every single day. I’ve always enjoyed Red Sonja, but this new series just really takes things deeper than I’ve ever known it to go. Very philosophical and thought-provoking.

[Jesús · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this volume of Red Sonja were part of a film, this arc would serve as a brief, humorous introduction to the characters and setting. But on its own and at 6 issues (plus a one-shot), not much happens. There's plenty of wit and subtlety, but almost no action or tension.

Nevertheless, Mark Russell's comics career is still on the upswing. His work for Dynamite--Lone Ranger and now Red Sonja--has so far been much lower key and less ambitious than his brilliant Hanna-Barbera satires for DC (The Flintstones and Exit Stage Left), but only time will tell if that remains true. With more to come in both of these Dynamite books, Russell still has plenty of room to grow.

[Read as single issues]

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time to read any Red Sonja, and I only tried it because it's Mark Russell. He doesn't disappoint. This isn't as comical as some of his other things, but the cynical observations of people seeking power is still as sharp, and funny in a bitter way. The story alternates between past and present timelines in a way that sometimes confused me, but I was never completely lost. The one-shot "Lord of Fools" issue was excellent, though I wish it had been preceded by a page saying "And now for something completely different..." so I could more quickly realize the story was changing gears.

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were bits that made me chuckle and then there were bits that could've been left out. Bits that were meant to "deepen the character"but only made the story drag. Thankfully, those bits were less than bits that made me chuckle.
Good fun with nice art.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

RED SONJA: THE SCORCHED EARTH is one of the hundred or so Red Sonja stories I've read this year and probably among the best. Sonja is made Queen of Hyrkania, which is more specifically the Russian steppes than usually done, and only so she can surrender to the King of Zamora who has recently conquered Aquilonia, Koth, and Stygia. She has no chance against him but somehow manages to do begin a massive campaign of guerilla warfare against the world's toughest armies.

I really liked the antagonist here because he's evil and ruthless but not a cartoon like many of Red Sonja's opponents. It's also well-written, gives Sonja some genuinely good companions, and has real stakes.

A good introduction to the character too.

[Zach Rust · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read another Mark Russell comic, in this case Fantastic Four: Life Story, and it didn’t work for me and I couldn’t really figure out why even though I’d enjoyed much of his earlier work. Jumping into this run cold and I get now why; Russell works best as a satirist, sardonically mocking the absurdities of the world. This run of Red Sonja serves as an excellent delivery mechanism for that message, with Sonja racing against time to save her homeland from a conquest-mad emperor after getting shanghaied into being a queen, setting up a slew of biting commentaries on the absurdities of civilization, power and culture. Russell, along with his team of artists, also don’t skimp on the violence and action, an essential element of a good barbarian adventure.

[Mariano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Russell does pretty good, but man I cant with Mirko Colak. You can tell by the difference between issue 1 and the rest that he had to rush to meet those deadlines. But the narrative just doesn't work. It's not that the art is bad, but Russell's style that moves between drama and humor all the time needs really good storytelling. There are really dramatic moments that just... "happen", the same as a witty dialog. I don't know, the art just didn't click for me. But the story is fun to read and has some cool moments. I'll continue with vol 2 surely.

[David Turko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another comic that really caught me off guard over its quality. Red Sonja is one of those characters that I find very interesting and has a surprising amount of lore and character. Except she wears one of the worst costumes ever, I know it's for fan service and whatnot, but I still find it offensive and unrealistic. The character is in dire need of a costume redesign.

With that out of the way, I can gush over how awesome this comic is. Mark Russell is an amazing storyteller I loved his pink panther and Flintstone comics where he brought engaging stories and clever dialogue into his work. This comic is no exception, the characters, setting, dialogue, and story are well crafted and really shined. Speaking of the story it starts with Red Sonja being tricked into becoming a queen and right away she has to take on a tyrant emperor who wants to conquer her land. It starts off pretty basic but as the story unfolds everything expands and the quality of the comic strengthens with each issue. I'd never imagined I would say this but this comic had a lot of philosophical and thought-provoking moments and there's even a short story in this that impressed me so much that it might be one of my favorite reading moments this year.

Now the reason this isn't a perfect 5/5 comic for me is that I wasn't a fan of the art. Something about it felt bland to me. A part of it had to do with the character's facial expressions which felt wooden at times and the color scheme felt a bit off. But despite the art, this is a high 4/5 comic for me. This is a great fantasy comic and a worthy entry comic to get into Red Sonja. Definitely recommend this one.

[Elliot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Piss poor

[Julia Cannistra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong start, really good art, interesting story

Good art with good writing. The story is interesting and engaging. Most of the dialogue and writing is good but, unfortunately there are some awkward current turns of phrase or words that take you out of the world. These aren’t too common thankfully.

Sonja is thrust into an unfamiliar situation; she struggles and questions herself while reflecting on her training from the past. It’s handled well. The art style switches between current and past, helping differentiate the two. I prefer the current timeline art, but both are good.

The story is continued in vol 2 - I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully the team can keep up or even surpass the quality.

[Walt Walkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn’t as good as I had hoped or expected. With very little background or context, Red Sonja appears on the scene as a master warrior, and then a queen. But, for the most part, we don’t get to see the master warrior. If anything, what the reader receives is a whole lot of navel gazing. Graphic novels don’t work well for navel gazing, frankly, and in a book that is supposed to be about a woman warrior, it works even less. I would give it book less stars, but there were some nuances to the writing that I really liked, and the overall storyline had promise. But I’m not sure it’s compelling enough for me to return to the series.

[Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I read this a while ago as single issues, but as usual forgot to rate the trade on Goodreads. This reminded me a lot of Gail Simone's run in that it's taking Red Sonja out of the more standard sword-and-sorcery and focusing on her as a character. We watch Red Sonja square off against an Emperor in a battle of wills...that, of course, turns into plans going south and Red Sonja somehow barely scraping by in each duel. It's fun to watch, and there are lots of clever little things happening in the background to keep you engaged.

[Niche · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

Mark Russell's take on anything is always going to be Mark Russell's take. You can expect his usual humor and punchy dialog, but as I find when reading his work on a familiar property, it feels like a different universe with similar names. I'd describe this as a more comedic toned version of 300. It's less dark fantasy chainmail bikini clad hellcat swashbuckling and a lot more dialog driven with rarely more than a page going by without a bon mot. It's got a certain charm to it, but I seem to prefer him do his own titles rather than different spins on other properties.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how Red Sonja, casually comes to this land and they make her Queen. This was a bit wordy at first but I really enjoyed seeing a different side to Sonja. You get to see her lead an army, being a strategist which I've never seen before. Usually she's just brute force, it was also nice having a glimpse into her past seeing how she became like this.

I did quite enjoy the how league of scoundrels' as well as the douchebag king. I'm a little surprised that my favorite issue, didn't actually feature Red Sonja. It was about the lord of fool's, hopefully that will come into play in the next volume.

[The_J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd art transitions, but the overall theme of the art was one of disturbing below average. The story was as uneven as the art with little to recommend it. The most exciting thing might have been the alternative covers and the phots of the cosplayers, but that might be giving it too much credit for too little production.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bloody fun distillation of The Art of War, but I wish the collection tied up the story line. I will just have to wait for the next one. The cosmic horror baked into the Lord of Fools story was excellent.

[Benjamin Wilkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and entertaining - a solid take on the character. It was not quite as good as I'd hoped from Mark Russell: I don't know -- something about the pacing was off. Overall not as good as Gail Simone's run, but still a worthy entry in the series.

[Chris M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good sword and sorcery story well told (though with no/minimal sorcery, which is refreshing). I like the art, and the writing is mostly good, save for the endemic smarmy quips that plague seemingly everything these days.

Excited to see how it progresses

[Luana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fucking phenomenal. I was initially not a fan of Russell's modern speech patterns and semi-arch tone, but his handle on theme is stellar.

The "Lord of Fools / Bread and Cerkuses" one shot is one of the best sword and sorcery novellas I've ever read, goddamn.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mark Russell so much, and I love the flashbacks that make this a well told story.

[Nick Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most cerebral run of Red Sonja ever. Great balance of drama and humour and Russell has put more work into research than any Sonja writer since Eric Trautmann.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing particularly bad or great about this. Nice art, fine introduction to Sonja, but ultimately she doesn't get to be the badass she is yet.

[Alexandre · Rating 2 out of 5]

good read

[Parrish Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Go to the last page!

Really enjoyed reading this from front to back, a real page turner all the way to the end! Well worth reading.

[Burton Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like really good stuff. Great art and some of the soundest writing I've seen in the genre.

And those Conner covers, come on

[John Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeper and more sardonic take on the franchise that gives it a more palatable tone.

[s.j.hannaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

🆒🥶

Great philosophies in these story’s and excellent illustration am looking forward to more episodes in the adventures of Red Sonja …