The first issue of Gail Simone’s revival of Red Sonja was a solid bit of barbarian fun, featuring a drunken Sonja fending off scavengers, dealing with sycophantic archer girls and getting puked on before being drafted into the hopeless task of training the plague-ridden rabble under the respected King Dimath to fend off a ruthless horde of Zamarons bent on destroying them. It was a task she took to, regardless, due to her debt of dignity to Dimath. In Red Sonja #2, the sense of fun evaporates as blow after devastating blow is rained upon our hero’s heart and honor, leaving her demolished and hopeless.
Last issue’s end revealed that the leader of the Zamaron army was none other than Dark Anissia, who was once forced by them to fight for her life in their slave pits – right alongside Sonja, before Dimath freed them. They were sisters of the sword, but their paths since have been divergent. Being forced to fight Anissia would be sad enough, especially since she once refused to take up arms against Sonja back in the slave days, and now she’s keen to wounding her by stabbing deep into her thigh. Watching the tide of the hopeless battle turn against the underdogs she was trying to train would be hard enough. Learning the why of it all – that Annisia has gone mad with guilt over the slaves they two had killed to survive those pits, so much so that she is constantly haunted by a horde of their spirits that only she can see – would be tragic enough. Even the murder of Dimath at Anissia’s hands would be failure enough. But Anissia manages to completely crush the uncrushable Sonja by revealing to her that she now has the plague, and not only will she die a pitiful death of madness and disease, but she will have to do it in defeat and in solitary exile, as her surrender as well as her sword is the price she’ll have to pay to spare the miserable lives of Dimath’s people. Surrender is unthinkable to Red Sonja. But here it falls.
For a series some expected to be a celebration of Red Sonja’s mighty badassitude, it’s somewhat surprising to see her completely torn asunder in this issue, and left at what could be her lowest possible low, as she would prefer beheading to defeat, disgrace and disease. Surely, as the issues wear on, we’ll see her triumphant again down the line, but as wave after wave of heartbreaking misery is heaped upon her, Simone wisely gives us all the more reason to root for her eventual return to glory rather than simply take it for granted. Walter Geovani’s artwork is also very solid with strongly expressive faces, and the final page of Sonja in exile is not full of depressing defeat, but rather grim determination that better fits the warrior queen.
I never had much interest in reading about Red Sonja before, but I do now. A writer you trust can work wonders with characters you once dismissed.
