RED SITHA #2, from Dynamite Comics on June 1st, 2022, catches up with Red Sitha and her “brother” as they look for a magical compass that will lead them to the sorcerer holding their parents hostage.
The Details
- Written By: Mirka Andolfo, Luca Blengino
- Art By: Valentina Pinti
- Colors By: Chiara Di Francia
- Letters By: Jeff Eckleberry
- Cover Art By: Jung-Geun Yoon
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: June 1, 2022
Was It Good?
RED SITHA #2 continues the aged-up adventures of the titular character by giving her an opportunity to show off her thieving prowess and fighting skills against a guardian demon safeguarding an artifact RedSitha needs to find her parents. Technically, you don’t get to see any of that prowess or skill, but you’re led to believe she’s good at all of it.
In the last review, we were slightly put off by Red Sitha because she comes across as a “Red Sonja”-lite. All of the unique bits about Red Sitha’s origins have been discarded in favor of a hard-drinking, irresponsible, mercenary and thief who takes on a quest when her family is involved. On her own, Red Sitha isn’t a compelling character without the bits from her youth that made her interesting (e.g. a host for a fire demon). She’s not motivated by any of her past to become more or better, she’s not motivated by anything in the present to overcome a challenge greater than herself, and she seems strangely ambivalent about her current quest as though it’s just something to do until she gets bored and finds something more entertaining to pursue.
In fairness, Red Sitha could be written this way on purpose as a creative choice. If so, it’s not a compelling one, and it’s very difficult to care what happens to Red Sitha when she doesn’t appear to care very much about anything except doing whatever’s fun or interesting at the moment. How do you care about a character who doesn’t appear to care very much about anyone else?
The plot is very typical for Red Sonja-styled stories. Red Sitha and her supposed brother find a hard-to-reach city surrounding a desert oasis to steal a magic compass. This magic compass is the only thing that can lead them to their parents, and it’s guarded in a high tower by an”unbeatable” demon. All things considered, it’s a solid plot for this genre, albeit Red Sitha plays cute with the demon before she’s defeated easily. Again, Red Sitha encounters a serious threat and chooses to not plan, not use her wits, and instead cracks a few jokes before getting tossed out a window.
This is the type of review that’s difficult to compose because all the technical elements are present. The dialog is good, the art is very good, the plotting and pacing move at a decent pace, and developments happen. What’s missing is a reason to get behind the main character.
Pinto, Di Francia, and Eckleberry don’t let the writing hold them back from producing high-quality art in this issue. Thre’s a lot of talking in a dialog-heavy issue with the few action scenes happening off-panel, so it falls to the art team to make the issue interesting. Largely, the art team succeeds with solid facial acting, good panel layouts, and an amusing demon design that helps add a chuckle or two.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
If you don’t recall how Red Sitha got into her present predicament, first read our RED SITHA #1 review.
We begin with Red Sitha anxiously leaving her tent after a sandstorm. Kildrick, her supposed brother, takes it all in stride, but now that the storm is over, he leads her to their destination – a city named Azul-Amon. Kildrick explains the highest tower in the city’s palace contains a magic compass that will lead them to their parents, as long as Red Sitha can steal it.
Red Sitha jumps into the task without thinking, scales the tower from outside to avoid guards, and enters the treasure room. The treasure, Kindirick warned, is guarded by an unbeatable demon. When Red Sitha enters the treasure chamber she finds a small, pink, doughy entity who looks as intimidating as a dog’s chew toy. Looks, however, are deceiving.
Meanwhile, Red Sitha encounters an old friend (from her first series), Kebra, who has troubles of her own when the Vizier’s son has chosen a disinterested Kebra to be his wife. We conclude the issue with Kebra’s backstory, a plea for mercy, and a new deal.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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RED SITHA #2 is a technically well-constructed comic with appreciable plot movement, good dialog, excellent pacing, and strong art. What’s missing is a reason to get behind the main character when she’s lost all the interesting bits from her childhood and doesn’t seem to care about anything in the present.
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