RED SONJA ATTACKS MARS #4 – New Comic Review

Red Sonja Attacks Mars #4, by Dynamite Comics on 7/23/25, wraps up the weird war between Hyboria’s most infamous swordswoman and Martian invaders who’ve made a habit of merging with Elder Gods. 

Credits:

• Writer: Jay Stephens
• Artist: Fran Strukan
• Colorist: Miroslav Mrva
• Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
• Cover Artist: Joseph Michael Linsner (cover A)
• Publisher: Dynamite Comics
• Release Date: July 23, 2025
• Comic Rating: Teen
• Cover Price: $4.99
• Page Count: 22
• Format: Single Issue

Covers:

Analysis of RED SONJA ATTACKS MARS #4:

First Impressions:

If you like your fantasy heavy on exposition and light on clarity, this issue delivers. How can a comic feel so full of action yet so incredibly empty?

Recap:

In Red Sonja Attacks Mars #3, Red Sonja and her ragtag crew faced off against Martians who seemed to have a knack for body horror experiments and big, flashy weapons. Sonja’s defiance got her deeper into cosmic trouble after witnessing her friend Kanawt sacrifice himself to slow the Martian advance, and a deathbed promise fueled Sonja’s determination to save her new allies and avenge old wrongs. The Martians were poised to resurrect their leader and push their invasion to the next level, putting all of Hyboria in jeopardy, while Sonja’s crew prepared for desperate heroics.

Plot Analysis:

The issue opens with the grim aftermath of ancient gods and monsters running wild across Hyboria. Set, the serpent demon arch-villain, has merged with the Martians to become Mar-Set-Ahks—a cosmic undead pharaoh who claims to honor Red Sonja before immediately announcing her doom. The Martian invaders, now undead thralls, reveal their new alliance and their intentions to “free” Sonja’s captured friends with the classic villain move: promising freedom in the form of death.

Sonja, ever the defiant protagonist, bargains for her companions’ lives. The Martian-Set hybrid insists on some warped philosophical lesson about death being true liberation, referencing events from past battles to get under Sonja’s skin. In a chaotic sequence, the great white apes of Mount Bori hear the commotion and decide to join the fight. The battle devolves into mayhem as prisoners are freed, cannons are fired, and the Martian war machines begin to power up under a cosmic jewel’s energy.

In the middle of this chaos, a desperate sacrifice takes place. Kanawt the metamorph magician blocks the sun to deprive Mar-Set-Ahks of power, dying in the process. Instead of capitalizing on the drama, the scene leaps to a Martian peanut gallery wisecracking about giant hybrids and failed science experiments. With unsettling speed, the Martian tech nerds blow up Mount Bori, destroying all evidence of the Akakhuul invaders and wiping out the apemen’s home in the process.

The dust settles with Sonja’s team reeling from the high cost of victory. Sonja refuses offers to stay and rule, true to her anti-slavery code, and pledges to help the now homeless apemen find a new world. Her trademark sense of debt is the only constant in an issue otherwise packed with bombast, bluster, and half-baked cosmic spectacle.

Story

The script tries hard to juggle sword and sorcery with B-movie sci-fi, but it barely holds together. Dialogue is heavy, often substituting volume for substance. The existential posturing of Mar-Set-Ahks drags, weighed down by repetitive threats and moralizing. Attempts at pathos (like Kanawt’s sacrifice) are undermined by abrupt tone shifts and a lack of meaningful build-up. The Martian scientist banter tries for dark humor, but most of the jokes land with a thud, sucking dramatic tension out of every major moment.

Art

Fran Strukan’s art swings between ambitious splash pages and confusing mosh pits of bodies and energy beams. Creature designs and cosmic scenes are sometimes striking, but panels are overstuffed to the point where it’s hard to understand who’s hitting whom. The color palette is broad but inconsistent, with harsh reds and greens muddying the action instead of clarifying it. There are a couple of memorable visuals—an awakened war machine, a crumbling mountain—but much of the storytelling is lost in visual chaos.

Characters

Red Sonja herself comes off better than most, at least sticking to her code and refusing easy rewards. The supporting cast, from the priestess Viziera to the luckless Kanawt, serves as cannon fodder and mouthpieces for exposition. The Martian antagonists are cartoons in both appearance and attitude. Their threat level bounces wildly from all-powerful to ineffectual, depending on the needs of the page. Character arcs are truncated, leaving most resolution feeling unearned.

Positives

Moments of over-the-top pulp spectacle do shine through, particularly in the apemen’s chaotic attack and a few trippy cosmic visuals. The merging of sword and sci-fi remains a clever idea on paper, and the creators commit fully to the genre mashup, no matter how clumsily.

Negatives

The issue’s overdose of exposition grinds the story to a halt repeatedly. Action is chaotic instead of thrilling, and character depth is sacrificed for shallow quips and forced drama. Visually, clarity is sacrificed for spectacle, and the plot relies on last-minute saves and deus ex machinas instead of satisfying resolutions. Worst of all, the tone veers between apocalyptic and silly, stifling any chance for the story to build tension or earn emotional payoff.

Art Samples:

Final Thoughts:

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RED SONJA ATTACKS MARS #4 swings for cosmic greatness but lands somewhere between confusing and forgettable. The mash-up premise deserved a better ending than this muddled parade of forced drama, muddled art, and limp, unfunny humor. Only the most diehard fans of Red Sonja or Mars Attacks will find something to cheer for, and even they might wish for a more satisfying apocalypse.

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