RED SONJA: RED SITHA #1, from Dynamite Comics on May 4th, 2022, spins the character of Sitha from Red Sonja’s series into her solo adventure. A grown-up Sitha makes her way in life as a ne’er-do-well mercenary.
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: May 4, 2022
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Was It Good?
RED SONJA: RED SITHA #1 is the kind of story where your instinctive reaction to hearing about it would be to ask “Did anyone ask for this?”, and after reading it, you’re not sure if the question was answered. Now, we give every new comic a fair shake because you never know when a creator will surprise you with an unexpected take or a new twist on an old theme. Well, we were surprised with the approach to this character but the surprise comes by way of continuing the story of a little girl, now grown up, who resembles nothing of her younger self or has any traits that made that little girl interesting. In short, this is Sitha in name only.
Read through to the next section if you want plot specifics and don’t mind a few spoilers. If you don’t know anything about Sitha, she’s a character in the current Red Sonja run also written by Andolfo and Blengino. Little Sitha is an orphan girl inhabited by a fire demigod, and she’s under Red Sonja’s care as she makes her way back to her home village. The uniqueness of Little Sitha comes from her fish-out-of-water reaction to the world outside her isolated village and the incredibly destructive force of the fire demigod struggling to take control of her body.
As we move into this new and adult version of Sitha, she’s a hard-drinking, gambling, irresponsible mercenary who shed the powerful force inside her years ago. None of the interesting bits about Little Sitha are present. She hasn’t evolved to reconcile herself with the demigod. The sometimes charming, sometimes annoying innocence is gone. What’s left is, to be blunt, a Red Sonja knockoff with a little bit of magical power.
Is this version of Sitha engaging enough to carry her own series? That remains to be seen, but if the rest of the series is on par with this first issue, it’s going to be a very tough sell going forward.
The art in this issue is serviceable. It’s not fantastic. It doesn’t rise to the level of the better Red Sonja artists Dynamite has at its disposal. But, it gets the job done. The linework is clean but it lacks drama. The coloring is clean but the palette section is dull. Again, it’s complete and professional-looking but there’s nothing there to get you excited.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with Little Sitha now grown into an adult. She crashes through a window into a temple to rescue a wayward shop girl before she’s sacrificed to a demigod by a cult. Sitha attempts the rescue in exchange for silver to help pay off a sizable gambling debt. The rescue is a success and she receives her silver, but she has a long way to go to pay off the local loan shark.
Promising to pay off her debt by the next day, Sitha goes on a gambling spree with her silver to make up the difference and more. Of course, hard drinking, partying, and fighting get her the booty, but it all evaporates in the same night. The next day, she wakes up on a military vessel headed for battle. Sitha decides to tag along with the military if they’ll hire her as a mercenary. Before the captain can agree, a carrier pigeon arrives to deliver a surprising message to Sitha.
We conclude the issue with an action-packed rowboat ride, an unfortunate run-in with debt collectors, and a reunion.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
RED SONJA: RED SITHA #1 is a serviceable first issue following the (mis)adventures of Little Sitha all grown up. The writing is well-paced and the dialog is generally good, but the main character is nothing like the character on which she’s based. As far as spinoff stores go, this is fine but it’s going to be an uphill climb to keep readers interested.
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