RED SONJA: THE SUPERPOWERS #1, available from Dynamite comics on January 13, 2021, begins a new arc for the crimson-haired barbarian where her world of swords and sorcery receives a visit from future heroes. Dan Abnett’s story successfully merges the two sub genres together in a refreshingly organic way, proving that Red Sonja is not to be trifled with in any century.
Was It Good?
Yes. Very good. The story is standard barbarian-warrior-hired-to-kill-a-wizard fare, but the introduction of modern pulp heroes opens the door to a myriad of storytelling possibilities..
Also, I’m quickly becoming a fan of Jonathan Lau’s art style. I first became acquainted with Lau in Red Sonja: Age of Chaos, and his work here is equally good if not better.
Short Story Long
We begin with Red Sonja traveling a lonely road on a rainy night when she encounters an ambush. The attackers were sent by a sorcerer, Skarab Nor, to sabotage her mission to kill him.
Immediately, I’m bought into Red Sonja as a character from Abnett’s writing. Sonja assesses the situation with confidence and a wee bit of superiority over the thugs before her. This is a Sonja that has absolute faith in her strength and skill with a blade. She sizes them up and wastes no time removing the obstacle.
In a flashback, we learn Sonja was hired to kill Skarab Nor as the presumed source of evil magic that’s the decimating the queen’s land with starvation and disease. Sonja accepts the mission with some skepticism over the legitimacy of Skarab Nor’s power.
Abnett makes great use of Sonja’s impatience with enduring rituals and superstition to amusing effect. Watching Sonja’s reaction is not comical, but her eyerolls and sighs of impatience giver her a modern quality to her personality that’s very relatable. That modern personality and cynical nature is put to the test later on.
Nearing Skarab Nor’s stronghold, Sonja is overtaken by unnatural lightning storms that plant the seed some actual magic may be in play, but she moves forward undeterred.
Suddenly, Sonja encounters a camp of what could only be described as pulp superheroes. Through their conversations and a bit of narration, we learn the Project is a group of heroes from alternate Earth’s that seek out worlds where metahuman powers begin to manifest. It reminds me of the superhero equivalent of the Star Trek’s the Federation.
I had never heard of these characters before – Vana, Captain Future, etc., but with a little digging I found out Dynamite had opted to assemble a team of Public Domain pulp heroes for this series. There’s a goldmine of heroes and villains that haven’t been touched in decades, so I’m pleased and encouraged to see publishers such as Dynamite do a little mining.
Sonja, not understanding what she’s seeing, concludes these pulp heroes are daemons conjured by the sorcerer and launches into an attack. Despite their superior technology and abilities, the heroes quickly learn it was a mistake to take Sonja lightly. Some pay for that mistake with their lives.
Will the Project subdue Red Sonja before she does any more damage? Will Red Sonja and the Project become friends or remain enemies? Either way, I’m very interested to find out.
Final Thoughts
RED SONJA: THE SUPERPOWERS #1, available from Dynamite comics on January 13, 2021, is everything I want out of a Red Sonja comic with a twist. This series exemplifies 100% pulp adventure in all the best ways, and I want more of it. This is a highly recommended read.