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roboxa's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted on Roberta's Literary Ramblings
Overall Impression: A fun read that made me laugh and pump my fist from all the general badassery that is Red Sonja.
Recommended for: Fans of adventure graphic novels and those wanting find a super awesome female hero.
Red Sonja returns in this second installment in the series, and she's just as awesome as before. Gotta love her.
Red Sonja is charged with finding the six greatest artisans in the land for an emperor's party before he dies. While Red Sonja is not one to indulge emperors' desires, there is a catch. If she succeeds, he will free all of his slaves before he passes. If she fails, they will all be buried with him to serve him after death. Not one to shrug at the suffering of slaves—having been one in the past—she accepts this quest and awesomeness ensues.
While Red Sonja finds this artisans, she begins to learn more about them and their lives while also learning more about herself. Despite the reservations of a couple of the artisans who are a little put off by her demeanor and behavior, they eventual begin to realize the Red Sonja has a kind heart, despite her tough exterior, and they soon become a close-knit group.
This graphic novel does a great job a showing Red Sonja's go-gettem attitude slowly become exasperated as she continues to run into those who attempt to keep her from fulfilling her quest. By the end, Red Sonja cares not for formalities and simply barges into an establishment and demands what she wants. We can't help but understand her impatience and annoyance which makes Red Sonja—despite the armor and swordsmanship—an oddly relatable character. We've all been there; it just so happens that she has the lives of thousands of slaves on her shoulders.
There is a secondary quest for Sonja, and that is to get laid. Obviously this leads to some pretty entertaining scenes involving failed propositions and general annoyance when no one agrees to sleep with her. She just wants some sex. Is that so much to ask? It is also shown that Sonja doesn't necessarily have a preference on the gender of her partner which is pretty awesome. She also often makes clear her love of ale, which can always make me giggle.
This is a fun read for any adventure graphic novel fan. It's exciting, adventurous, funny, and touches on some sensitive spots for Sonja. A great addition to this on-going series, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
Overall Impression: A fun read that made me laugh and pump my fist from all the general badassery that is Red Sonja.
Recommended for: Fans of adventure graphic novels and those wanting find a super awesome female hero.
Red Sonja returns in this second installment in the series, and she's just as awesome as before. Gotta love her.
Red Sonja is charged with finding the six greatest artisans in the land for an emperor's party before he dies. While Red Sonja is not one to indulge emperors' desires, there is a catch. If she succeeds, he will free all of his slaves before he passes. If she fails, they will all be buried with him to serve him after death. Not one to shrug at the suffering of slaves—having been one in the past—she accepts this quest and awesomeness ensues.
While Red Sonja finds this artisans, she begins to learn more about them and their lives while also learning more about herself. Despite the reservations of a couple of the artisans who are a little put off by her demeanor and behavior, they eventual begin to realize the Red Sonja has a kind heart, despite her tough exterior, and they soon become a close-knit group.
This graphic novel does a great job a showing Red Sonja's go-gettem attitude slowly become exasperated as she continues to run into those who attempt to keep her from fulfilling her quest. By the end, Red Sonja cares not for formalities and simply barges into an establishment and demands what she wants. We can't help but understand her impatience and annoyance which makes Red Sonja—despite the armor and swordsmanship—an oddly relatable character. We've all been there; it just so happens that she has the lives of thousands of slaves on her shoulders.
There is a secondary quest for Sonja, and that is to get laid. Obviously this leads to some pretty entertaining scenes involving failed propositions and general annoyance when no one agrees to sleep with her. She just wants some sex. Is that so much to ask? It is also shown that Sonja doesn't necessarily have a preference on the gender of her partner which is pretty awesome. She also often makes clear her love of ale, which can always make me giggle.
This is a fun read for any adventure graphic novel fan. It's exciting, adventurous, funny, and touches on some sensitive spots for Sonja. A great addition to this on-going series, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
unladylike's review against another edition
2.0
I wish I could rate this higher, but it's more like 2.5 stars.
The first volume of Gail Simone's run of Red Sonja gave me such high hopes for the title moving into the future. It was fun, funny, well-paced, and engaging. Whereas this volume is filled with unfunny jokes, typos, and boring, uninspiring caricatures of 6+ medieval archetypes.
The beginning of this series established (for me, a new reader of this character) that Red Sonja is a horny lush. But throughout this arc, those tendencies frequently manifest more as problematic than charming. Sonja acts entitled to have sex with anyone who's around, and early in the book shows a lack of respect for being denied. Meanwhile, the denial of booze is more likely to rile her to violence than almost any other sin.
This book was just further proof to me that Gail Simone is a terribly inconsistent writer, and often drops the ball in a big way just when she's been handed a golden opportunity to redeem a historically wronged warrior woman (see also: Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey).
The art is mostly good, but nothing spectacular. I appreciated that they're still including variant cover art, all by women artists, but none of the art ever showed the characters in any new light. For example, Simone's script has Sonja's body odor as a running joke, but the visuals never mirror the supporting cast's repulsion at her. Shouldn't she be shown with more dirt and *body hair*, or at least the hair on her head getting matted and gross, since her lack of washing and grooming is an integral part of the story?
Hopefully the next story arc will be better. I really want Red Sonja to be good for more than just sexy cosplay, and I trust that Gail Simone feels the same way. If only her writing could get better.
The first volume of Gail Simone's run of Red Sonja gave me such high hopes for the title moving into the future. It was fun, funny, well-paced, and engaging. Whereas this volume is filled with unfunny jokes, typos, and boring, uninspiring caricatures of 6+ medieval archetypes.
The beginning of this series established (for me, a new reader of this character) that Red Sonja is a horny lush. But throughout this arc, those tendencies frequently manifest more as problematic than charming. Sonja acts entitled to have sex with anyone who's around, and early in the book shows a lack of respect for being denied. Meanwhile, the denial of booze is more likely to rile her to violence than almost any other sin.
This book was just further proof to me that Gail Simone is a terribly inconsistent writer, and often drops the ball in a big way just when she's been handed a golden opportunity to redeem a historically wronged warrior woman (see also: Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey).
The art is mostly good, but nothing spectacular. I appreciated that they're still including variant cover art, all by women artists, but none of the art ever showed the characters in any new light. For example, Simone's script has Sonja's body odor as a running joke, but the visuals never mirror the supporting cast's repulsion at her. Shouldn't she be shown with more dirt and *body hair*, or at least the hair on her head getting matted and gross, since her lack of washing and grooming is an integral part of the story?
Hopefully the next story arc will be better. I really want Red Sonja to be good for more than just sexy cosplay, and I trust that Gail Simone feels the same way. If only her writing could get better.
arisia's review against another edition
5.0
This volume's individual episodes are great--sometimes exceptional, as in the Courtesan's and the Stargazer's--but truly amazing when put together. Easily one of my favorite collected volumes of comics.
carroq's review against another edition
3.0
The title for this volume, "The Art of Blood and Fire", is appropriate because Sonja is tasked with finding the greatest artisans in six different fields by a dying emperor. She has a month to do it, and the emperor has promised to release all 1,000 of his slaves if she is successful.
Each chapter is centered around a different artisan that she is trying to recruit. Although characters will appear in multiple chapters, each one feels self contained while sticking to the overall story arc. This made the whole book feel pretty cohesive.
Sonja is out of her element though. Sure, she can do the whole rescue/intimidate people into following her shtick. But artisans aren't really her thing. This is apparent from the first chapter. Sonja is more rustic and down-to-earth, while the story puts her in the heart of civilization (even if parts of it aren't very civilized). Her personality is infused into the whole story despite that.
Chapter 0 is more of a one-shot. Sonja has gone missing and is presumed dead, while a down on his luck warrior claims to be her widower. Everything comes to a head when Sonja returns and decides to confront the man. This story is a great snapshot of who Sonja is.
The art, as always, is fantastic. As with the first volume, I loved the alternate covers at the end. This is still a good book, but it didn't catch me quite the way that volume 1 did.
Each chapter is centered around a different artisan that she is trying to recruit. Although characters will appear in multiple chapters, each one feels self contained while sticking to the overall story arc. This made the whole book feel pretty cohesive.
Sonja is out of her element though. Sure, she can do the whole rescue/intimidate people into following her shtick. But artisans aren't really her thing. This is apparent from the first chapter. Sonja is more rustic and down-to-earth, while the story puts her in the heart of civilization (even if parts of it aren't very civilized). Her personality is infused into the whole story despite that.
Chapter 0 is more of a one-shot. Sonja has gone missing and is presumed dead, while a down on his luck warrior claims to be her widower. Everything comes to a head when Sonja returns and decides to confront the man. This story is a great snapshot of who Sonja is.
The art, as always, is fantastic. As with the first volume, I loved the alternate covers at the end. This is still a good book, but it didn't catch me quite the way that volume 1 did.
kentcryptid's review against another edition
4.0
One major plus: the interior art in Red Sonja isn't nearly as much of a terrible example of the male gaze as the covers make it seem, and the titular character spends half the time wearing serviceable leathers rather than the awful chain-mail bikini. In addition I liked the supporting cast and the found family vibe. And Red Sonja herself is foulmouthed, courageous, bisexual, and a whole lot of fun.
amyjoy's review against another edition
4.0
Yep, totally delightful. Definitely check it out, y'all.
djotaku's review against another edition
4.0
With the second story arc in her Red Sonja run, Gail Simone unifies what could easily be a series of six one-offs by creating a fetch quest. In this case, Sonja is asked by the nearly-dead King of Not-Egypt to find him six gifted people to play key parts in his death party. In order to raise the stakes, the king promises her that he will let his slaves free if she fulfills the request.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #8 - Too Stinky for Sex
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #8 – Too Stinky for Sex
Just as before, Simone leans hard into the tropes and proves that tropes are not inherently bad. Red Sonja continues to be a warrior woman who doesn’t quite understand why everyone objects to her stench. She starts off hungry, parched, and horny and is only ever able to quench the first. Sonja can never have enough alcohol and Simone makes a mighty fine brick joke out of Sonja’s inability to get laid during this arc. Besides making a great running gag out of all the reasons she’s denied, I think Simone is also subtly making a commentary on how Red Sonja’s often considered hot stuff that any reader inclined to find ladies hot would want to get with, but in reality might be quite off-putting.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #10 - Red Sonja Modest Outfit
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #10 – Red Sonja Modest Outfit
As I mentioned in the look at the first arc (as well as asking her during a Baltimore Comic-Con panel), I wondered how Simone, who has fought hard for less exploitative depictions of women in comics could end up wanting to work on Red Sonja. But if one pays attention during this story arc, Sonja is rarely dressed as scantily within the book as she is on the cover. In fact, the one time she IS dressed like the cover, she is mistaken for a prostitute. While her costumes still rely on the rule of cool, they’re most often quite a bit more practical than the chain mail bikini.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #9 - Red Sonja Dolled Up
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #9 – Red Sonja Dolled Up
It appears Simone had lots of fun trying to figure out the best way to subvert our expectations with each of the gifted people. Rather than go through each one and unnecessarily spoil things for any readers who haven’t yet read this arc, I’d like to explore two ways in which Simone makes this arc a character study of Red Sonja. The first concerns The Courtesan. At first blush, it appears that this woman cannot possibly have anything in common with Red Sonja. She is pretty, smells nice, uses her body for sex, and is a prisoner of sorts to the captain who owns the brothel. Simone, however, revisits her favorite topic of sisterhood and uses it to force Red Sonja to confront her stereotypes. First we learn that the reason The Courtesan does not want to leave with Red Sonja is that she wishes to unionize the sex workers to try and get some leverage on the captain. Then we learn that she is almost actually a sister to Red Sonja as they grew up in neighboring villages. The Courtesan is able to hold her own in a fight because she was orphaned at a young age. Finally, she is a self-made woman, just like Red Sonja. She just happened to choose sex work as her way out of a bad situation. When she puts makeup and a nice dress on Red Sonja, she even has somewhat of a crisis of character as she realizes that The Courtesan doesn’t fit as neatly into a box as she’d thought. It makes her question all sorts of assumptions about herself.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #11 - Red Sonja's Fear
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #11 – Red Sonja’s Fear
Simone also has us learn a bit more about Red Sonja’s psyche when she visits the immense temple-fort to liberate The Stargazer. We’ve seen Red Sonja cavalierly face off all sorts of dangerous foes. We’ve rarely seen her panic – even when the odds are not in her favor she decides to go all Spartan and fight until the death. Yet, as she enters the temple, she is truly scared for the first time since she and Dark Annisia escaped from the fighting pits. Through Red Sonja’s feelings we’re reminded that the exact reason that the cathedrals in Europe are so massive is that they were supposed to leave the lay person in shock at how small they were in comparison. If this was God’s house, they were but motes of dust in the wind. By comparison, Sonja’s village just had a religious hut. She is scared not only by the nature of the temple, but also because of how religion can have total control over people.
With this volume Simone continues her seemingly impossible idea: a pulp hero, getting in pulp situations, making the reader laugh, but still getting across some deep issues when the reader stops to think about what he or she has read.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #8 - Too Stinky for Sex
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #8 – Too Stinky for Sex
Just as before, Simone leans hard into the tropes and proves that tropes are not inherently bad. Red Sonja continues to be a warrior woman who doesn’t quite understand why everyone objects to her stench. She starts off hungry, parched, and horny and is only ever able to quench the first. Sonja can never have enough alcohol and Simone makes a mighty fine brick joke out of Sonja’s inability to get laid during this arc. Besides making a great running gag out of all the reasons she’s denied, I think Simone is also subtly making a commentary on how Red Sonja’s often considered hot stuff that any reader inclined to find ladies hot would want to get with, but in reality might be quite off-putting.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #10 - Red Sonja Modest Outfit
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #10 – Red Sonja Modest Outfit
As I mentioned in the look at the first arc (as well as asking her during a Baltimore Comic-Con panel), I wondered how Simone, who has fought hard for less exploitative depictions of women in comics could end up wanting to work on Red Sonja. But if one pays attention during this story arc, Sonja is rarely dressed as scantily within the book as she is on the cover. In fact, the one time she IS dressed like the cover, she is mistaken for a prostitute. While her costumes still rely on the rule of cool, they’re most often quite a bit more practical than the chain mail bikini.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #9 - Red Sonja Dolled Up
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #9 – Red Sonja Dolled Up
It appears Simone had lots of fun trying to figure out the best way to subvert our expectations with each of the gifted people. Rather than go through each one and unnecessarily spoil things for any readers who haven’t yet read this arc, I’d like to explore two ways in which Simone makes this arc a character study of Red Sonja. The first concerns The Courtesan. At first blush, it appears that this woman cannot possibly have anything in common with Red Sonja. She is pretty, smells nice, uses her body for sex, and is a prisoner of sorts to the captain who owns the brothel. Simone, however, revisits her favorite topic of sisterhood and uses it to force Red Sonja to confront her stereotypes. First we learn that the reason The Courtesan does not want to leave with Red Sonja is that she wishes to unionize the sex workers to try and get some leverage on the captain. Then we learn that she is almost actually a sister to Red Sonja as they grew up in neighboring villages. The Courtesan is able to hold her own in a fight because she was orphaned at a young age. Finally, she is a self-made woman, just like Red Sonja. She just happened to choose sex work as her way out of a bad situation. When she puts makeup and a nice dress on Red Sonja, she even has somewhat of a crisis of character as she realizes that The Courtesan doesn’t fit as neatly into a box as she’d thought. It makes her question all sorts of assumptions about herself.
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #11 - Red Sonja's Fear
Red Sonja Vol 2 Issue #11 – Red Sonja’s Fear
Simone also has us learn a bit more about Red Sonja’s psyche when she visits the immense temple-fort to liberate The Stargazer. We’ve seen Red Sonja cavalierly face off all sorts of dangerous foes. We’ve rarely seen her panic – even when the odds are not in her favor she decides to go all Spartan and fight until the death. Yet, as she enters the temple, she is truly scared for the first time since she and Dark Annisia escaped from the fighting pits. Through Red Sonja’s feelings we’re reminded that the exact reason that the cathedrals in Europe are so massive is that they were supposed to leave the lay person in shock at how small they were in comparison. If this was God’s house, they were but motes of dust in the wind. By comparison, Sonja’s village just had a religious hut. She is scared not only by the nature of the temple, but also because of how religion can have total control over people.
With this volume Simone continues her seemingly impossible idea: a pulp hero, getting in pulp situations, making the reader laugh, but still getting across some deep issues when the reader stops to think about what he or she has read.
sherpawhale's review against another edition
5.0
This book is what happens when you fractionally distill and bottle pure delight.
Gail Simone absolutely nails Red Sonja's voice, and Walter Geovani's linework absolutely nails the oozing confidence and tasteful raunchiness.
Perhaps there is not the deepest of messages here, but there is no better book out there for your money about a quest for adventure, justice, sex, and booze. Mostly just the booze, though.
Gail Simone absolutely nails Red Sonja's voice, and Walter Geovani's linework absolutely nails the oozing confidence and tasteful raunchiness.
Perhaps there is not the deepest of messages here, but there is no better book out there for your money about a quest for adventure, justice, sex, and booze. Mostly just the booze, though.
gudzilla's review against another edition
4.0
I liked it more than #1 and that's saying something.
Lunatic king orders Sonja to collect 6 spectacular artists for his dying feast. If Sonja is successful, he will free thousand slaves otherwise all the slaves would be killed and buried with him in his tomb - to give him company in afterlife. and the quest begins....
Lunatic king orders Sonja to collect 6 spectacular artists for his dying feast. If Sonja is successful, he will free thousand slaves otherwise all the slaves would be killed and buried with him in his tomb - to give him company in afterlife. and the quest begins....
dostojevskijs's review against another edition
3.0
"You... you put... you put food. In a barrel of delicious cimmerian beer? You monster."
Still kind of impressed that she is still living considering her very impractical clothes, but I quite like the writers and the change they seem to have given to the character... It's hard not to dig Red Sonja. She's cool as fuck.
Still kind of impressed that she is still living considering her very impractical clothes, but I quite like the writers and the change they seem to have given to the character... It's hard not to dig Red Sonja. She's cool as fuck.