The She-Devil with a Sword is showing no signs of slowing down! Eisner-nominated writer Mark Russell’s acclaimed run on Red Sonja is getting another full year, according to publisher Dynamite Comics. Artist Bob Q is set for interiors while Jae Lee makes his return to Dynamite on covers.
Red Sonja #13 finds Sonja the Red in an unfamiliar position. At the beginning, she was crowned Queen of Hyrkania, pitting her against Dragan the Magnificent. This glory of victory is short-lived. In a time of relative peace, Sonja must deal with the impossible part… ruling. With no food, infrastructure, or plan, she is faced with difficult choices.
Russell says:
“The first year was about telling the story of Sonja leading her people against the world’s most powerful emperor, as adapted into fantasy from the historical story of Queen Tomyris and Cyrus the Great. Being a huge fan of ancient history, it was an amazing opportunity to get to tell a longform and pretty freeform story adapted from the history books, which back then, were almost works of fantasy themselves.This next one is going to be different in that it’s less about adapting stories from ancient history and more about moving the characters we’ve created forward. It’s about the consequences of war, even for winners. About how all our actions have unintended consequences. Mirko was really great at establishing that sense of historic authenticity and the griminess of war, which was so important to those first issues. As the story moves beyond that initial source of inspiration, Bob will have to invent his visual approach to these settings and characters, but we’ve worked together on other projects and I have nothing but confidence in his ability”
Bob Q is on art duty for issues #13-18. The artist says:
“The last few months have been a game of mental ping pong, jumping back and forth between secret weapons bunkers, super heroes and police conspiracy to the political dealings of a barbarian queen and her stable of loyal consorts all on horseback… it’s a real challenge. In the few issues I’ve contributed to the series so far, I’ve already drawn cosmic space snake gods, ancient tree people, elephant warriors, and spooky wizards in an obsidian tower…. I can only imagine where Mark’s going take us next.”
Lee (Batman/Superman, Inhumans) returns to Dynamite as cover artist along with Amanda Conner, Joseph Michael Linsner, Bob Q himself, and others.
“This is my chance to draw fantasy!,” said Lee. “Red Sonja is one of the most iconic fantasy characters ever created. I’m honored to be doing a run of covers for Dynamite. Despite the horror elements in my work, my true passion has always been to work on a fantasy book.”
Red Sonja #13 will be available for preorder at local comic book shops in December. It is slated for a February release. Head to Dynamite’s website for more. It will also be available digitally on Comixology, Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Dynamite Digital, ComicsPlus, and more.
