A Red Sonja Romcom is Dynamite's Valentine to Comic Fans

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Submitted by RJ Carter on Sun, 02/14/2021 - 15:15

When one calls to mind Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, "romantic comedy" isn't one of the phrases that usually jumps out at you. And yet, with Dynamite's 2021 Red Sonja Valentine's Special, Bill Willingham and Giuseppe Cafaro somehow make it work.

The story opens with Sonja preparing to collect on one of her mercenary jobs by collecting the head of a witch who gave a man a false fortune. But Sonja is about to discover that this witch is not some mere charlatan, and the revelations had here set the stage for the second part of our story -- after a brief intermission to learn some of "Red Sonja's Do's & Don'ts of Dating."

As fate would have it, one of Sonja's fiercest foes, the sorceror Kulan Gath, is also in the land and also stumbles across the witch. To save her life once more, she offers to show him her own powers -- a potion that would lead him to his most hated enemy. Kulan Gath takes the potion and it indeed works. He knows exactly where to find Red Sonja -- but for altogether more... ardent... reasons.

Sporting a classic romance genre comic by Joseph Michael Linsner, the Red Sonja Valentine's Special 2021 is a light tale of beheadings and slayings. The interiors are exquisitely drawn by Cafaro, and Willingham excels at clever plot twists to keep the reader engaged. If you didn't pick this up this week, get to your local comics shop before Valentine's Day is over.

Grade:

4.0 / 5.0