Immortal Red Sonja #1 // Review
A traveler comes to the last house. It's dangerous. She doesn't know that yet, but it's not like she will be surprised to find out that there IS danger. (It tends to follow her around.) This time around, it has followed her to an England of ancient legend in Immortal Red Sonja #1. Writer Dan Abnett opens a promising series for the long-lived warrior in a series rendered for the page by artist Alessandro Miracolo. Mixing sword and sorcery fantasy with a distinctly fresh take on Arthurian legend, Abnett seems to have an intriguing idea that casts a sharp arc through its first issue.
Red Sonja had been traveling for quite some time when she arrives at the Last House. She seems to be muttering to herself as she does so. She's actually talking to her chain mail. It's cursed. Or maybe not... it's a long story. And that's a good thing because she needs a story to pay for her food and lodging at The Last House. There's danger in that house. She knows more than she's letting on. So does the proprietor of the Last House. Stories are exchanged. Things get a little ugly afterward. Danger does seem to follow her around.
The cursed chainmail that rests at the center of Abnett's story is a clever idea. It sets the conflict firmly in view of the reader before introducing something of a post-apocalyptic Arthurian world that feels suitably murky and dangerous. In a genre of countless sword-wielding adventurers, Sonja remains interesting under the pen of Abnett. He embraces the clever wit of an adventurer who has had to rely on herself and is now forced to work with an enchanted piece of armor that refuses to let her go. A lone warrior will be forced to work alongside a companion she can't escape. It's a clever idea.
Miracolo keeps Sonja at the heart of the visual world of the series while immersing her in an overpowering sense of post-apocalyptic fantasy. A kingdom has fallen, and a beautiful hero has come to the Last House. There's delicious darkness about it. Sonja remains sharp and striking in the heavy ink of heavy shadows. The moodiness of the visuals amplifies the eeriness of the drama. Miracolo hits it with admirable power when action breaks out at the issue's end. All hell breaks loose quite beautifully. It's a slow and moody start to the series, but Miracolo's ability to swiftly modulate between drama and action should serve the series well.
With an opening chapter placed in a humble house, the story has plenty of room to get bigger in the course of the issues to come. Given the fact that the story is set to delve into a dark post-Arthurian realm, there's quite a bit of potential for things to get big and epic the further Sonja travels with the cursed chainmail. Sonja has been stalking through comics for nearly 50 years. It's nice to see renewed life in the old warrior as she marches into darkened reflections of the realm of Avalon.
