REVIEW: 'Invincible Red Sonja' #3 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Moritat, and Matt Carter

Sonja is searching for a thief in a shady town with a bounty on her head. She's outnumbered in a bar full of takers. She loves ale and kicking ass and she's all out of ale. 

THE INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #3

Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner

Artist: Moritat, Matt Carter

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

Release Date: July 14, 2021

Cover Price: $3.99

JIMMY PALMIOTTI, AMANDA CONNER and MORITAT get their sadistic on as the huntress becomes the hunted! Sonja's on the trail of the Crown of Erkhara and the scoundrel who pilfered it, but her quest is complicated by a bounty on her head and a wave of assassins eager to collect!  Heavy is the head that wears the bounty, as the She-Devil with a Sword is about to find out!

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

'Invincible Red Sonja' has been wildly entertaining so far and there's no let-up in issue three. A dramatic series of events has led the She-Devil with a Sword on the trail of a master thief to retrieve a priceless ceremonial crown that was stolen from the bride she was hired to protect. The only thing standing in her way is a tavern full of drunken scoundrels. And she wouldn't have it any other way. 

Veteran writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner love the character of Red Sonja as much as the fans do and they're giving them exactly what they expect; Sonja seeking fortune and adventure while kicking ass. We get plenty of it in issue three that finds her with a bounty on her head and a tavern full of brutes willing to collect. The series has followed her go from one wild situation to the next with her signature bravado, her superior fighting skills, but also with her empathy and sense of justice. Everything fans love about Sonja is highlighted in the series. Palmiotti and Conner keep raising the stakes as one issue's storyline blends into the next giving us a linear progression of adventure that is hard to resist. 

Moritat does an incredible job with issue three as it commands a lot of crowd scenes and cityscapes that require intricate details. It's always the fight scenes that are the most fun though as Moritat seems to enjoy making them. The fight choreography is tight and brutal in such a crowded setting but it helps when the focus is squarely on Sonja wielding her sword. Matt Carter's colors for the most part consist of darker earth tones in brown, orange, and red. It works fine because of the color gradients but seems to be very limited. It's not until a brief scene that is sweet and a little sexy that we see some bright blues, rich greens, and the vibrancy of Sonja's red hair. The contrast to the rest of the issue is striking and intentional. 

'Invincible Red Sonja' #3 is another rip-roaring episode that finds our favorite Hyrkanian fighting, drinking and finding more trouble. You know, the usual. It's quintessential Red Sonja and this series is wall-to-wall entertainment. It keeps getting better with each issue.