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REVIEW: 'Red Sonja: Black, White, & Red' #3 by Gail Simone, Dearbhla Kelly, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Walter Geovani, Soo Lee, and Jonathan Lau

 


RED SONJA: BLACK, WHITE & RED #3

Writer: Gail Simone, Dearbhla Kelly, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Artist: Walter Geovani, Soo Lee, Jonathan Lau
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 22, 2021
Cover Price: $4.99

The greatest tales! The most amazing storytellers! Red Sonja, like you've NEVER seen before...all presented in beautiful black, white, and red!

Superstar GAIL SIMONE returns to The She-Devil With A Sword with artist WALTER GEOVANI, for a tale spanning Sonja's entire life...

DEARBHLA KELLY and SOO LEE spin a story of interlaced intrigue and savage adventure...
HASSAN OTSMANE-ELAHOU and JONATHAN LAU feature a conundrum for Sonja, in the form of a foreboding, fire-breathing dragon...

Score:
★★★1/2 (3.5/5)

The Red Sonja anthology series told in black, white, and red gets a nice surprise this month when legendary writer/infamous internet troll Gail Simone reunites with former collaborator artist Walter Geovani for their own short story. Two of the three new stories rely heavily on the art to tell the story and it's a mesmerizing, lyrical experience albeit a short read. This is not the best entry in the series but still a fun chapter. 

DAWN OF A CRIMSON DAY
by GAIL SIMONE, WALTER GEOVANI,
DEARBHLA KELLY
& HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU

This is a beautiful montage of Sonja's life from childbirth to womanhood. It's her origin story and all its milestones are told in images only. Simone has spoken glowingly about Geovani's artistic contributions to their last collaboration on 'Red Sonja' and it's evident they're in total sync here. Geovani's composition and designs provide some great visuals layering panels on top of panels, escalating the emotional demands of each confrontation, and placing the She-Devil squarely and rightfully in the middle of the action on the splash pages. It's fittingly a regal and elegant tribute to Sonja by two creatives who have done her the best.  Unfortunately, it's short-lived so you'll want to see more from them again. 

SMALL TALES
by DEARBHLA KELLY, SOO LEE
& HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU

This is a cute story from Kelly as Sonja comes across a supposed orphan who's a huge fan of her. She wants Sonja to teach her all she knows. She's a talkative kid who retells all the stories she's heard of the She-Devil to know if they're true. It's sweet to see Sonja's maternal instincts with the orphan making this a wholesome short story with a twist. Soo Lee's attention to detail and expressive designs make this a lush fantasy landscape. 

SSSHHHHHH!
by HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU,
JONATHAN LAU & DEARBHLA KELLY

This is the other dialogue-free story that follows Sonja's attempt to collect a bounty from slaying a dragon. It's a stylish, moody, piece of storytelling from Otsmane-Elhaou and Jonathan Lau. 

'Red Sonja: Black, White, & Red' #3 is another trio of beautifully rendered short stories from comics' best. This collection isn't as compelling as the first two but still a worthwhile read (or watch to be more accurate) for Red Sonja fans. It's neat to see the She-Devil interpreted by various comic industry talents. 

 


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Comments

  1. Conrad Knight SocksSeptember 22, 2021 at 5:54 AM

    Agreed this fell a bit short of previous issues and I would argue that Simone is far from the best Sonja writer - in fact, I'd say she's right at the bottom. She wrote Sonja as the lovechild of Conan and Xena, and took away everything that made her truly interesting. Her story here wasn't awful but it was just a bunch of scenes thrown together. IMO the Outsmane-Elhaou/Lau story was probably the best of the bunch but it didn't come close to the best stories of the previous two issues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hank Rea - EditorSeptember 22, 2021 at 3:10 PM

      I enjoyed Simone's run and I'm currently loving Invincible Red Sonja by Palmiotti, Conner, and Moritat. Fortunately, there's been a lot of creatives who've worked on RS so there's something for everybody to enjoy if one team doesn't please them.

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