Customer Reviews

Red Sonja / Claw The Unconquered: Devil's Hands (Paperback)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are a fan of Red Sonja, then pick up the four-part short story "Travels" or Dynamite's new Red Sonja series. However, give this one a pass. This graphic novel is a poor attempt to build on the Red Sonja genre. The men in the story are drawn to look simply grotesque, the plot is pretty poor, and "Claw" does not make for a good or credible companion-- not even a decent sidekick. Only high point-- hence the two stars-- is the Sonja artwork. There is plently of good Red Sonja material out there so I would look elsewhere before purchasing this one.

I know you're thinking, "how is that even possible"?

Well first off let me say that the story is crap. I didn't know until after reading this book that Claw The Unconquerable was created back in the 70's. I thought Layman created this crap character all by himself and I was really gonna' give him hell over it.

You're off the hook on creating Claw, Layman.

But your story sucks. I don't expect just a whole lot from a character like Red Sonja (though Dynamite does a great ongoing series) but bearing that in mind, you can't just slap your readers across the face with cliche after cliche of "Bring her to me..." and "We fight for freedooooommmm!" and expect to get a positive reaction.

Layman really needs to focus on honing his craft, even for a B-grade character like Red Sonja.

HOWEVER...artist Andy Smith shows an incredible amount of promise. And maybe that was the deal all along---Layman agreed to pull a "Jeph Loeb" and let the dialogue take a seat waaaay in the back for the art (*see "Batman:Hush").

Every image of Smith's Red Sonja could double as a pin-up shot...though some of the other characters lack the same patience and care, and both of the main male characters look like Bizzaro Conans.

This is worth the buy only as a "sketchbook" of Andy Smith. I wouldn't bother reading it, though.

Cheesecake (and beefcake) swords and sorcery. If you're a fan of the genre and your intellectual needs are modest, then this is a nice way to spend a couple of hours.

The Wildstorm/Dynamite crossover with Claw and Red Sonja is the best crossover published with the fiery red heroine so far. The story and plot are pretty basic and isn't all that complicated but it is the conflict and resolution that both warriors experience that makes this book hard to put down. This is the best Sonja story since Roy Thomas was writing Conan due its realistic elements and grim atmosphere. There aren't any B-movie moments Sonja was prone to during the 80's when Frank Thorne was handling the art for her Marvel run. And you won't definitley won't find Sonja teaming up with Conan anytime in the near future due to conflicting rights issues between the companies. This is the next best thing!

A sword and sorcery team-up as Claw and Red Sonja join forces to try and deal with an evil sorcerer. A few problems to overcome though, given the newly pneumatic Sonja is now more likely than ever to attract Claw, which would cause sword-fighting.

So would his demonic hand taking him over and making him not so good.

Then there is the whole sorcerer may be the only one that can cure my curse, so damned if I do, damned if don't problem for Claw.