Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Mike Carey (Author), Michael Avon Oeming (Author), Mel Rubi (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sword and sorcery mainstay Red Sonja is back in all her chain-mail bikini glory, once more hurling vitriol at her barbaric male counterparts while removing appendages from any man stupid enough to attempt invasion of her personal space. This spinoff from Robert E. Howard's Conan canon gained popularity in the '70s via the Marvel comics version, and the idea of a female warrior who triumphs while wearing as little as possible within the confines of censorship guidelines remains appealing. The new story lines by Carey (Lucifer) and Oeming (Powers) try to give Sonja's character a bit of depth, but struggle against art that concentrates on shots of Sonja's shapely rear sitting firmly in her saddle. Red Sonja's new adventures are a reliably familiar exercise in the basic sword and sorcery formula: Sonja's wanderings bring her to an isolated city governed by the obligatory mad sorcerer, and it's only a matter of pages until the two must meet in combat. Rubi's art mostly settles for getting the job done without too much flair. Rounding out this barbarian battle fest is a 41-page gallery of variant covers by a artists including Arthur Adams and J.G. Jones. (Nov.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment (October 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933305118
• ISBN-13: 978-1933305110
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some of the other reviews on this page are for the wrong book!, July 4, 2007

By 

N. Franklin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

For some reason some of the other reviews on this page are for the wrong book. Apparently there was some confusion in the past and no one has ever updated this page. The artwork in the Carey/Oeming/Rubi book looks better than the artwork in the Thomas/Jones/Thorne book, which was recolored but not very skillfully.

Unlike that book, there is no Conan appearance in this one. I think Dynamite publishing bought the rights to the Red Sonja character only, though I suppose an exception was made that allowed them to reprint the story featuring Conan in the Thomas/Jones/Thorne book, which reprinted the original Marvel Comics.

Sometimes the story is a bit hard to follow, but this link provides a summary of the first three or four volumes: [...]
Note that the online summary begins with the events of Red Sonja #0, which actually belongs chronologically after #1-6 as it is reprinted in the book. The summary also includes #7 which is not reprinted in either Volume #1 or Volume #2.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Red Sonja is pure male entertainment, May 29, 2009

By 

danny boy "dbswongv" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

This trade paperback by Dynamite is listed as vol 1 and features a storyline plot of Red Sonja going to a city, encounters a wizard, joins in the resistance to overthrow the wizard and, in the process, lays waste to the entire city. Not much variation on the familiar sword and sorcery genre.
I just prefer this Red Sonja to the earlier Thorne series. This latter Red Sonja is really nubile, a true amazon surrounded by the most brutish males ever drawn outside of Kubert and Buscema. Aside from that, the plot lines really need to improve to be on a par with the magnificent revival Carey Nord series featuring Conan the Barbarian.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS THE RIGHT BOOK -- Buy if u want to read Red Sonja at her BEST, April 17, 2008

By 

Mitchell Brian - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Excellent!!! Amazon IS shipping the right product and its a good one. Fantastic artwork. Sonja is expertly drawn and not so much as the pin-up model (although she is attractive as always) but looks very much a believable warrior and the action scenes are well choreographed, facial expressions sincere. Some of the most powerful pages are those with no text-- proof of the artwork's high quality. The story is your basic Conan/fantasy tale and Sonja's character is well but subtly developed. Story finishes with a series of Red Sonja cover art. I HIGHLY recommend this graphic novel for any fan of Red Sonja, Conan, or general admirers of the fantasy genre.