Immortal Red Sonja #2 // Review
Sonja is trying to keep it together. She might be talking to herself. Maybe she’s talking to the narration. Or maybe she’s been cursed by a shirt of chainmail possessed by King Arthur Paindragon. She will run into much more trouble in Immortal Red Sonja #2. Writer Dan Abnett continues his darkly comic exploration into a post-apocalyptic Avalon with the aid of artist Emiliana Pinna. Color comes to the page courtesy of Jeff Eckleberry. The darkness from the first issue is lightened considerably in a breezy adventure comedy that’s weirdly fun, considering some of the darkness in the periphery of the panels.
Sonja is on horseback riding through a forest filled with naked corpses that are all hanging by their necks from barren trees on a rainy evening. She’s not really paying too much attention to the scenery, though. She’s too busy bickering with her own narration...which turns out to be the chatty chainmail that she’s wearing. She’s not far into the forest when she runs across a heavily armed, heavily armored centaur. Naturally, it’s going to attack her. If she can survive it, she’s going to have to tread lightly around the Lady of the Lake and the Green Knight.
Abnett’s humor floods the second issue of the series. The strange dialogue opening the issue feels a lot like Sonja breaking the fourth wall until the reveal sets in. It’s fun. The three big encounters in this issue all have a sense of levity about them, but adventure IS at the heart of Abnett’s story, and it IS fun to see Sonjia roll through a few encounters with a dark Avalon. The degree to which the author leans into the comedy in the second issue DOES run the risk of faltering into the domain of openly spoofing Arthurian legend. Still, the sense of adventure maintains its momentum through the second issue.
Pinna’s art weaves from darkness to a comic sense of action and back. At the beginning of the issue, there’s a dark chill about the forest that feels suitably amplified by Eckleberry’s dreary, rain-soaked color. Things get considerably brighter as Sonja is gifted with a sword by the Lady of the Lake in a sequence that feels a bit like sword and sorcery by way of Dan DeCarlo. When Sonja encounters the Green Knight, it feels a bit like Red Sonja of Riverdale. This isn’t inherently a bad thing...Sonja IS traveling through a strange realm, and so the rubbery comedy almost carries its own darkness.
Sonja’s adventure continues in June with the third issue...which appears to feature the return of Alessandro Miracolo as an artist. The unevenness of the art in the first couple of issues and the strange turn in tone keep this particular Sonja series feeling a bit unbalanced as it moves into its third chapter next month. Still, the concept is intriguing enough to maintain interest. Sonja’s travels with a chainmail shirt possessed by King Arthur is way too fun to drop because of a weird shift in tone.
