Sonja Reborn #4 // Review
She’s not the she-devil with a sword. She only looks like it. She only happens to be inhabiting her body. She's actually not from the Hyborian Age. She's from the 21st-century. And somehow she found herself back there. In the body of a very powerful warrior. The only thing is: she's got a head cold. And given her position, she can't really afford to look weak. She's going to have to find some way through it all in Sonja Reborn #4. Writer Christopher Priest continues a really enjoyable mutation of traditional high fantasy with artist Alessandro Miracolo and inker Raffaele Semeraro. Color comes to the page courtesy of Giovanni Caputo.
She's not the only thing that's displaced in time and space. There’s a cell phone too. The smartphone isn’t hers. It's locked. And there's no way of her getting through it until she can find a person who it belongs to. As luck would have it, it happens to belong to someone who isn't that far away. And given the nature of contemporary existence, someone from the 21st-century is going to stick out really prominently in the Hyborian Age. So it wouldn't be that difficult to find her if it weren't for the fact that that the woman inhabiting Sonja’s body has to deal with the fact that it’s got a rather debilitating head cold.
Fantasy heroes don't often have to deal with that sort of thing: a head cold. They're in the middle of combat and you're also dealing with this stuff he had. And probably some sense of disorientation from it's affects on your sinuses. Doesn't happen really often. Isn't that type of thing that often makes it into the forefront of any high fantasy combat. The fact of that Priest is lowering it into the script here makes it that much more interesting. Again: he's exploring the earthbound realities of life in a high fantasy setting which end ends up being a lot of fun given the fact that there's a modern day woman involved.
Miracolo and Semeraro frame the action with a sense of urgency. Everything in the issue seems to be a movement forward as Sonja feels the driving need to keep moving. Again: the art team has done an excellent job of maintaining the feeling of a contemporary woman in the body of Sonja as she navigates her way through a fantasy world. She's still essentially in action hero. But there's something more going on. Fundamental lack of grace that seems very visually provocative.
Priest has a real opportunity to start a fantasy hero’s adventures in a totally new way. She’s already established...already has the basic skills, but the woman inside her has yet to catch-up with it all. It’s a very clever way to begin what could easily be a whole new version of the character that exists alongside the other versions that continue to inhabit the comics page. It’s a fun new take on an age-old heroic fantasy concept.
