Red Sonja: Break The Skin #1

If you know who Red Sonja is, you have an idea of what to expect. There will be lots of fighting and sword slinging. Red Sonja will indeed kick a lot of butt.  Where this could fall to being just another Red Sonja comic, the story develops into something more. There is a twist that not even Sonja sees coming which sets this story apart from past ones. 

Jen Van Meter does a great job in portraying Red Sonja as a fierce warrior and also as a leader among her men. She's shown to have the ability to think as well as fight in whatever situation springs up. We even get to see that she's not an unstoppable and untouchable force. It is possible for her to get injured. It's just she won't allow any serious injuries to occur.

There is also a reprint from 1979's Red Sonja #15 by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga. It's great to have the opportunity to read a classic story and again, we see that Red Sonja isn't unstoppable. It is possible for others to get the better of her. Or course, she will come out on top in the end.

It's a good an a bad thing to have a one shot with a self contained story. Yes you can go in and get a complete story without worrying about reading anything else. What's bad is you have to wonder if there will be any repercussions. How much will the story matter in the overall mythos of Red Sonja? It was a good story that ventured off from being just  sword-action-fighting comic but I'm not sure how memorable it will be.

Edgar Salazar's art is really nice...almost too nice. Seeing the reprinted Red Sonja story, you can see that there was a little more to the character. The way Salazar draws here makes her look good but almost too slender. I know a little of her back story but seeing a slim and almost dainty warrior hefting and swinging a sword around in deadly combat stretches the sense of disbelief a little. At least the way she was drawn before, she had a little more...meat on her. But Salazar's art along with Caesar Rodriguez's colors do look good on paper.

What would you expect from a Red Sonja comic? There is fighting and violence here. But that's not all you get. Red Sonja takes what seems like a typical job but complications arise and she has to stay on her toes. There's nothing better than being surprised when you think you know how the whole story will turn out. Jen Van Meter does a great job in showing us how fierce Red Sonja can be and why her men would have so much respect for her. We also see that she's is not completely untouchable and that is possible for her to get hurt if she didn't possess such great skills. The art and colors look really nice but almost makes Sonja appear too dainty. The classic reprint from 1979 shows that she can be drawn with a little more body fat and still remain true to what the character is about. The story has a nice twist but because I'm not the world's biggest Red Sonja fan, it may not be a completely memorable story. It's a great place for readers to just jump in and get a complete story but you get a sense that the end results won't have any lasting repercussions.