Fifty years ago, Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith borrowed a character from Robert E. Howard and transformed her into Red Sonja. The She-Devil with a Sword, as she would come to be known, debuted in the pages of Conan the Barbarian #23. Soon enough, she spun out into a solo series drawn by Frank Thorne, who “…ate, breathed, and slept Red Sonja,” according to surprise guest panelist Wendy Pini.
For today was the panel to celebrate the character, with a heavy nod of gratitude to artist Thorne. Moderated by Red Sonja, LLC President Luke Lieberman, the panel featured various key contributors to Sonja’s revival at Dynamite that began in 2005. When Lieberman shared a slide of their publishing history, it’s been an impressive 18 years, with some of comics’ top creators working on various series and mini-series.
Runs varied, as writer Amy Chu pointed out. When she brought Red Sonja into modern-day New York City in Red Sonja: Worlds Away, she figured she had six issues to just have Red Sonja do fun stuff and burn some institutions down. To Chu’s surprise, that turned into 25 issues that eventually brought the warrior back to the Hyrkanian Age.
Of course, Gail Simone played a key role in bringing Red Sonja back into the public eye after years away from Marvel. Though not at Comic-Con this year, she took part in a tribute video that included original co-creator Thomas, writer Mark Russell, and the newest writer on the character, Torunn Grønbekk. Many enthused about the character, but only Simone sounded like she could gladly carry Sonja’s sword. (In addition to Grønbekk, panelist Dan Panosian aka “Urban Barbarian” will be writing a companion series.)
On the panel itself, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner both paid homage to Pini and Thorne as inspirations. Conner wanted to draw like Thorne, and Palmiotti described his art as “musical.” Every drawing was full of movement, life, and purpose. As Pini, the co-creator of Elfquest, had cosplayed as Red Sonja before it was called cosplay, agreed with that assessment. She and Thorne had toured comic conventions, Pini as Red Sonja and Thorne as a wizard, with a set “show.” It was photos of that in fanzines, Palmiotti said, that set him on his path in fandom. Their final performance was at Comic-Con in San Diego in 1978.
“Feminism was not as nuanced then,” Pini said. “it was mostly angry. And Red Sonja was the angriest woman in comics.”
There’s far more to the character than anger, of course, which Dynamite’s many comics have proven. Lieberman also announced that Dynamite would be releasing a massive volume of the best Red Sonja stories, some from the Marvel days including appearances in Savage Sword of Conan and Savage Tales. The book will of course include much from the Dynamite years, all curated by Lieberman himself.
Simone will also be returning to the character by writing a series of novels, which she herself had announced a few weeks ago on Twitter. Lieberman praised her work, noting that as good as she is as a comics writer, Simone is even better at prose.
Of course Lieberman had the opportunity to share a trailer for the new film starring Mathilda Lutz and Robert Sheehan, which we’ll share here when it gets a public release. It looks fairly good, but hard to judge from so little footage. Lieberman averred that the final cut is in process of being locked down, but production company Millennium Media does not yet have release plans in place. In answer to an audience member’s question, the hope is that it will see theatrical release.
Conversation turned toward crossovers, as a few have happened in the past. One audience member brought up the crossover between Red Sonja and Howard the Duck, and basically — that needs a sequel. But first, let’s see how the movie does.
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