I think that diehard fans and Red Sonja newcomers alike will find this a much better alternative to the spiraling-turd like disaster one-shot that was issue #7 in the normal series. Okay, maybe it wasn’t nearly as bad as all that, but compared to the story arc that came before it, it stinks. This mini series, however posses better art and much better writing (though it suffers from some bizarre printing errors.)

Sonja has returned to her native Hyrkania upon learning that it was being attacked by an unknown enemy called Doom. But instead of the stalwart resistance she expects, she finds her own people cowering and being slaughtered without fighting back. Even worse, she discovers that she actually was the cause. By killing the last King (because he gave her a choice between marrying him and death), she inadvertently delivered her homeland into the hands of the scheming and greedy Viceroy until the prince comes of age. The Viceroy took all the young, capable men and put them to work in mines. Thus, Hyrkonia is left defenseless. Meanwhile, Doom infiltrates the rebels fighting with Sonja in an effort to seduce and mislead her.

So that’s the skinny on this series. Makes for a pretty interesting story, don’t ya think? But where are Sonja’s personal adventures? Why is she always helping people through off their oppressors instead of getting loot? Maybe that is why Conan will always be cooler, if not nearly as much fun to look at.

-Fumanchu