Conan Red Sonja #3 Review


What will happen when Conan and Red Sonja fight one another? Read on to find out.

The official description from Dark Horse:

Fighting together, Conan and Red Sonja must face a king who seeks revenge for their past deeds before they proceed to stop a sorcerer-priest intent on creating a deadly new weapon!

Conan Red Sonja #3 previewRobert E. Howard‘s two most beloved warriors have certainly been put through their paces over the course of this crossover, with Dark Horse and Dynamite not holding back on the action. Moving the story forward to a time period after Bêlit’s death, Conan Red Sonja #3 sees the duo reunite once more, with Thoth-amon’s wicked scheme pitting the Cimmerian and Hyrkanian against one another.

Gail Simone and Jim Zub continue to do an amazing job on this crossover, as though I’d rather a fully continuous plot, the gap between issues shows that these characters have never spent any length of time with one another. Once again delivering a fluid, and immersive narrative, the writers make it easy to enjoy this tale. The way in which they handle these two iconic characters, showing both their similarities and differences, also impressed, with the interaction also captivating. On top of all this, the writing duo also do a fantastic job of developing the plot, with Thoth-amon’s actions and Conan/Red Sonja’s battle mesmerizing.

This issue sees a change in the art team, with Randy Green taking over from Dan Panosian. Now normally I hate the changing of artists in a comic (especially in such a short issue run), but in this case I had no problem. Having a similar style to Panosian, Green manages to keep a high standard of continuity, as though there are subtle differences, it allows the overall tone to remain neutral. The artist also manages to capture the powerful presence of Conan, and beauty of Sonja perfectly, with his layouts allowing for some eye catching symbolism. All this, in addition to Rick Ketchman‘s inks, and Dave Stewart‘s colours results in stunning visuals, with the latter’s palette making the final product all the more beautiful.

Conan Red Sonja continues to be an amazing crossover, as though the jump in time frame takes away slightly from the plot, the final product is something the creative team should be proud off.

OUR RATING
8.5
  • + Conan and Sonja battle!
  • + Thoth-amon continues to put our duo through hoops.
  • + The creative team should be proud.
  • - Jump in time frame takes away slightly from the plot.

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