Is the penultimate issue of this mini-series worth your hard earned money and valuable time?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Dynamite:

It’s time for the main event! Red Sonja and Thulsa Doom collide and the fate of Atlantis and Hyboria hangs in the balance. Can Sonja close the pandora’s box that Thulsa has opened, or will Doom spread the power of the dreaming God across the waters and the lands beyond!

It’s the second to last issue for this event, our hero and villain continue to gather their strength for a final dramatic confrontation.  Thulsa Doom‘s history is regaled as he gathers the power of a god and the necessary means to control not just Atlantis but all the kingdoms in this ancient world.  A lot goes into the build up here, but the truth is it all feels rather rushed and more or less forced.

Luke Lieberman once again handles the script and there are some good but ultimately uneven results.  The characters act as you would expect them to but the pace moves along at such a feverish frantic rate, that there just is literally no character development in this issue.  But there is still plenty of action and some cornball dialogue to keep the story in check.  The end result is a decent third act that sets up the final issue.

Max Dunbar delivers some passable work that ultimately offers a detailed but somewhat disjointed experience.  His pencil strokes imbue the title with action and a kinetic feel that easily sells the experience, but at the same time faces and objects look far too deformed.  It’s not that the work done here is bad by any stretch of the imagination, it just lacks consistency in its execution and style when compared to the previous two issues.

Red Sonja: Atlantis Rises #3 is a somewhat fitting continuation even if it comes off feeling a tad bit rushed.  Recommended.

3/5