Publisher: Dynamite
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Walter Geovani
Editor: Joseph Rybrandt
Release date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

Red Sonja #18 opens with the fable of Gravaha the Clever read to Sonja by the Nuns of Erlik. As bedtime stories go it’s enough to give you bad dreams forever, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the bloodbath Sonja triggers when she goes up against the Vipers, three black-hearted warriors, each an expert in his own preferred method of inflicting pain and death.

The Vipers have been despatched to do their worst to our favourite redhead by the Empress Dowager who really knows how to hold a grudge. Since nuns aren’t renowned for their fighting skills, Red Sonja has to stand alone almost impossible odds in order to save both the nuns and the sacred books in their care. Ever the thinking man’s warrior, Red Sonja has to out-fox as well as out-fight her opponents which makes a nice change from the usual lone warrior cutting through hundreds of enemy swordsmen without breaking as sweat.

In Red Sonja #18 sword and sorcery doesn’t get any better than this.

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker