Category Dynamite Entertainment

Oct 11 2013

Red Sonja 4

red sonja 4

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Red Sonja 4, originally released October 9th, 2013.

Shelby: There was a period of time when I used to run on a pretty regular basis. When you’re doing a race, or even just going for a long morning run, there’s comes a point when your brain starts to tell you your body can’t do it any more. Now, brains are great, but sometimes they’re all full of nonsense; they’ll try to trick you to stop doing something that’s hard. There’s a fine line to walk, however, between ignoring your brain’s advice and ignoring your body’s. Once your body starts telling you it really can’t do any more, that’s the point you need to start paying attention, before you seriously hurt yourself. Of course, if your body is telling you it can’t go on because it’s riddled with the plague and you’re going to die anyway, it doesn’t really matter if you over-exert.
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Sep 13 2013

Red Sonja 3

red sonja 3

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Red Sonja 3, originally released September 11th, 2013.

Shelby: Last month things were looking pretty bad for our gal Sonja. The man who was like a father to her was dead at the hands Dark Annisia, the ultimate frenemy. The people she came to defend were dead in battle or dying of the plague. Also, she was actually dying of the plague herself, and sent into exile to die alone. At least she had the promise of fever dreams of her loved ones, dead and gone; there’s always that to look forward to, I suppose.
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Aug 21 2013

Red Sonja 2

Alternating Currents: Red Sonja 2, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Red Sonja 2, originally released August 15th, 2013.

Drew: Finales get all the attention, but I firmly believe that starting a serialized narrative is the much more impressive feat. Each subsequent chapter can build upon the previous ones, but the very first entry must whip a meaningful relationship with the audience out of thin air. This often requires relying on character types that seem almost embarrassing when looked back upon, like bad yearbook pictures, or early blog posts. It’s a strange paradox; we like complex characters, but you can’t achieve that much complexity in 22 pages (or 42 minutes, as the case may be). Character types allow us to make connections with characters quickly, but at the expense of specificity — nobody is exclaiming “that’s so Raven” after the first episode of That’s so Raven. The handoff from those early, type-driven chapters to later, character-driven ones is perilous, but writer Gail Simone handle’s it beautifully in Red Sonja 2. Continue reading →

Jul 19 2013

Red Sonja 1

red sonja 1

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Red Sonja 1, originally released July 17th, 2013.

Shelby: I love fantasy novels. I’m about half-way through re-reading Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series in preparation for the final book, and I’m loving every minute of it. Jordan had some interesting ideas about men and women, most of them boiling down to the fact that men and women are actually just all people, and very similar in many ways. It seems like a pretty straight-forward idea, but it’s pretty unique for a genre that may have a worse reputation than comics for its depictions of women. So a fantasy comic book with a female lead known for the least beach-appropriate swimwear in the history of bathing suits seems a risky venture in this day and age, one more likely to appear as the worst kind of dated than anything else. Luckily for us all, Red Sonja is in the ridiculously talented hands of Gail Simone, so we’ve got nothing to worry about.
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