Set Description:
Ahhh...the 80s - and my favorite red headed sword swinger is back. I don't really remember the 80s, which is proof I lived through them. I didn't buy any of these from my LCS at the time, I was just into X junk and JLA. I kinda missed out really. In retrospect I adore Wilshire's work. Unfortunately this would be the last time RS headlined a book for 20 years...and then with a different publisher. Admittedly, Dynamite has done well with the property, even if they are all the way up to volume 6.
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v2 #1 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v2 #1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2031459010
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Owner Comments
Not even 4 years have elapsed since Red Sonja volume 1 ended and we are back! Sort of. For two issues. I mean, talk about series that never got a chance. We have managed to increase the issue price from 40 cents to 60 cents though. So there is totally 50% more greatness here right? Ehh, maybe not so much. Gone and buried in the past is the maille bikini, replaced with the one-piece blue swimsuit. Which isn't a bad look in a couple years when Mary Wilshire gets ahold of it, but just seems odd here where it first turns up. Like, why? Anyway - of the 37 Red Sonja titles this is the one Buscema cover - and really, he does okay making it interesting without the armored bikini. The cave setting is a little boring what with no background texture or interesting bits - but whatever, it's where she is examining a pile of loot. Maybe a burial chamber? Anyway, the entire image is carried by Sonja's side-eye glance at the reflection - allowing her to spot her quiet ambusher, snag a blade, and still look like the victim while holding the oil lamp aloft. Really some good tension in the image. I'm not as sold on the coloring - I just think there is so much more that could have been done with the skeleton's armor and gear than a monotone blue-grey. He's boring - which would totally make sense if there were ten of him, but when's he's the only adversary he should be impressive looking. He isn't. The same can be said for the pile of loot - no variation. Totally boring. Finding loot is supposed to be exciting. Not so much here.
Overall - I don't know, the LCS racks were packed in the 80s with so much cool stuff - maybe it gets my 60 cents based on the cover, but then again...maybe not.
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v2 #2 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v2 #2 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1133889003
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Owner Comments
If there weren't other reasons this title ended with only two issues, then this gods awful cover would have killed it. It's boring, poorly rendered and generally looks like crapola. I don't know who the twiggy-armed woman with the red hair is supposed to be, but it sure isn't the badass barbarian woman I'm looking for. Everything is just a terrible jumble of colors and shapes with no focus. On top of that, Sonja and her girlfriend look nothing like swordfighters, their stance is too upright, their center of balance is way too high, and they look completely unsure of themselves. Like, seriously, who would buy this book based on the cover art? I wouldn't even pull it off the spinner rack to look at the interior.
Overall - awful, terrible, with no redeeming features whatsoever and certainly not worth 60 cents.
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #1 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #1 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2761783001
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Owner Comments
Simonson - easily the best cover of Marvel's volume 3. The portrait focus, the swords, the direct eye contact, the shading - 100% excellent work from Walt. This big $1.00 issue is oddly difficult to find without a weird cover wrap. So many of the issues I found I passed on just because the wrap was so bad. Obviously not much to talk about here as far as her sword fighting stance or her body position - but her grip is correct. Again - I am weirded out by her having a glove on her sword hand and not on her dagger hand. Her dagger hand - which is her parrying hand - is almost always going to be the hand that is exposed to the opponent's weapons. If I was going to only wear one glove, it'd be on my damn parrying hand.
Overall? Oh hell, I love this cover. Even for a dollar, when most books are 60 cents. So, yeah, take my dollar and let me read what RS is up to.
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #2 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #2 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0233214003
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Owner Comments
The Mary Wilshire years - The armor is gone, the ridiculous sized boobs are gone, and long leather boots (which might just be sexier are in). Over the years, this is really our first opportunity to see a woman's eye on Sonja. And it is good. Viewed through an archway, Red is locked in combat with an antagonist. Sonja's weight is a little bit in her heels as she deals with the aggressive maneuver of her opponent. And it's a maneuver I've used before in a performance, grabbing the swordarm at the wrist during the downswing and moving quickly forward for a counterswing. Oh how the audience loves that. Mary has their individual positions good, although I would typically have my front foot planted by the time I made the wrist grab. Really my only complaint about the entire image is how high the antagonist has her blade. If you have long hair and your elbow is low, your sword should be low too to avoid entanglements. Trust me on that one - it happens super rarely but I understand it hurts.
All of the scene setting in this image is excellent - the blue twilight sky, the balcony with ivy crawling on it, and the overturned items in the foreground burning away, and providing a light source for the image. Yep, Mary nailed it. No words at all, and excellent draftsmanship add up to an excellent cover image.
Overall - it is the 80s and books are getting pricy - still, I'd buy that for a dollar
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #4 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #4 |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1173311004
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Owner Comments
EXTREME CLOSE-UP!!! Ahhhhhhh! Anyway, totally sweet cover by Mary Wilshire before she took a short hiatus and we had to deal with a string of substitute cover artists - not that Broderick is bad, per se, but well...you can read my entries for his covers if you want. But this - this is sweet! Big ol rippy claws, big ol chompy teeth, and Sonja deflecting attacks with her sword and dagger every which way. Extraordinary use of color really makes this one pop too. I have to say, of the Marvel RS covers, this is one of the best of all of them (including Conan covers and others). Just pure, in-your-face combat with a sharp-toothed bitch.
As to her combat - there's not much to focus on here with the close up - but it does bring into focus a minor nit for me to pick, Sonja's sword and dagger are parallel to each other, and if you're going for maximum blocking power, they should be perpendicular. Even if not ninety degrees, at least 60/30 so that the dagger and the dagger arm support the sword arm for the strongest stop block. Otherwise - her grip is good and strong and she's ready to fight. ALTHOUGH, I do take issue with her only wearing one glove, but I think that's a colorists error on her off-hand.
Overall - are you kidding me? Damn - take my money. This is an awesome cover and I am totally enticed to buy this issue based solely on the cover art.
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #5 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #5 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2681628002
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Owner Comments
Pat Broderick, Hentai Artist? Maybe - just a little bit anyway. This cover has a lot going for it - very dynamic in the depiction of the octopus. Great use of blues and purples for most of the cover to make Sonja's hair stand out. There's not much I can say about her swordfighting on this cover, as I've never been grappled by a giant octopus, underwater, while trying to stab it - but technically speaking, I think she's screwed. Obviously, she goes on to fight another day - as there is another issue next month, but I think this cover art really does do its job - I'm interested in how Sonja got in this particular fix and I'm interested in how the hell she's going to get out. Because damn.
Overall? Yeah, just take my sixty cents and let me read about Sonja and the Cephalopod of Doom. DOOM!
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #6 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #6 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2058202017
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Owner Comments
What weird body imagery we've given Sonja, like freaky little arms and giant, muscled thighs. I don't think I like it. Really the only thing about this cover that stands out to me is that Sonja's hair is allowed to flow through the box with the issue number in it. Okay - that's not fair. The zombies are ok. Are they zombies? I'm not sure. But they totally would have benefitted from some quality zombie artist - which Broderick is not. I don't know - I just don't think this is a very good cover - it feels crowded without word balloons and there's just no tension.
As to Sonja herself, I like the sword - clean, straight, definitely a working piece (not a wall hanger), no fantasy B.S. with the shape. And I like her solid, two-handed grip, it looks like it means business. I'm not sure that the handle and pommel shouldn't be visible behind her grip though, the sword grip seems shortened and that makes for poor control. Her weight is heavy in her right leg, and her left knee is almost straight - not a good ready pose, and totally giving up which way she might move. Again - zombies - so maybe they're not the most clever combatants.
Overall - yeah, there's just not a lot to endear me to this cover. It just doesn't work well, and it doesn't scream barbarian woman with a sword! I'm going to have to say - no, no chance this image parted me with my hard earned 60 cents.
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #9 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #9 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1623849006
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Owner Comments
One of the things that I really enjoy about Mary's covers is that you never have to remind yourself that RS is a badass - a big, strong, sword swinging badass. Here she's assisting some burly dude to hang on, whilst simultaneously hanging on herself by one hand. Plus that cliff face is drawn like a little bit of an overhang, and if you go rock climbing you know that's all just arm work holding them up there. That's one strong bitch. And I like that. I think the overall rendering is good - solid, if not terribly dynamic work from Mary - but that's part of the charm of her covers too. Clean lines, full backgrounds, solid compositions - a long way from the absolutely crazy compositions of Frank Thorne, and far better than her peers are doing in the current Conan books (looking at you Isherwood).
Overall? Boy I don't know. There's a lot I like about this cover as an adult, but I'm not sure there's anything there to really entice me to part with my hard earned 65 cents just based on the cover art.
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #10 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #10 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4343681023
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Owner Comments
Mary Wilshire and Art Nichols. You can really see Art's influence in this cover, it being substantially different in composition than Mary's other works. I don't know how much I like it. It's weird - Sonja's stance is too squatty, her left thigh looks far too long, and her weight doesn't appear distributed well either. The whole stance feels off. Plus - that's a LOT OF HAIR. Like Medusa of the Inhumans hair. Her grip on the sword is good, if a little stiff - and she does look ready to take care of business. Unfortunately, it looks like her business is me - and I don't want to get stabbed; but there isn't any antagonist in the image and she's making eye contact with me.
Overall? I don't know. The image is just weird, it doesn't tell me anything about the story inside, so I'm not engaged or interested in what's going on. As a result of that, I don't see this cover separating me from my hard earned 65 cents
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| Slot: |
Red Sonja v3 #12 |
| Item: |
Red Sonja v3 #12 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2761783002
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Owner Comments
Holy crap! Red Sonja & Mary Wilshire mean business. This is a pretty simple composition which focuses on Red's complete domination of some sword boy and highlights her strength. Not only is she lifting that man one-handed, left-handed, but he's armored. And let me tell you, that crap is heavy. So she's a total badass, the look on her face is complete murder and her stance is beautiful No bare midriff is needed to sell that she's strong & sexy or as feminine as she desires. The musculature in her legs really sells the stance, and her grip on her sword & backswing are perfect form for what I would teach. Very dramatic. One of the nice things about the "blue one piece swimsuit" years is how much easier it is to make Sonja stand out on a cover using color. The yellow background is perfect. And once again - no words!
Overall - 75 cents? yeah - I think this cover art does what it is supposed to. I'd totally buy this of the spinner rack for 75 cents.
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