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| Slot: |
Classic Cover!
BWS for the win. |
| Item Description: |
Conan the Barbarian 24 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
"The Song of Red Sonja" Hey - what a unique title idea: no exclamation point. This is THE issue right? I know #1 is the first appearance of Conan & Kull, but really we're all about redheads with swords, amirite? Well, for me anyway. Heckers, I even married a redheaded swordswoman. Once again I am overwhelmed by the artistry that went into this cover - by now BWS knows this is the last Conan cover he's producing, and he's totally not mailing it in. The focus is on the use of color to make our protagonists stand out in this chaotic melee. Where are we? Inside a pub? That makes sense - very Conan, and we've picked a fight. The colors inside the pub make sense, and they're nice warm colors not cold & grey; there's bodies everywhere providing a sense of urgency and just so much inking detail that you can get lost visually in nearly any corner of the image marveling (haha) at the mastery of the inking. Yet our focus is totally on Conan & Sonja due to the use of color. Not even Conan really - it's Sonja's maille hauberk that is the total focus of this image. That's right the barbarian wench is wearing armor. But it's just here - she'll next appear on the cover of Savage Sword of Conan #1 in her chain bikini. Sad. That aside - she looks like she means business, and her business is death and destruction on a stick; standing on a corpse, wielding a dagger inverted in her right hand and swinging southpaw with a sword. Looking at it, it might be a little small for her - but hey - it's her first cover. So the hauberk, the shirt of maille, I know it looks like she shouldn't be able to get it over her head, but they can have a slot in the back or front that ties shut after it is pulled over the head, offering protection to the collarbone area. The only think I don't like about her armor is the large sleeve opening. If you have never worn a shirt of maille, you have no idea how heavy that is flopping around on the end of your arm every damn time you swing your sword. Its terrible and it will throw you completely off-balance. Not a win. Conan looks like his typical bada$$ self - he's got the big swing and follow through happening and once again, he's clearly using his hips to make a powerful swing.
Overall - who am I fooling - this might be one of the best 10 covers ever drawn.
Absolutely masterful.
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| Slot: |
The Birth of the Chain Maille Bikini.
Vallejo? More like Valle-NO. |
| Item Description: |
Savage Sword of Conan 1 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Boris! And the first appearance of the famous maille bikini. Although in truth this one is more scales than rings. I'm going to go out on a limb here and just be honest. I'm just not a big Boris fan. I don't know, it just never clicked with me as a viewer. Like, why do the undead hordes have blood? Right? There's blood spraying from the neck of the dead-guy Conan just hit, as well as blood on both Conan & Sonja's blades. I can attest to it not being old blood, blood turns steel black really fast. Conan's whipping about a single edged blade, but the swing is all wrong for where his arm & his victim are located, and he's got a shield (an improvement really) but his hand extends beyond the edge of the shield - you know what that's called? Not having a hand to wipe with next week. Just a dumb way to expose yourself. I don't know what the hell is going on with Sonja's pose - but if both feet are pointing forward and her knees are both bent in that weird twisty position, she's going down hard. One good yank from axe boy and her top-heavy a$$ is in the dirt and probably dead. Really the two of them look incompetent, where they are supposed to be the badassess of all barbarian time.
Overall - you want a dollar based on this image? How about no.
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| Slot: |
I don't want a nap.
Gil Kane with Adkins |
| Item Description: |
Conan the Barbarian 43 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
"Tower of Blood!" If this is really featuring the long awaited return of Red Sonja - why would you show her unconscious in the background? Does this help sell Red Sonja as a badass? This is Sonja's third total cover appearance, and this is what she gets? She goes from what should be a classic over on Conan 24, to the introduction of the chain maille bikini on Savage Sword of Conan 1, to this, whatever this is, by Gil Kane. Just no. You want to know what's more insulting? this isn't even Sonja's worst Marvel comics cover appearance. Let's look at what we do have for a cover - well, we have a frightened Conan viewed the the crotch of whatever it is he's afeared of and behind Conan we have a pile of bones with an Sonja's body draped over them. All Conan has for a weapon is a broken piece of bone - which should be fine - he's Conan, who are we trying to fool with the scaredy-cat look on his face anyway? Conan's in a deep crouch, with a wide stance and one hand down for balance on the bone-strewn floor - and I'm down with that. That makes sense. The monster appears to have really long arms, so staying low and between the monsters shoulders and Sonja's prone body works as a defensive position. The rest of the image is pretty straightforward, we're in some sort of pit, we don't have our weapons, and the monster is looking for some chow. Obviously we have been dumped here since we don't have any weapons.
Overall? I don't know - it's hard to sell the return of a character with them snoozing in the background. Maybe I would not have picked this up from the spinner rack based on the cover.
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| Slot: |
Crusty Bunkers? Leap of Faith.
Buscema. |
| Item Description: |
Conan the Barbarian 44 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
"The Fiend and the Flame!" and there's some demand for this issue because *maybe* Neal Adams did some minor inking on the cover under Crusty Bunkers. Then again - maybe not so much, and if he did, he didn't help the rendering of the cover at all. You know - Red Sonja and Conan standing on a giant skull amidst a field of flames sounds like it should be the coolest cover image ever, and sadly it just isn't. It's not terrible (gods that's a low bar) for a Marvel cover with Red Sonja in it, but damn. As I will surely say again elsewhere, warm backgrounds, particularly bright yellow backgrounds are very difficult to do well. This is better than some, but still not great. The skull - looks weird to me - almost as if it was drawn by a completely different artist. It clashes with the style of the remainder of the cover art. Conan is featuring that weird growly face that Buscema loves so much and that's fine - that's his style, it just always looks weird to me. But Conan's footwork and legs - what is that? It's so bad that without the loincloth hanging in front of his back leg - you couldn't convince me his right leg was the forward leg. And with his left toe turned in like that and his weight on his feet, can we discuss the fact that Conan isn't typically depicted as neutered? That footwork is about to be really uncomfortable. Moving to Sonja. Ahh, Sonja, my sweet, sweet swordswoman - what has he done to your face? And more importantly - as Conan's equal in skill with swords - WHY DO YOU HAVE ZERO MUSCLE TONE? You poor thing - did they lock you up for 16 months and not let you do burpees in your cell? The contrast here just appalls me and you just know it is intentional. Ugh. I gotta stop writing about this - it's making me upset.
Overall? I was 9 when this came out and deep in my Conan paperback reading years - so maybe for the skull on the cover, I would have picked this up based on the cover image. But maybe not.
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| Slot: |
ORIGIN!
Woeful Whelan Work. |
| Item Description: |
Kull and the Barbarians 3 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Last issue. I can't imagine why - OK maybe I can. So, I'm about to say some really, really bad things about the cover of a book that contains an exceptionally awesome story - the origin of Red Sonja, and undervalued key. Look I love Red Sonja, and I really dig Conan. But Kull just never hit that sweet spot for me and Solomon Kane is just not fun a fun read. I don't get the attraction. That's cool though - every book doesn't have to be for every reader. Just like art. And speaking of art - let's consider this travesty of a cover. How the hell did Whelan go from the cover of issue two, with the light colors and the skull in the sky TO this dark and hard to read cover? It's just a cluttered mess with no flow to the image. And the protagonists are backlit. Now - I appreciate that is difficult to do - to have a warmer color in the background and not have it look weird - but Whelan totally fails at the challenge in this cover image. Looking at Sonja - which is the reason I have this book - what the hell? Based on how her fingers are painted, she his gripping that weapon so it is twisted 90 degrees in her hand - is she going to swat somebody with the flat of the weapon? Two handed? and if so, where'd the damn blood come from? Then as she's advancing - charging into the fray - she's crossing her feet? Her footwork is atrocious. This is not a badass swordswoman. This is an inept tyro. And her leading arm? What's with that? It is as if her arm is resting on top of her boob-armor. News flash here boys and girls - maille armor is flexible, and oddly - so are boobs. So as long as she's not wearing a super-structure underwire bra beneath her maille, her leading arm should mush her boob out of the way a fair bit. And while that wouldn't help her grip, it would do something about how weird her right arm looks. Taking a quick review of Kull (I'm not wasting my words on Solomon) - that's about the worst position he could be in while charging forward. His shoulders are closed, his heavy axe in front of him, and then his hips are tight and his feet close together. That makes you easy to tip over - not the position of an experienced axe man.
Overall? I guess we know now why this was the last issue. No chance I'm spending my hard earned dollar on this.
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| Slot: |
Going solo!
Kane's back, with Romita |
| Item Description: |
Marvel Feature 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Woohoo! Look at me! I have my own comic. Here, in only my ninth appearance - my fist solo appearance. Glad I got the same kind of traction as Kull. Oh wait, Kull's name is in the actual title of the book and Kull the Conqueror 1 is like his third appearance. At least I'm not Thongorr. Oh wait, he got his tryout series two years ago. And it was eight issues long. (ok - secretly I like Thongorr too - I'm picking on his 8 issue tryout in Creatures on the Loose; it's good stuff).
Let's take a look at this cover - it's a special one, most of the RS covers are by Frank Thorne, but not this one. Gil Kane & John Romita teamed up to create this image. We've got a pretty solid ant's eye view of Sonja leaping, I say leaping, into the fray; we've got a knock off Skeletor from the Spirit Halloween Store (occupying a former box retailer near you now!), a definite snake on the right, and a thing that looks like a snake on LSD on the left; and some sexless, cloven hooved, ape men? I guess. There's a damn lot going on here. I can't really say much about Sonja's stance, since she's surrendered any leverage of footwork in exchange for a mighty jump from the temple doorway high above into the ape men. One of them has clearly lost the battle trying to maintain his huge upper torso balanced on his wee tiny hooves and has fallen backward. The other two - one looks like they're trying to catch Sonja and the other is making the most ineffectual use of a spear of some sort. Try stabbing. It's a stabby weapon. Which can be braced against the ground even, if you duck your big, dumb head down. Although...I do have to admit, that Sonja's use of her sword at the moment wouldn't exactly inspire fear in my little simian brain. It's just in a really awkward position over her head with her elbow at a weird angle. Anyway - if she's leaping, she should be leaping beside her target of choice and swinging to intersect the soft tissue of the neck in the sweet part of her sword arc. I'm not sure what she's doing with her dagger either - in that hand the point should be directed right at the snake (not the LSD snake) to prevent it from striking. Really it's her best choice to make the snake work around the point to get at her. Like rapier work.
Overall, there's just so much going on in this image - but it does convey a sense of motion and a sense of urgency. Partly from the temple in the background being canted one direction and the line of the spearhead through Sonja's head being canted the other. Of course the word balloons are totally unnecessary to convey the image and should never have been added. The same is true for the "First Issue" blurb - no, really, it's 1975, we can see the actual issue number in the corner. It's a 1. Remove these two word boxes - and yeah - maybe it's a pretty good cover image.
And maybe that's enough to separate me from my hard earned cash.
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| Slot: |
I got a pony!
Thorne covers start! |
| Item Description: |
Marvel Feature 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
OK - let's talk about how you ruin a super-fun cover image with a word box. Really? No part of that word box is needed at all. Who in 1975 is looking at this cover and asking "Is this Stalker? - I thought it might be Rima, the Jungle Girl"
Well, this is a Frank Thorne cover with passion. Look at that horse - what a beauty; leaping, snarling, with that gorgeous bit & bridle. It looks like Sonja needs to fend off about a half dozen cave men - which should be easy given the advantage of having a horse - they look pretty incompetent and they have even less armor than Sonja does. We've got kind of a classic Thorne background - it doesn't depict anything, but there is color and shapes - this looks like blue lightning on a black field. Maybe it's supposed to imply a storm? Doesn't matter - the location of the fight isn't the focus of the image - the horse is.
Let's look at Sonja - okay - the last time I leaned that far out of my saddle with a weapon in my hand and attempted to swing it, I turned myself into a dirt-dart. Dented my helmet & bruised my face. I'm just not going to spend any time at all on her seat in the saddle. But, I do like that even on horseback Sonja has her heavier weapon in her primary hand. And it looks like maybe there will be an upswing with it, which would be correct. Torqueing her entire torso to get her secondary weapon on the same side of the horse's head, on the other hand, is a free trip to the medic's tent. Keep it on the other side where it belongs - or better yet - keep that hand on the reins.
Overall - I gotta love it - it's just sweet. Such a beautiful sense of movement, focus, energy. Yeah, I totally would have blown my hard earned quarter on this beauty if I saw it on the spinner rack
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| Slot: |
Chain me up!
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Marvel Feature 3 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
Sweet - Sonja's all chained up. The book isn't noted as a 'bondage cover' - I assume because one of her ankles is free. Seriously though - as much as I do like CGC - their label notations are all over the place. Ignoring that - because we have a lot of other great stuff to consider - like why is only one of her ankles bound? That seems like a weird choice. And why are her chains so long? And why does she have a dagger in the sheath on her thigh (this is a recurring issue - see Red Sonja Volume 1) and have a dagger in her hand? Where, exactly, did she hide another dagger in that armor? Why is there a word balloon in the bloody middle of this beautiful (if nonsensical) composition? At least the text boxes are gone from previous issues. Balek, the Behemoth is pretty cool looking - hell, he's even got a robot arm on one side, plus he's wearing this supercool looking traditional Magyar outfit. I think. Looks like it to me anyway. He's kind of pathetic though - he's huge and he's cool looking - but he still needs his prey in a cave, chained to a giant rock. Even the Rancor didn't need his prey chained up. I guess the Rancor lost though. I mean, not that Balek is going to win - but we're supposed to believe he's capable of winning on the cover anyway. Finally we have the dude who is responsible for all the word balloons. I want to shoot him just for that crime, but really he looks pretty good. He's got a solid creepy looking dude vibe. Almost Wrightson-esque. Maybe that's what Frank was channeling the day he drew this - a little Bernie action. Lets take a quick look at Sonja. Yeah - her weight is too far back - particularly her shoulders, and that's gotta be hard to do with those giant assets on her chest weighing her down the other direction; and then she's up on her toes? Nope. Wrong. Unbalanced. Certainly not throwing a convincing backhanded blow with that sword with her weight that far back. I'm just not convinced from this cover that she has a clue what she's doing. But it's still a fun cover.
Overall - yeah - this is nice. Sonja stands out with her light skin tone against the blackness of the cave. And Balek is pretty cool. I think that Frank would have separated me from my quarter to take this home and add it to my collection. And at the end of the day - that's what the cover art is supposed to do.
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| Slot: |
Is my hair on fire?
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Marvel Feature 4 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.8 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
So...every so often there's a cover that would just be better if it was less. This cover could be so much better if it was less - less 100% of whatever the blue thing is going on in the background. I mean what is going on? It's a face, surrounded by shadows? like it's in a cowl? Is that what you see? Because. I. Don't. Know. But then it has snakes coming out all the way around like it's a medusa. But if that's a medusa, where the hell are all the deep shadows coming from? But eliminate that silliness. Hell, you can even keep the word balloons, which really serve no purpose. But eliminate the blue. Look at how awesome her hair is colored. The colorist knocked it out of the park - so "the demon with the flame colored hair." Sonja has this weird looking fantasy spear in her hand, which from a practical standpoint is kinda silly, but has some sweet details - unfortunately they're lost in the mess of blue lines behind. Very disappointing. But the rest of this; the stance, the dude clinging to her calf, the pile of bodies and weapons, even the random skelly, they all have great detail and look like a serious Red Sonja battle aftermath. Her stance is solid, with some weight back on the planted spear and her torso twisted to thrust the axe in the air, and that's pretty sweet too. For some reason, in addition to having a weapon in each hand, she also has a sword in a scabbard on her belt and a dagger sheathed to her thigh. In a moment of true cool artistic license - they're both curved blades. You know - like the kind nobody ever draws her using in the cover art. That totally makes zero sense - but that's ok, I'm sure we'll see that again before we're done with this run, and the three Red Sonja runs.
Overall - I just don't know. I mean, the cover is pretty and all, but it doesn't really tell a story to me. I'm not so sure this would have enticed me to part with 25 cents to take it home. Maybe - just maybe - I would have flipped through it quickly and put it back on the spinner rack. Certainly if it was the 30 cent price variant, I would have passed. A nickel was kind of a lot to me back then.
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| Slot: |
Unbearable.
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Marvel Feature 5 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
"The Bear-God Stalks the Night!" Now here we have a sweet piece by Frank. No word balloons, no text boxes except the title in the lower right corner. All in all a pretty solid start. And we have a Bear-God tangled with vines for some reason reaching out for Sonja and about to get a massive face full of backhand. That sword is cocked and ready. Sonja's footing looks good, her wind up, including her hips, looks like a real swing with a sword, and her dagger position is solid. The Bear-God looks like a badass, with some substantial claw action going on. The rain sets the scene. Really this is a solid, tension-filled composition and I like it.
Overall - this is one of the best of Frank's covers and I totally would've wasted my hard earned quarter to take this home from the spinner rack.
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| Slot: |
Lunch is served.
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Marvel Feature 6 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
"Beware the Sons of the Serpent God!" What an odd book to be difficult to find in high grade. I guess the people that own a copy don't really want to part with it. And looking at the cover, I can understand why. The Sons of the Serpent God are true Frank Thorne creations - with all the weird little squiggles and bits that make up Thorne's beasties. And Sonja - Sonja looks as good as she does on any cover - strong, competent, busty - but ready to throw down in the true RS fashion. I think if someone removed the text box and the word balloons, this might be the best of the 70s Red Sonja covers (excluding Conan 24) - certainly it is a toss up between this and Earl Norem's masterpiece on Savage Sword of Conan 23. This is just beautiful, and as much as I love Brunner's work, probably better than any of the other Frank's RS covers.
Taking a moment to look at Sonja's stance and weapons - she looks like a fighter. Her dagger is ready to stab or parry and the sword is properly indexed for a brutal swing at the beastie coming up from below. Her stance looks a little low, but not bad, and definitely balanced - all while still providing a dynamic image for the cover.
Overall? Damn, this is a fine looking book, and one I am happy to have in my collection.
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| Slot: |
A visit with Conan.
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Marvel Feature 7 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
The final issue and an excellent cover clash between Red Sonja and Conan on the cover. This is peak Thorne art - and this might be my favorite of the short run. Skulls and spiders and the weird ibis headed guy - total Thorne awesome, and it really sets the scene. Look at our couple on the cover, their legs intertwined. That seems weird, but it is totally something that happens mid-combat. More than you'd think. I really like that Frank's got Conan committed to that two handed stop block on Sonja's overhead strike - it implies that her strike is strong enough that he has to give it his full attention, a fierce blow, if you will. I don't like that he's got the dagger in her off-hand as if she's going to overhand stab with it, it's just not a good move - but she's in that post to show off her body to the viewer, not to strike effectively, right? Really the blade should be low, held in a cupped hand, and being quietly thrust into Conan's liver or kidney or whatever is on his right, low on his torso. Particularly since he's looking at the sword blow and not the off hand.
Their footing looks terrible - which matches the uneven ground that they stand on and Conan seems off balance, with his weight in his heels - although that could be reacting the the strong sword strike. Sonja, on the other hand, looks pretty well in balance, although her right hip seems a little forced particularly if she's supposed to be pushing Conan back with the strength of her strike.
Overall - yeah man - we got both Conan & Sonja on the cover together, which hasn't happened since Kull & the Barbarians 3 and that awful cover by Michael Whelan, and it is one sweet cover - so yeah - This one is 100% worth the 30 cents based on the cover art alone
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| Slot: |
For Mark.
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Red Sonja 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
What the absolute hell is going on in this cover image?!? Seriously. Did someone say - hey Frank, do you think you can show everything that Sonja is going to fight over the first 5 issues on the cover of issue #1 and include a throwback to Conan #1? We've got a severed dragon-snake thing, a death-icorn, some weird looking goblin, a dead spider, a wizard Harry (Thulsa Doom, I hope), is the yellow supposed to look like flames? with green smoke? I am entirely unsure. I'm really bothered by the dragon-snake's tongue too; like it should be hanging limp if the creature is severed in two. And my brain just can't process the idea of the danger-unicorn of death. I don't know what it is or why it is. I feel a little like Drax "Why is danger-unicorn?"
Sonja - so...yeah, Frank buddy - I appreciate you have hopes and dreams here, but those breasts are going to murder her - shrink them a little bit. Funny thing - having taught female swordswingers, THEY GET IN THE WAY, and they throw you off balance. So...I'm actually ok with how she's holding the sword - the grip itself is correct, maybe a little too tight - you're not strangling it. I hate that her elbow is locked though, there should be a little bend in it, even with her sword fully raised. And that dagger on her hip. It's so tiny - far too small - like silly small, I'm not sure her hand would even fit in the grip.
And finally - a word balloon. Yeah, I loathe them - they're so dumb most of the time. But - for this issue, I'm going to give a pass; why? Because it is an exact throwback to the cover of Conan #1, where he has the same line. Frank's no BWS, but the word balloon is a nice touch.
I think really - really, really - the only thing this cover has going for it, is the use of color. Even with all the weird elements trying to be tied together in a single cover image, the color - the flesh & the sweep of magnificent red hair, against the black & blue background really makes Sonja jump off the cover.
Overall - is it good? No. But it isn't terrible either. Would it have separated me from my hard earned 30 cents? Well, I was 12, so with that rack front and center - yeah probably. 12 year old boys are kinda single-minded.
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| Slot: |
Whip it good!
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Red Sonja 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
"The Demon in the Maze!" Okay - before I get into a long dissertation on the cover itself, can we have a discussion about the absolute most moronic word bubbles? Right? Over my dead body? That's the point. "Kill her" means you'll be dead. Okay maybe, just maybe, someone knew about this moronitude and clipped it for the Thor/Stormbringer scene - but I doubt it, and I don't see this being played for laughs. Editors - can't live with them, can't eat them for dinner.
I gotta say, the demon is pretty neat looking. Except the weird word blurb on his ass. But green and bulgy, and kinda gross - big tail, massive hands - and you know what they say about a demon with big hands, right? Anyway, Frank's done a sweet job of making this mostly faceless creature look like a threat. In the background, outside of the maze that has walls so short I could climb out of it and I'm short & fat, we've got ourselves a bad guy in rather classic Persian clothing - he looks like an evil sorcerer, if a fat one, and he's got himself another demon monster on his right and a griffon maybe on his left. So perhaps I was a little hasty on my chances of climbing out. Probably bite my hand off when I tried. I have to admit, I'm just not sold on the whip. Just like it's one thing too much. But it is well rendered. Colors are strong, and there is a lot of pattern built in to the wall of the maze, the sorcerer's garb, and the floor of the maze (are those eyeballs? - freaky weird) - and that feels right. Very in the style and flavor of the realm.
Now, Sonja. Seriously? What the hell are you supposed to be doing in that pose? Your knees should be bent deeper, lowering your center and your arms are flailing about stupidly - you're gonna die, ok? The light on the sword shows it to be twisted to the rear in her grip - it's all wrong, and she's got a weak-ass grip on the sword. Plus she's wearing that dumb-ass curved knife that is smaller than her hand again. Frank - you're better than this. It is nice to see Sonja in her shoulder armor. It's more noticeable later in the Loprestri covers for Dynamite, but you can see it here too.
Overall - I'm going to have to say the cover is more win than not. Although it has it's issues. Ha! Issues on an issue. I'd have to say it's pretty likely that this cover would separate me from my hard earned thirty cents.
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| Slot: |
Spiderwoman!
Thorne. |
| Item Description: |
Red Sonja 3 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Research: |
View Comic |
Owner Comments
"Web of the Spider Queen!" Sure - Conan gets a Spider God (issue 13), but Sonja only gets a Spider-Queen/sorceress/shapeshifter. I don't know who decided that this cover needed word balloons, but they deserve to be drawn & quartered. Remove them, look just at the magnificent image of the sorceress shifting into a giant spider and tell me you can't figure out the story antagonist from just the image. Someone really undermined Frank on this one - the art was just about perfect all by itself. I am really enamored of how the sorceress is shifting - merging - blending into the giant spider. That part of the image might be absolutely perfect. And the spider itself is fricken' awesome - totally not a real spider, but totally Conanesque; garish colors, huge fangs, gleaming eyes - oh yeah. Also - big fan, of the way a couple of the legs wrap around Sonja, creating a sense of circular flow to the cover - those legs wrap down and right, then the eye follows the line of the merging sorceress up, follows the swoople from the sword to the left, and then comes down the fringed edge of the curtain.
As for Sonja herself? Well, she is holding the sword in a weird overlapping grip that you would only see from a beginner; her left hand should be below the right had on the sword hilt for power & control. It isn't quite enough to really annoy me - but it is wrong for an experienced swordswoman.
Overall - I just hate word balloons, and unlike issue 1 these don't get a pass - but I think if they were deleted, this would be an awesome cover. Since I am stuck with the words of dumbness - I'm going to say this is ok. Probably it would still come off the spinner rack and into my personal collection based on the cover.
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