Set Description:
More appropriately titled as "Red Sonja Vol. 0.5", Marvel Feature Vol. 2 was effectively a try-out series for a Red Sonja helmed book. As many of you already know, I do love me some redheaded swordswomen - I married one.
I also digs swords & axes & armor and weird beasties - as well as comic books. This should be a fun ride.
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| Slot: |
Marvel Feature 1 |
| Item: |
Marvel Feature 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1399013002
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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: |
Marvel Feature 2 |
| Item: |
Marvel Feature 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1486014019
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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: |
Marvel Feature 3 |
| Item: |
Marvel Feature 3 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2098320001
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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: |
Marvel Feature 4 |
| Item: |
Marvel Feature 4 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2091220021
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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: |
Marvel Feature 5 |
| Item: |
Marvel Feature 5 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3724317004
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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: |
Marvel Feature 6 |
| Item: |
Marvel Feature 6 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3975335004
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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: |
Marvel Feature 7 |
| Item: |
Marvel Feature 7 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3815827005
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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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