An Unauthorized Exploration of Red Sonja
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RED SONJA and the ARTISTS WHO BROUGHT HER TO LIFE RED SONJA and the ARTISTS OF SWORDS: AN UNAUTHORIZED EXPLORATION DRAWN ince her debut in Marvel’s Conan the SBarbarian during the early years of the Bronze Age of Comics, Red Sonja, the scarlet-maned She-Devil with a Sword, has gone on to become the undisputed queen of sword and sorcery. She has hacked and slashed her way through more than 300 comic books to date—a number which continues to grow in the pages of Dynamite Entertainment’s various series. Here we MATTHEW STEPHEN SUNRICH MATTHEW explore her adventures and how they relate to other comics, as well as novels, television programs, and fi lms, and examine the work of the myriad artists whose pens and pencils gave her the breath of life. www.hassleinbooks.com Red Sonja©™ is the intellectual property of Luke D. Lieberman and Red Sonja LLC. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. Drawn Swords: An Unauthorized Exploration of Red Sonja and the Artists Who Brought Her to Life is a scholarly source-work that has not been licensed or authorized by any person or entity associated with Luke D. Lieberman and Red Sonja LLC. Drawn Swords: An Unauthorized Exploration of Red Sonja and the Artists Who Brought Her to Life By Matthew Stephen Sunrich Drawn Swords: An Unauthorized Exploration of Red Sonja and the Artists Who Brought Her to Life Copyright © 2017 Matthew Stephen Sunrich. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Red Sonja©™ is the intellectual property of Luke D. Lieberman and Red Sonja LLC. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. Drawn Swords: An Unauthorized Exploration of Red Sonja and the Artists Who Brought Her to Life is a scholarly source-work that has not been licensed or authorized by any person or entity associated with Luke D. Lieberman and Red Sonja LLC. Author: Matthew Stephen Sunrich Foreword: Nancy A. Collins Editor: Rich Handley Layout and Design: Paul C. Giachetti Cover Photo: Andrew Dobell (www.creativeedgestudios.co.uk) Cover Model: Tabitha Lyons ISBN-13: 978-0-692-90328-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data First Edition: June 2017 Hasslein Publishing (hassleinbooks.com) is an independent New York-based publisher co-founded by Rich Handley and Paul C. Giachetti. Visit us on Facebook (facebook.com/hassleinbooks), Twitter (twitter.com/hassleinbooks), and our blog (hassleinbooks.blogspot.com) to stay informed regarding all upcoming projects. Contents Foreword, by Nancy A. Collins .......................................................vii Introduction, by Matthew Stephen Sunrich .................................... ix I: The Beginning ........................................................................ 1 II: Forging Ahead ..................................................................... 11 III: Further Developments .......................................................... 23 IV: Going Solo ........................................................................... 31 V: Frank Thorne ........................................................................ 45 VI: The End of an Era ................................................................. 77 VII: Cross Plains ........................................................................ 101 VIII: Dynamite Phase One .......................................................... 107 IX: Dynamite Phase Two .......................................................... 133 X: Queen Sonja ....................................................................... 159 XI: Savage Tales, Annuals, One-Shots, Giant-Size, and Special Editions ......................................... 179 XII: Miniseries ........................................................................... 223 XIII: Crossovers .......................................................................... 255 XIV: Dynamite Phase Three ....................................................... 281 XV: Dynamite Phase Four ......................................................... 299 References ................................................................................... 305 About the Author/Hasslein Books ............................................... 307 v I: The Beginning I n January 1934, The Magic Carpet Magazine published a historical Iadventure story by prolific pulp-fiction writer Robert E. Howard called “The Shadow of the Vulture.” Set in sixteenth-century Vienna, it features the swashbuckling, fiery- maned Red Sonya of Rogatino, who wages battle against a corrupt sultan (is there any other kind?). It was probably just another story to Howard, who wrote in every conceivable genre: horror, sports, sword and sorcery, planetary romance, western, you name it. He cashed the check and moved on to the next thing. During the Great Depression, almost everyone was struggling financially, but Howard, unlike many of his contemporaries, including the controversial and perpetually broke but highly influential H. P. Lovecraft, managed to make a decent living as a writer. For those of you who haven’t already guessed, Howard is the creator of Conan the Cimmerian, perhaps the most iconic character in American fantasy. He came up with Conan two years before “Shadow” was printed and had already seen six stories starring the character published in the pages of Weird Tales, the era’s leading magazine of the literary genres that would later be termed horror and fantasy. The fact that Howard wrote so many Conan stories during his short life (he committed suicide in 1936 at the age of 30 for reasons that are shrouded in mystery) suggests that he had an affinity for the character, even greater than the one he had had for Kull of Atlantis (the first Conan story, “The Phoenix on the Sword,” was actually a reworked Kull story that had been rejected). Jump ahead almost forty years. Conan, and sword and sorcery in general, had seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to the proliferation of paperback reprints of Howard’s original stories, as 1 Conan the Barbarian #24 Barry Smith 2 well as new ones (referred to as “pastiches”) by authors such as L. I Sprague de Camp, with resplendent painted covers by Frank Frazetta. Marvel Comics, looking to cash in on the craze, had managed to secure a license to Conan in 1970 and had been publishing Conan the Barbarian for nearly two years when Roy Thomas, the series’ writer and editor, decided that he’d like to introduce a female character into the book, one who could hold her own against the Cimmerian. Only two warrior-women appear in Howard’s original Conan stories (Belit from “Queen of the Black Coast” and Valeria from “Red Nails”), and neither of them could be used lest the established chronology be undermined. Thus, a fresh character was required. Thomas recounts: So I decided I needed a new heroine—one I could do anything with, because there were no prose stories in the Conan paperbacks that would conflict with what I might have her do—and I wanted her to be a redhead, primarily to make her different in one more visual way from Belit and Valeria. (“A Fond Look Back at Big Red”) Inspired by an oblique reference in an article published in a Conan fanzine, Thomas obtained a copy of “Shadow” from the Robert E. Howard estate and—agreeing with the article’s assertion that, were they to occupy the same universe, she would make an excellent match for Conan—decided to re-envision Red Sonya as a warrior of Conan’s Hyborian Age. He changed the “y” in her name to a “j” so that Howard’s original character would not cease to exist, as it were, and so that the new character would be, in the writer’s words, “a blank slate.” Thomas determined a way to incorporate the plot of “Shadow” into the then-current storyline and planned for Sonja to make her debut in issue #22. Due to deadline problems (fairly common at the time), however, that issue’s cover sported the words “Shadow of the Vulture” but featured a reprint of the title’s first issue. (Comic fans might recall a similar situation with Ghost Rider #10, which promised 3 I a battle between Ghost Rider and the Hulk but delivered a reprint of Marvel Spotlight #5.) When readers picked up Conan the Barbarian #23 the following month, they most likely had no idea what they held in their hands. Sonja does not appear on the cover, and there is no indication that she will be introduced inside. In fact, she doesn’t show up until halfway through the issue. When she does appear, though, she makes a dramatic entrance and instantly becomes the desire of every male in the vicinity. Readers do not have to be familiar with previous stories to understand this one, as vital plot points are repeated, and it’s not terribly difficult to figure out what’s going on. Conan, after all, is almost always on someone’s bad side, often some foolish ruler or military officer who seeks revenge, and such is certainly the case here. The “Vulture” in question is a man named Mikhal Oglu, the “finest bladesman in all of Turan,” who has been tasked with taking Conan’s head by the unfortunately named Prince Yezdigerd, besieger of the city of Makkalet. Having convinced the king of Pah-Dishah to send troops to the city, Conan takes refuge in an out-of-the-way village but finds his respite cut short when Oglu and his men appear. The Cimmerian escapes and heads back to Makkalet, despite his better judgment. Unfortunately, Turanian soldiers spot him and pursue,