The Super Powered Fancast

Red Sonja #17

Dynamite

Written by Amy Chu and Erik Burnham

Art by Daniel Hdr

Colors by Natalia Marques

Letters by Tom Napolitano

After Sonja’s trips through time, she has returned to a world that hardly remembers her and feels off balance as she tries to work through everything she’s experienced. When she decides to spar with an old friend, he tells her that she is not the only thing off balance, her sword is as well and recommends a blacksmith that can help re-forge the blade.

She takes him up on the offer and tracks down the smith, a man named Belo. He inquires about how she got the sword and Sonja obliges the old man with the story. As he begins work on fixing it, he tells her the tale of its origin and how it was formally in the possession of a legendary warrior of renown in the land before it was lost. The Blade of Skath, as it is called, was once the weapon of Lord Skath, a warrior so skilled that even the Cimmerians feared him. The story of his exploits impresses Sonja and there is a definite contrast between his story and hers which makes it that much more compelling.

As skeptical as Sonja is to aspects of the story, she finds it interesting enough to decide to track down the swords original owner. A plan that will take her back to Cimmeria and possibly have her cross paths with another legendary warrior from the area.

After all of the big battles and story arcs from the previous few issues, it is gratifying to present Sonja with a challenge that is a little more grounded in adventure. This issue has a nice pacing to it in both the narrative and exposition. It isn’t overblown or too much and it works really well with the great art. I am interested to see what happens next.