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The last son of the Sultan of Turan, Ashim, is missing. Sonja and Bloodless team up to find him, but their reasons are very different from one another.
Creative Team: Luke Lieberman (Writer), Alberto Locatelli (Artist and Colorist), and Dave Sharpe (Letterer)
RED SONJA: DEATH AND THE DEVIL Published by Dynamite Entertainment
THE STORY
Luke Lieberman has provided readers with an interesting situation as he shows what happens in the aftermath of the death of a leader, no matter how evil they may be, and what happens to fill that power vacuum. Red Sonja is always on a mission to tear down evil people from their oppressive towers, but she’s not always in the planning stages of what happens afterwards until now. She’s on a mission to find Ashim, the Sultan’s bastard son, before he is corrupted by the Sons of Set.
The interesting thing is Ashim isn’t as innocent as he may appear, or at the very least he’s not as easy to corrupt in the means in which the Sons of Set think he’ll be. Ashim takes an opportunity to save a young virgin woman from being sacrificed to Set, but in his own means to “help” her, his lust takes over. The question arises to the reader, what happens when Sonja finds him and realizes he’s already corrupted, possibly by just being the Sultan’s flesh and blood.
Lieberman gives readers an interesting insight to the world and to the situation with Bloodless, who is just as deadly of a killer as anyone Sonja has come into contact with. She may not know his true intentions, but Sonja doesn’t trust him any further than she can throw him. There’s a fun banter between the two characters throughout this issue, not in a flirty way, but more sizing one another up for a fight that is sure to come at some point.
THE ART
The art by Alberto Locatelli in this issue is solid. There is a craftsmanship with it that shows a strong understanding of character movement and panel structure that helps move a story from page to page just by following the story the art is telling. The coloring in this issue is amazing from Locatelli, which is what boosts the art style. There’s not a lot of detail with the linework, but that’s where the coloring adds that extra level. Being the artist and colorist allows you to know where less is more and where there’s room to blow something up with one skill set or the other.
Dave Sharpe rounds out this issue with his amazing lettering. Sharpe is a veteran letterer, and readers should always feel good seeing his name on a comic book. Sharpe is given a lot of opportunity to play in this issue with a variety of types of speech with the living and the dead, as well as Bloodless’s own dialogue both inner and out loud. Solid work as always.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Red Sonja: Death and the Devil #2 is a solid issue in this miniseries that progresses the story along at a good pace and provides readers more insight to all of the players in this larger story. No one feels left to the wayside or as a background character. There’s a lot going on and this team puts it all on the page for readers to enjoy.
RATING – 8 out of 10
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