Broken Frontier

Sonja continues to learn about herself along the River Styx. This time she sees what her life might have been.

You have to give Dynamite Entertainment credit for crafting an interesting premise for the venerable character of Red Sonja. After the events of the previous story arc Sonja has been left dead and allowed to travel down the River Styx getting glimpses of her past and, in this case, a life that might have been. Each issue has a different creative team and a story that stands well on its own, done-in-one but still contributing to the overarching theme of Sonja’s journey in the afterlife. In this issue, writer Joshua Ortega gets to go into "what if" territory and prove that even imaginary tales can give insight into a character.

As Sonja and Charon continue their journey, Charon gives Sonja a chance to see what her life might have been like if her childhood had not been ripped from her so violently. Even without tragedy it would seem Sonja is destined to become a powerful warrior but does she fight for good or evil this time? The potential life spun out for Sonja is a very different and shocking one but what will Sonja carry away from seeing this?

Most imaginary stories in comics are told strictly for entertainment purposes – not that there is anything wrong with that – but when you finish the story nothing has changed and the mainstream characters remain unaffected. Ortega manages to do something entirely different here by telling an imaginary story but one that the mainstream character is allowed to witness. There is a potential for change from this as Ortega has Sonja consider what she has seen and what meaning may be gleaned from it.

Art this issue is provided by Fabiano Neves and he takes the opportunity and runs with it. His style is realistic, lush, sensual and horrific by turns. His figures are graceful and lyrical and when they turn to violence it makes the result all the more shocking.

Red Sonja has proved to be a daring title, taking the opportunity of a character’s death to more deeply explore who that character is and what she represents. If you think you know Red Sonja, think again. Ortega and others are proving that the character is more than she seems and certainly there is more to come before Sonja and Charon finish their journey.