Writer: Christopher Hastings
Art: Pasquale Qualano, Kike J. Diaz, and Jeff Eckleberry
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Release Date: January 12th, 2022
The only thing that could be better than one Sonja is a whole multiverse of Sonja’s all getting some prime time printing at once. And here we have it! Christopher Hasting’s Hell Sonja #1 kicks off with much promise and a story foundation that, quite literally, has plenty of legs…
Building beautifully on the multiverse concept, Hell Sonja sets it’s stall out well with a perfect blend of traditional ensemble creation and darkness as Sonja’s-a-plenty: Red Sonja, Blue Sonja, Gold Sonja and Moon Sonja aim to do some damage through employing their collective unique talents and costumes. All the Sonja’s are introduced succinctly and with panache to do the bidding of Hell Sonja by keeping her fed with the most evil entities that they are dispatched across the universes to find, battle and bring to hell.
Their first foe, Hrodulf, and his own vanquished slave wizard were a little easily beaten for my liking, but when your faced with Sonja’s armed, skilled and as deadly as these you’re pretty much going straight to Hell….Sonja!
This issue is drawn, framed and lettered superbly and can be chewed up and read as a fast page turner or one to pour over. The cover art is amazing and there are a few collection worthy variants, particularly the Lucio Parrillo Limited Virgin Cover. The battle scenes lend themselves particularly well to the epic nature of the multiverse and fluidly move from ground and pound to aerial art that is enthralling. The distinct differences in the Sonja’s dress and abilities makes for much promise in issues to come and although not all the characters had quite the impact in character development of Red and Gold Sonja’s, they certainly weren’t just making up the numbers.
Verdict
A solid first issue that holds up well to the Vampirella and Vampi-verse comics that Dynamite are consistently smashing out of the park.Â
Reviewed by Taz Maz
