Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt from 1995, Marvel's final Red Sonja comic
Red Sonja has headlined three volumes of a Red Sonja comic series, in addition to one volume of Marvel Feature. The character has also had numerous guest appearances in other Marvel Comics titles.
Red Sonja's first appearances in any Marvel comic were in Conan the Barbarian #23-24, and she continued to appear intermittently in that title through issue #250, typically fighting alongside Conan. Read more and see a cover gallery on the Conan the Barbarian article!
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Kull and the Barbarians #3, from 1975
Marvel Comics Super Special #9 from 1978
Conan the King #28 from 1985
"Conan: The Ravagers Out of Time" (Marvel Graphic Novel #73) from 1992
The series King Conan (later retitled Conan the King) ran concurrently with Conan the Barbarian from 1980-1989 with 55 issues published. Red Sonja appears on pin-up pages within issues 5-7 and in the story of issue #28.
In the 1970s, Marvel also published magazines under an imprint called Curtis Magazines. Content in these titles was not subject to the comic industry's Comics Code Authority rules and thus could feature profanity, partial nudity and more graphic violence. Each issue included multiple stories. Two Conan-related titles published under this imprint featured Red Sonja.
Kull and the Barbarians ran for 3 issues in 1975. Red Sonja appeared in her own stories in issues 2 and 3. The story in issue #2, "She-Devil with a Sword", was partly adapted from a story by Conan creator Robert E. Howard. Issue #3 featured Red Sonja on the cover and on a pin-up art page before the first story. The story "The Day of the Sword" tells Red Sonja's Marvel universe origin.
Another Curtis magazines title, Savage Sword of Conan, ran for 235 issues from 1974-1995, 32 of which feature Red Sonja, typically in her own story. Read more and see a cover gallery on the Savage Sword of Conan article!
Marvel Comics Super Special #9 was published in 1978 and was associated with the Savage Sword of Conan title. Red Sonja was featured on the cover and in the second story, titled "Day of the Red Judgment". This story is later expanded in Red Sonja Volume 2 (1983) and the Red Sonja story "Valeria of the Red Brotherhood" from Savage Sword of Conan #225 (1994).
Marvel published a line of trade paperbacks called Marvel Graphic Novel from 1982-1993. Red Sonja appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #73 (published in 1992) as part of the Conan the Barbarian story called "The Ravagers Out of Time".
In 1995 after Savage Sword of Conan concluded, Marvel published a follow-up series in the same "magazine" multi-story format called Conan the Savage. This series ran for 10 issues, with Red Sonja appearing in issue #9.
Other appearances[]
Marvel Team-Up #79 from 1979 featured Red Sonja fighting alongside Spider-Man in modern-day New York City.
The 1985 Red Sonja live-action movie was adapted by Marvel into a two-issue comic miniseries featuring that version of Red Sonja. The story is titled "Into the Realm of Darkness!", though this miniseries is typically known simply as Red Sonja: The Movie. The two issues are also collected together in Marvel Super Special #38, published in November 1985.
Red Sonja briefly appeared in 1989's Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Volume 1 #11, in the backup story "The Book of the Vishanti: The Curse of the Darkhold Part III - Dawn of Blood". This serialized story detailed historical mystical forces and artifacts within the Marvel universe.
An alternate version of Red Sonja (not part of the character's larger narrative in the Marvel Universe) appeared in What If? Volume 2 #16. The story was titled "What If... Wolverine Had Lived During the Age of Conan the Barbarian?" and depicted Wolverine and other X-Men interacting with Conan, Red Sonja and other Marvel Hyborian Age characters.
Another alternate version of Red Sonja appeared in 1994's Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #25. The light-hearted backup story "Li'l Silvie" featured Red Sonja as part of the League of Liberated Leading Ladies, a group of female heroines whose comic series had been cancelled.
December 1995 brought Marvel's final Red Sonja comic, a one-shot titled Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt.
In 1996, ownership and licensing rights for both Red Sonja and Conan the Barbarian changed hands. After Dynamite Entertainment acquired the comic license for Red Sonja, the company co-published the Spider-Man/Red Sonja crossover limited series with Marvel in 2007. The story was a retelling/expansion of the characters' first meeting in Marvel Team-Up #79.
Appearances[]
- Kull and the Barbarians
- #2, May 1975 - "She-Devil with a Sword" (fourth story)
- Script: Roy Thomas; Pencils & Inks: Howard Chaykin
- #3, September 1975 - "The Day of the Sword" (second story) & pin-up art
- Script: Roy Thomas, Doug Moench; Pencils & Inks: Howard Chaykin; Letters: Irv Watanabe
- A Red Sonja origin story
- cover painted by Michael Whelan
- #2, May 1975 - "She-Devil with a Sword" (fourth story)
- Marvel Comics Super Special #9, 1978
- "Day of the Red Judgment"
- Script: Roy Thomas, Christy Marx; Inks: Howard Chaykin; Cover: John Buscema
- Story is expanded in Red Sonja Volume 2 (1983) and "Valeria of the Red Brotherhood" from Savage Sword of Conan #225 (1994).
- King Conan/Conan the King
- #5, March 1981
- Pin-up page by Ernie Chan titled "Conan and Red Sonja — Partners in Peril in a World All Too Fraught with Death!"
- Due to a coloring error, Red Sonja has blonde hair in this pin-up
- #6, June 1981
- Pin-up page by Tony DeZuñiga, part of an advertisement for Bizarre Adventures # 26 (which featured a Kull story, but no Red Sonja story)
- #7, September 1981
- Pin-up page by Ernie Colon titled "Red Sonja in Big Trouble!" part of an advertisement for Bizarre Adventures # 28 (which was advertised as being an "All Red Sonja issue" though she was not featured in the issue ultimately)
- #28, "Call of the Wild", May 1985
- Script: Alan Zelenetz; Pencils: Marc Silvestri; Inks: Geof Isherwood; Cover: Mary Wilshire (pencils), Mike Kaluta (inks; as MW Kaluta)
- Plot: King Conan confronts a conflict that he cannot ignore when into his court bursts — Red Sonja! Is Conan still a man, or has his crown turned Hyborea's greatest barbarian into a wimp? Red Sonja demands to know! Conan is informed that Queen Ayelet has been captured and he sends troops to investigate. Conan helps Red Sonja raid a Death Barge and rethinks his kingship. Red Sonja leaves him behind and Conan attends his daughter's birthday.
- This series is set in a time years after Conan the Barbarian, and Red Sonja is age 60 in this story.
- #5, March 1981
- Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Volume 1 #11, 1989 (cameo)
- What If? Volume 2 #16, 1990 (alternate version)
- Marvel Graphic Novel #73, 1992
- Script: Roy Thomas; Inks: Alfredo Alcala
- Conan and Red Sonja travel back in time to rescue King Kull.
- A sequel story, "The Many Mirrors of Tuzun Thune", appears in Savage Sword of Conan #223.
- Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #25, 1994 (alternate version)
- Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt, 1995
- Script: Glen Herdling; Pencils: Ken Lashley; Inks: Harry Candelario; Colors: Chia Chi Wang; Letters: Dave Sharpe
- Cover painted by Greg Hildebrandt and Tim Hildebrandt
- Sonja gets caught up in a Scavenger Hunt for the pieces of a mystical set of armor which preserves a woman's soul.
- Conan the Savage #9, April 1996 - "City Under Siege" (second story)
- Script: Chuck Dixon (as Charles Dixon); Pencils: Enrique Villagran; Inks: Paul Becton; Letters: Vickie Williams
- Conan and Red Sonja attempt a daring burglary amidst a bloody assault on a castle.
See also[]
- Marvel Feature
- Red Sonja (Marvel Volume 1)
- Marvel Team-Up #79
- Red Sonja (Marvel Volume 2)
- Red Sonja (Marvel Volume 3)
- Conan the Barbarian
- Savage Sword of Conan
Trivia[]
- The Red Sonja stories from Kull and the Barbarians #2-3, Conan the Barbarian #48 and Savage Sword of Conan issues 23, 29, 45, 157, 169, 187, 192, 194, 195, 230-233 are collected in the trade paperback The Further Adventures of Red Sonja, Vol 1.