Red Sonja: 1973
Written by Eric Trautmann, Roy Thomas, Luke Lieberman, Gail Simone, David Walker, and Cullen Bunn
Art by Jonathan Lau, Bilquis Evely, Kewbar Baal, Rod Rodolfo, Rich Buckler, and Ivan Rodriguez
Colors by Marcio Menyz, Arison Aguiar, Bilquis Evely, and Ivan Nunes
Letters by A Larger World Studios
Cover art by Ed Benes and Dinei Ribeiro
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 15, 2015
Cover Price: $7.99

Red Sonja: 1973 is a great anthology book featuring a stellar line-up of creators celebrating the 42nd birthday of the character! Sure, the book has some great writers and fantastic artists, but is it any good? Yeah, I think you all ready know the answer, but let me tell you what I thought of it…

Red Sonja #100
Written by Eric Trautmann, Roy Thomas, Michael Avon Oeming, Gail Simone and Luke Lieberman
Art by Dave Acosta, Pablo Marcos, Taki Soma, Noah Salonga and Sergio Fernandez Davila
Colors by Valentina Pinto and Salvatore Aiala Studios
Letters by Joshua Cozine
Cover art by Ed Benes & Alex Guimaraes, Robert Hack, Andrew Pepoy & Paul Mounts, Ken Haeser and Pablo Marcos & Austin Janosky
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 18, 2015
Cover Price: $7.99

Red Sonja #100 is truly the definition of “jam packed”! Dynamite Entertainment has truly gotten the gang back together, and in doing so, we get just about every single kind of Red Sonja story that there is right here in this single comic. In this giant issue, you get sword and sorcery, horror, action, and even a little heartwarming drama. What’s not to love?

Consisting of five different stories, by legendary Red Sonja writers like Eric Trautmann, Roy Thomas, Michael Avon Oeming, Gail Simone, and Luke Lieberman, you get everything you want and more in this comic book. Roy Thomas pens a truly great old fashioned sword and sorcery tale with a hint of mystery. Current Red Sonja scribe Gail Simone writes a very entertaining story about Red Sonja finally meeting her childhood “idol.” Then there’s Luke Lieberman’s (Queen Sonja) story about Sonja, a companion, and a sorcerer that is thrilling, yet very heartwarming. Out of all five stories, there’s not a bad one in the bunch.

Lady Rawhide #1
Written by Eric Trautmann
Art by Milton Estevam
Colors by Dinei Ribeiro
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Cover by Joseph Michael Linsner
Edited by Joseph Rybandt
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 7, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Lady Rawhide #1 really surprised me. I’m a big fan of Zorro and his universe, but in the past, Lady Rawhide was basically the Catwoman to his Batman. That has really changed in this new incarnation from Dynamite Entertainment.

I’ve been a fan of writer Eric Trautmann for a little while. Actually, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with him. I LOVED his work on the excellent Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist miniseries. He was doing such a great job on that book, I was really hoping that it would turn into an ongoing series. Then, I didn’t really care at all for his Red Sonja issues. So, when I heard he was writing another book with a female lead, I was more than a bit skeptical. Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this issue. It wasn’t just good, it was GREAT!!!

Red Sonja #75
Written by Eric Trautmann
Pencils by Marcio Abreu
Colors by Salvatore Aiala Studios
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Covers by Mel Rubi, Erik Jones and Walter Geovani
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 22, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Red Sonja #75 is the last issue of Dynamite Entertainment’s longest running title. Although the series ends on an OK note story wise, in my opinion, it deserved a much better send off than it got.

Writer Eric Trautmann gives us a pretty satisfying ending to the latest story line within the title, but for a title that’s been coming out for the last 8 years, I wanted something WAY more out of this issue than just a last chapter to a the latest 6 month story line. The issue is about 99% war between Sonja and her army against Omaju and his. With, a surprise enemy thrown in for good measure and “shock” value. Again, what it fails to deliver is an ending to the SERIES or this chapter in her life. It’s simply just a turning point in Sonja’s life. This could’ve been issue #34 or #58 or any other natural story break. Simply put, the issue was good. Just not good enough.

Red Sonja #74
Written by Eric Trautmann
Pencils by Marcio Abreu
Colors by Salvatore Aiala Studios
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Walter Geovani
Edited by Joseph Rybrandt
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: April 17, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Red Sonja #74 is CLASSIC sword & sorcery stuff! It’s a really fantastic book that took me back to reading this title and Conan when I was a kid. Classic stuff, told with modern storytelling.

Eric Trautmann does a great job here with the script and the overall story, which has been building for some time now. This is the penultimate chapter of both the story AND the series, so it’s fitting that he would choose to tell a “gather everyone for the big fight” tale. A bunch of mysteries are explained, things get heavy with the villains chasing Sonja & company, and it’s a perfect cliffhanger ending to lead up to the next issue.

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #9
Plot & Script by Eric Trautmann
Plot & Art Direction by Alex Ross
Art by Ron Adrian
Colors by Slamet Mujiono
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Alex Ross
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 30, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

In Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #9, things really start to change as far as the dynamic of the story goes. At this point, Ming is defeated and everyone on Mongo is at peace…or so we think. This issue is FULL of twists and turns and cliffhangers. Just like a Flash Gordon comic should be.

Eric Trautmann continues to do a fantastic job of keeping us on the edge of our seats. Just when we think that the next two issues of this series are going to have a nice, quiet wrap-up, he takes us on a WHOLE different adventure for Flash & company. This issue is mostly political in nature, but it’s not without its share of action scenes, which are pretty spectacular. We also check back in with the Mongoan task force that’s fighting the war on Earth. All in all, things are kind of starting to wrap up, and this issue was a great penultimate chapter. VERY strange alliances are made, secrets are discovered, new events are set in motion, and you won’t believe who the new Emperor of Mongo turns out to be. All in all, an issue full of surprises and high adventure!

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #8
Plot and Script by Eric Trautmann
Plot and Art Direction by Alex Ross
Art by Daniel Indro
Colors by Slamet Mujiono
Letters by Simon Bowland
Covers by Alex Ross and Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 2, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #8 focuses almost exclusively on one of the most underrated characters in the Flash Gordon mythos – Dr Hans Zarkov. Now, we could argue that Zarkov is the one who’s responsible for the whole situation that Flash and company are in, but that’s besides the point.

Writers Eric Trautmann and Alex Ross take a time out from the nonstop action to give us a pretty cool character study in this issue. Turns out, Hans Zarkov is a pretty interesting guy. Honestly, you only get a couple panels of the other characters, but this issue is about Zarkov trying to outwit Ming’s control that he has over the device that can get them all home. I LOVE the back story that the writers gave the character. It really lets you know how and why he came to be in the circumstances that he’s in in the beginning of the series. Not only that, but it’s really interesting. And a good, solid story. They also manage to sneak in a good amount of action.

Red Sonja #71
Story by Eric Trautmann
Pencils by Edgar Salazar
Colors by Salvatore Aiala Studios
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Walter Geovani
Edited by Joseph Rybandt
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 14, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Red Sonja #71 is a fantastic sword & sorcery comic. It’s got everything you want in a fantasy comic. Sword fights, magic and mystical artifacts, exoctic locations, and, oh yeah, a WICKED hot red head!

Writer Eric Trautmann crafts an interesting story. For 90 percent of the issue, Red Sonja is alone, so most of the story is told through a narrator. That doesn’t hurt the issue by any means, but I think it might have gone better if it was Sonja’s inner monologue instead of generic narration. It’s a great story of her quest in some ice land to take down an evil dragon and get revenge for one of her fallen comrades. The story moves along at a decent pace; most of the issue is a fight between her and the dragon and while it goes on for several pages, it never once drags or gets boring. Trautmann always keeps the pace up and actually gives us some of the history of the villain while the fights taking place. Very interesting storytelling and it ends on a mild cliffhanger that’s a nice touch.

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #7
Plot & Script by Eric Trautmann
Plot & Art Direction by Alex Ross
Art by Daniel Indro
Colors by Slamet Mujiono
Letters by Simon Bowland
Covers by Alex Ross & Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 7, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #7 is, quite literally, a tour de force. And I don’t even know what that means. But whatever it means, I’m sure it can be used to describe this issue. It’s by far the best of the series to date, and that’s saying something. Now, if Dynamite could only figure out how to get this book out on time…

Writers Eric Trautmann and Alex Ross have a love of these characters that almost rivals…. me. I can’t tell which of the two is the bigger fan of Flash Gordon. There’s some FANTASTIC Easters eggs thrown into this book from previous incarnations of Flash Gordon, ranging from the 1980 live action movie (look at that cover!) to the 1979-1980 cartoon series by Filmation. This is the epic conclusion of the first storyline, and it’s not without its shocks and surprises. I have to admit, the story plays a little too close to the feature film for my tastes; I wish it would’ve been a little more original, but it’s still a great ending to an awesome first arc. Just about every single loose end is tied up, and what’s left open will have your imagination running wild the moment you close the back cover.

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #5
Plot & Script by Eric Trautmann
Plot & Art Direction by Alex Ross
Art by Daniel Indro
Colors by Slamet Mujiono
Letters by Slamet Mujiono
Covers by Alex Ross, Paul Renaud & Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 13, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #5 is a big-budget action movie contained within a single issue comic book. Honestly, this book is one of THE most action-packed comics out there right now, and if you’re not reading it, you’re really missing out. Another FANTASTIC issue by Eric Trautmann. Now, I know in my reviews that I’ve given almost sole credit for the writing on this book to him, but that’s only because I have no clue as to what degree Alex Ross was involved in the plot. Either way, it totally works and I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

This issue takes place both on Mongo and on Earth, and as I said before, this really reminds me of a big budget sci-fi movie in comic form. You can HEAR the dialogue coming out of the characters’ mouths. You can SEE the action, explosions, and other worldly adventures in your mind. This, is truly a great comic for anyone who wants to escape reality for 15 minutes. Without going into spoilers, there’s some pretty important things that take place in this issue and a moment that we all knew was coming, yet Trautmann still manages to shock us with it when it happens.