Red Sonja: Age Of Chaos #6 - Dynamite Entertainment

RED SONJA: AGE OF CHAOS No.6, June 2020

Essentially consisting of one publication-length pitched battle between Red Sonja and Purgatori, this concluding instalment to Erik Burnham’s marvellous six-issue mini-series must surely have left its readers breathless on account of its sense-shattering shenanigans. Indeed, the “Dynamic Entertainment” pre-print press release for this particular comic declaring it to be a sensational confrontation between a “literal she-devil” and the “She-Devil with a Sword” is absolutely spot on, as the pair savagely batter one another with talons and blade for almost the entirety of the twenty-age periodical.

Enjoyably though, this flurry of supernatural-powered fisticuffs doesn’t lead to a senseless array of blood-soaked set pieces designed to pad out this book to its conclusion. But rather presents a nicely-paced number of opportunities for members of this title’s extensive cast to make one last impact upon the titanic tussle taking place over Kulan Gath's amulet; “Don’t seem to be healing, which means I’m about to go away for a while. But Smiley and I hold a grudge. So before we go, we have a present for you… Take the power and use it to shove that sword into whatever hole you feel like…”

These ‘cameos’ are admittedly somewhat restricted to simple depictions of Jade, Sakkara, Catherine Bell and Chasity relocating back to their proper place in the planet’s timeline. However, the likes of Evil Ernie and Lady Demon make a real contribution to the comic’s narrative, both reminding its audience as to precisely why the Hyrkanian warrior’s victory is so fundamental to the world’s survival, as well as Sonja’s motivation for disconcertingly wishing her sorcerous arch-nemesis to be resurrected from the dead into an already rotting cadaver.

Adding an astonishing amount of palpable energy and dynamism to these pulse-pounding proceedings are Jonathan Lau’s incredibly dramatically-drawn layouts. Barely a panel has been pencilled which doesn’t in some way contain a painful reminder to any perusing bibliophile that a mere mortal is facing off against an extremely powerful vampiric creature of evil, and so by the end of the pair’s fraught fight, all of its observers are probably almost as physically tired from scrutinising the intense action-packed conflict as Roy Thomas’ co-creation clearly is having fought throughout it.

The regular cover art of "RED SONJA: AGE OF CHAOS" No. 6 by Lucio Parrillo