Short Box: The Adventures Of Red Sonja Omnibus

The Adventures Of Red Sonja Omnibus HC

Creators

It seems that it’s often the case that Short Box posts are where most of my negativity comes to the surface, serving as the section where I talk about comics I’ve enjoyed the least.

…yeah, today is no exception.

That is not, however, a reflection on the contents, as I do enjoy the original 1970s’ Sonja stories, particularly thanks to the art of Frank Thorne. Rather, it’s about the format of the omnibus itself as well as some of the rights limitations that keep it from really being an OMNIbus.

The book is smaller than a typical omnibus, being about as tall and wide as a standard comic, and for some reason, the interior art has been reduced even further, with larger gutters on the top and bottom of every page.

This is especially galling for the stories that are reprinted from Savage Sword of Conan, which was a magazine-sized publication.

Those stories, which would have originally been printed in black and white, raise another issue – the color. Modern coloring techniques rarely look good when applied to older comic art. This book is very much not one of the rare exceptions.

The “omnibus” contains stories originally published in Marvel Feature – one issue of which that I either got in a mystery pack or that was just around the house waiting to be discovered was my first exposure to the She-Devil with a Sword – the complete run of her first Marvel series, and, as mentioned, stories from Savage Sword of Conan.

It does not contain her first appearance in Conan the Barbarian #23, nor does it contain her second Marvel series.

There is an arc that features a crossover with Conan, but only the Sonja portion of it is reprinted, with a text summary of the conclusion of the storyline in lieu of reprinting the issue of Conan.

While only Roy Thomas and Frank Thorne are listed as creators in my comic database – as seen above – others who contributed include Bruce Jones and Christy Marx on the writing side, and Dick Giordano and Doug Moench on the art side.

While it is disappointing as an omnibus, I am glad to have this collection of stories, such as it is, as it definitely serves a purpose. It just doesn’t serve it well.

And I do at least have the Hyrkanian warrior’s first appearance reprinted in the first volume of the Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years omnibus editions, and I have my artist editions to provide me a good look at Frank Thorne’s art.

In conclusion, I guess, it’s not the worst thing in the world as it does deliver a bunch of Sonja content in one package, but if I had to do it again I don’t think I’d buy it, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend that anyone else do so.

Born and raised in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Jon Maki developed an enduring love for comics at an early age.