Character
The Red Sonja is a sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for American comic books published by Marvel Comics in 1973, partially i…
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The Red Sonja is a sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for American comic books published by Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino.
The Red Sonja is a sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for American comic books published by Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino. A warrior from the Hyborian Age of Earth-616, she was often partnered with Conan the Barbarian.
Marvel Comics published stories featuring The Red Sonja until 1995. In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing stories of the heroine, during which the original Sonja was killed and replaced by a "reincarnation", who once met Spider-Man in 2007. The series was rebooted by writer Gail Simone in 2013, telling an altered version of Red Sonja's early life story via flashbacks. Subsequent writers of Red Sonja have included Amy Chu, Mark Russell, Luke Lieberman, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Amanda Conner, among others.
The Red Sonja has appeared in numerous titles, both as a solo protagonist and together with Conan, as well as in crossovers with characters from Marvel Comics and Dynamite Comics. A total of six Red Sonja novels were published from 1981 to 1983 by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney. A Red Sonja feature film, starring Brigitte Nielsen in the title role, was released in 1985, while a reboot film starring Matilda Lutz was released in 2025.
Sonja's signature clothing is her bikini armor, consisting typically of scale mail. In 2011, Red Sonja was ranked first in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.
Red Sonja was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, partially based on Red Sonya, a female swashbuckler from "The Shadow of the Vulture".
Red Sonja debuted in Marvel's Conan the Barbarian #23 (1973). Thomas created a new origin story and transposed the timeline from the 16th century of Howard's original Red Sonya to the Hyborian Age, another Howard creation, to have Sonja interact with Conan the Barbarian. In 1975, Marvel Comics published the first issue of Marvel Feature vol. 2 that was headlined by Red Sonja. The seven issues featuring Red Sonja were written by Roy Thomas and Bruce Jones. From #2 on, Frank Thorne provided the art for the series. In 1977, the character received her own, self-titled series. The fifteen issues of Red Sonja were written by Clair Noto and Thomas, with art by Frank Thorne (#1–11), and later on, pencils by John Buscema (#12–13, 15) and Sal Buscema (#14), who were inked by Joe Rubinstein, Al Milgrom and Tony De Zuniga.
Red Sonja's origin story was told in the story "The Day of the Sword" in the Marvel magazine Kull and the Barbarians #3 (1975), written by Roy Thomas and Doug Moench and illustrated by Howard Chaykin. The same story was later redrawn by Dick Giordano and Terry Austin and published in the magazine The Savage Sword of Conan #78 (July 1982). In this version, Red Sonja lives with her family in the Western Hyrkanian steppes. When she is 21, a group of mercenaries kills her family and burns down their house. Sonja attempts to defend herself, but cannot lift her brother's sword. She is raped by the leader of the group. After managing to escape from the burning farm, the red goddess Scáthach appears to her and gives her incredible fighting skills, on the condition on never allow a man to love her, unless he defeats her in fair combat. In the story "Sword of the She-Devil" Marvel Team-Up #79 (December 1979), Red Sonja is reborn in the present-day of Earth-616 when her sword is found by her descendant/reincarnation Mary Jane "MJ" Watson (love interest of Peter Parker / Spider-Man).
In 1983, Marvel Comics published a second Red Sonja series, a two-issue story written by Christy Marx and Roy Thomas, with art by Tony DeZuniga and Ernie Colón. The story also featured an appearance by the Robert E. Howard heroine Valeria.
That same year, Marvel launched a third series, running for thirteen issues. Writers included Tom DeFalco, Bill Mantlo, and Louise Simonson, with art by Mary Wilshire, Pat Broderick, and Rudy Nebres, among others.
In 2005, Dynamite Comics began publishing Red Sonja. The series debuted with an issue zero written by Michael Avon Oeming and Mike Carey and drawn by Mel Rubi. It depicts the original Sonja's death in issue #34. A new character of the same name, described as a reincarnation, takes her place from issue #35 through the series end at issue #80.
In 2013, Dynamite launched a second ongoing Red Sonja series, written by Gail Simone with art from Walter Geovani. Simone noted in interviews that her version was rebooted, showing the character's beginnings. Issue #1 of Simone's run was released in July 2013 to positive reviews. The series lasted 18 issues. After Simone's run, Dynamite launched a third Red Sonja series in January 2016. The book featured Marguerite Bennett as writer and a redesign of the character by artist Nicola Scott. That series lasted six issues.
In December 2017, a new Red Sonja comic series debuted with a zero issue priced at 25 cents by writer Amy Chu with art by Carlos Gomez. The series ran for 25 issues, ending in 2019.
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In 1985, Marvel published a two-issue adaptation of the Red Sonja film starring Brigitte Nielsen. The adaptation was written by Louise Simonson and Mary Wilshire, with art by Mary Wilshire and Vince Colletta.
In 1987, Fred Blosser, with contribution of Roy Thomas, ordered most of the produced Marvel material, plus additional planned work, into an unified chronology, providing to Red Sonja a consistent canon.
In 1995, Marvel published the one-shot issue Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt, written by Glenn Herdling and illustrated by Ken Lashley.
In 2007, Marvel teamed with Dynamite Comics to publish Spider-Man/Red Sonja, a five-issue series written by Michael Avon Oeming with art by Mel Rubi, in which Mary Jane "MJ" Watson again awakens as Red Sonja. The story is a direct sequel to the Marvel Team-Up story, and the graphic novel release included the original story in addition to the five issue miniseries.
