Red Sonja – Age of Chaos #1

Writer: Erik Burnham

Art: Jonathan Lau

Every so often, I decide to take a step back from the comics book offerings from the Big Two and pick up a new number one from an independent company. This past Saturday, I picked up Dynamite Comics’ Red Sonja – Age of Chaos #1.

Red Sonja and the evil wizard, Kulan Gath face off in battle for the very last time. After the dust settles, Red Sonja stands triumphant after killing Gath. Red Sonja takes his amulet and disposes of it in the sea, in the hope that no one finds it and tries to bring her nemesis back to life.

In present day New York City, Mistress Hel reaches out to Evil Ernie, Jade, and Purgatori separately and tells each of them about the power of Kulan Gath’s amulet, which is on display at the history museum. Soon after, the trio end up crossing paths at the museum, each battling each other for possession of the amulet. As vampire hunter Chastity and monster hunter Bad Kitty join the fray, who will possess the amulet and have ancient, evil, and ultimate power bestowed upon them?

As a last-minute purchase, I was not disappointed with this first issue.  The cover art of Red Sonja and Purgatori drew me in and piqued my interest. I missed the early run of Chaos! Comics back in the early 1990s because I was young and impressionable. I knew the characters from that universe would be involved somehow and how the present day meets the ancient world is pretty neat and inventive. The first issue does give some background on the characters from Chaos! Comics and I was caught up to speed almost immediately, so don’t let that keep you from picking up this crossover.

Next Issue – Red Sonja is fully made to understand that her victory over Kulan Gath not only led to the invasion of her world by a whole new kind of evil but may cause time itself to end… much to the delight of the goddess of death, Mistress Hel. Only Sonja can set things right — but what she needs to do will cost her a bargain with Lady Demon, as well as a personal quest her ego doesn’t want to accept. Thankfully she has backup in the form of the half-vampire, Chastity — and a good thing, too. To fix the path of fate, Sonja will need all the help she can get! The AGE OF CHAOS continues here!