#Hyrkania

[msbraddock]

 by Kirill Repin

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

FROM THE SAVAGE LANDS OF HYRKANIA, SHE RODE FORTH...

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1200x1821 -- Spotlight on Dan Panosian cover art to "Savage Red Sonja" Vol. 1 #1. November, 2023. Dynamite Entertainment.

Source: https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/SEP230198.

[doomaday]

Gonna do Some Barbarian Stuff on the weekend! 💪

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Red Sonja #7 by Torunn Grønbekk and Walter Geovani. Cover by Lucio Parrillo. Variant covers by (2) Björn Barends, (3) Joseph Michael Linsner and (4) Francesco Francavilla. Out in January 2024.

"In this issue: The source of "His Master's Voice" stands revealed, and now Sonja is face-to-face with the greatest threat Hyboria has ever known. Will the She-Devil kneel before [REDACTED]? Don't bet on it!"

[comicsart3]

Red Sonja is an iconic sword and sorcery heroine, dating back to 1973 and her creation by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. She featured regularly in Conan and her own Marvel titles until the 1990s and was rebooted in the 2000s, with a slightly altered origin story, and has appeared in Dynamite Comics ever since. Sonja’s beginnings as a warrior woman were rooted in the violent death of her parents at the hands of bandits in the fictional land of Hyrkania, in the realm of Hyboria, when she was 17, prompting a lifelong search for vengeance against the murderers and any raiders, pirates or tyrants who reminded her of them. Aided by the goddess Skathach, Sonja equips herself with terrifying swordsmanship skills (frequently supplemented by an axe), together with formidable hand-to-hand fighting ability, and is usually attired in a distinctive scale mail armour “bikini” which, along with her distinctive red hair, increases her allure.

Although Sonja is possessed of a general sense of justice and she harbours particular protective affection for animals and children, she is unremittingly brutal in combat, remorselessly despatching enemies both mortal and supernatural, usually through decapitation. The artwork that has illustrated Sonja’s numerous adventures over the decades is graphic in the depiction of the heroine’s violence, and the stories cleave to an eye-for-an-eye barbaric code of justice and few who cross Sonja live to tell the tale. Her mission in life, such as it is, is to kill the murderers of her parents and to overthrow the evil sorcerer Kulan Gath, whom the bandits served.

Unfortunately, for me, Sonja’s violence and fixation on revenge and combat, makes the character less attractive or interesting than other, more subtle, comic book heroines. Despite in more recent years her stories being authored by female writers, including the peerless Gail Simone, Sonja often seems to be just a female Conan, but without the latter’s thoughtfulness and sensitivity. Perhaps this is also due to a Marvel worldview, which is more comfortable with retribution than justice, as well as the barbaric sword and sorcery genre from which Sonja emerged.

In the page featured, the extraordinarily lucky pirate Gob, has actually been taken prisoner by Sonja, despite having tried to kill her. Whether or not Gob retains his head for the whole of this adventure is anyone’s guess…

Sources: Red Sonja Wiki and ReadComicsOnline

[vincentvega0721]

Marvel Comics' Red Sonja first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23 in November 1972. Roy Thomas and Barry Smith created the character, who is a skilled swordswoman and martial arts expert with supernatural fighting experience. Red Sonja is also known by the aliases She-Devil of Hyrkania, Scarlet She-Devil, and others.

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Conan the Barbarian #78 ‘Curse of the Undead-Man’ (1977) by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Pablo Marcos and George Roussos. Edited by Thomas and Archie Goodwin. Cover by Buscema and Roussos.

Cover of the Day: Conan the Barbarian #78 (September, 1977) Art by John Buscema

[msbraddock]

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE SAVAGERY THAT ONLY RED SONJA CAN DELIVER..."

PIC(S) INFO: Resolution at 1200x1821 (2x) -- Spotlight on Arthur Adams Variant cover art to "Savage Red Sonja" Vol. 1 #1. November, 2023. Dynamite Entertainment.

ISSUE OVERVIEW: "Prepare yourself for the savagery that can only Red Sonja can deliver in this brand-new series that harkens back to the classic era of Robert E. Howard's original pulp tales of swords and sorcery! Tasked with retrieving a long-hidden gem from a crumbled, ancient kingdom, the She-Devil With a Sword is traveling alone through a dangerous wasteland when fate intervenes, and her solo adventure is sidetracked by a wayward prince and his bride as they try desperately to escape from fearsome desert bandits -- only to be attacked by a monstrous beast from beneath the sands! Don't miss out on this fast-paced tale of mystery, suspense, and the supernatural - written by comics superstar DAN PANOSIAN and illustrated by ALESSIO PETILLO, with colors by FRANCESCO SEGALA!"

-- DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT®, c. 2023

Sources: https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/SEP230208 (Previews World 2x).

[racefortheironthrone]

So would Conan be more of a Bronze Age setting than Medieval? I know Howard & other pastiche writers like to mix & match cultures & eras, so it's not really period accurate, but the kings Conan runs into have palaces and armies and even he seems to have more of a government as king of Aquilonia. Does it matter that Aquilonia is clearly France, Vanaheim & Asgard are Scandinavia, and Zamora is Spain etc?

It’s complicated, not just because Robert E. Howard liked to mix and match, but also because he had some very odd ideas about the cyclicality of history. If we’re going to get technical about it, Conan the Barbarian is a pre-Bronze Age setting; as the quote goes:

“Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."

This is Howard’s whole idea for the Hyborian Age: Atlantis was a real, advanced (albeit decadent) civilization, it was actually destroyed, and then mankind fell into barbarism. Gradually, new civilizations emerged and flourished and what Howard writes about as the Hyborian Age comes to pass, although it too is doomed to be destroyed in the literal biblical Flood, and then eventually what we call the Bronze Age would eventually emerge.

This is why Howard always traced his maps onto maps of the Mediterranean- in his mind, all of his stories were real history accessed through past life regression (at various times, Howard thought he was the reincarnation of Conan, and also of Celtic warriors, which he remembered in dreams) a sort of eternal palimpsest, with similar nations known by different names, various racial types existing by different names in various ages, and technologies like iron and steel rediscovered again and again.

I’m telling you, fantasy as a genre was really weird until they realized they could just make all of it up without having to tie it back to the real world.

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Red Sonja #1 ‘While Lovers Embrace - Demons Feed’ (1983) by Tom DeFalco, Dave Simons, Vince Colletta and Christie Scheele. Edited by Larry Hama. Cover by Hama, Mary Wilshire and Walt Simonson.

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Red Sonja #5 by Torunn Grønbekk and Walter Geovani. Cover by Lucio Parrillo. Variant covers by (2) Joseph Michael Linsner and (3) Bryan Hitch. Out in November.

"This issue: The voice behind the curtain stands revealed as Sonja continues to battle against the massive forces against her! You won't want to miss this issue and the revelation that was foreshadowed back in issue #0!"

[enragedandy]

I am Red Sonja, the Devil of Hyrkania, and I have never known defeat

[dispatchdcu]

Red Sonja: Empire Of The Damned #1 Review

Red Sonja: Empire Of The Damned #1 Review #redsonjaempireofthedamned #empireofthedamned

Writer: Steve Niles Artist: Alessandro Amoruso Colorist: Salvatore Aiala Letterer: Dave Sharpe Cover Artists: Joshua Middleton, Joseph Michael Linsner, John Tyler Christopher, Philip Tan & Cosplay Publisher: Dynamite Price: $4.99 Release Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 Skeletons litter a valley in Hyrkania. A legend tells of a battle fought long ago. Might tales of sorcerers and treasure draw Red…

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Marvel Feature #3 ‘Balek Lives!’ (1975) by Bruce Jones, Frank Thorne and Petra Scotese. Edited by Roy Thomas. Cover by Thorne.

Marvel Feature #3 Red Sonja (1976), cover by Frank Thorne

[mask131]

Cold winter: Red Sonja

RED SONJA

Category: Marvel comics

We cannot talk of Conan the Barbarian without talking of his female counterpart and “rival”, the famous Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, who became THE iconic picture of the fantasy archetype of the “barbarian woman”.

Red Sonja was created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in 1973, first appearing in the Marvel’s comic of “Conan the Barbarian” before getting her own comic in 1975 – though she still appeared in other affiliated comic book series, from various Conan series to the Kull ones. Marvel stopped publishing Red Sonja stories in 1995 – but she was promptly picked up by the Dynamite Comics in 2005, leading to several new series, at first keeping Marvel’s continuity before rebooting the character several times and going into various spin-off. And, of course, we have to mention other medias – such as the Red Sonja novel series written in the 80s, her apparition in the “Conan the Barbarian” television series, and a few movies done about her from the 80s to the 2000s (and with more supposedly in production).

Red Sonja lived in the Hyborian Age, a mythical long-distant past of our Earth, before the beginning of recorded history but after the fall of Atlantis. She once lived peacefully with her family in a small house on the steppes of Hyrkania  – until one day a group of mercenaries came. Her entire family was killed by the vile men – her parents and brothers –, her house was burned down and she only survived because the men wanted to take her virginity. After being raped and left in front of the corpses and burning ashes of her ancient life, she cried for revenge, and her scream of rage was heard… Scathach, the Red Goddess, appeared to Sonja and gave her unmatched fighting skills, making her a fearsome and dreaded warrior… But upon one condition: that she will never have sex with a man, unless said man manages to defeat her into a fair combat.

Thus begins the adventures of Red Sonja, the She-Devil deadly with a sword (she carries a double-edged sword, but also has a small dagger if she needs it) and whose immense strength makes her able to outmatch men in wrestling or hand-to-hand combat. She travels through the lands of the Hyborian Age, slashing, beating, stabbing any kind of monster, beast or antagonist trying to prevent her adventures ; herself seemingly never carrying any scar from her various wounds. The only other thing she loves more than fighting is drinking (even though when drunk she gets even more unstable and violent than she already is), and one of her weaknesses is her near incapacity at learning how to write or read. She spends her time fighting corrupted men, defending innocents, making those that offend her pay dearly or being hired as a mercenary; she also has a recurring villainous antagonist, in the form of the evil sorcerer Kulan Gath. She even became Queen of Hyrkania at some point (to match Conan’s ascension to royalty).

Red Sonja can be recognized by various iconic elements. Her mane of red hair. Her double-edged sword (which the novels turned into her father’s old weapon, and that ended up gaining magical properties after killing so many men, sorcerers and demons). And… by her chainmail bikini. We need to talk about the chainmail bikini.

Red Sonja’s most iconic look is a bikini made of chainmail. Everybody heard about the “chainmail bikini”, and she made this look very popular in fantasy. It actually existed before – it was typical of female fantasy heroines to wear them in the 70s, but Red Sonja definitively took it to another level. She actually wore a more reasonable outfit in her first appearances, with a long-sleeved chainmail shirt, and short red pants – but the chainmail bikini look stuck to her. And… this is both what made Red Sonja iconic, and one of the culmination of Red Sonja’s criticism. Red Sonja, we cannot miss it, is a sexualized character, the very embodiment of the “sexy warrior” trope done… weirdly. Her “bikini-armor” is ridiculous, dangerous, unpractical, and is barely excused by her inhuman abilities. In fact, for a fierce and strong warrior she lacks any kind of “battling body”, being tall and slender with barely any trace of muscle. Because a female warrior has to be a sexy and beautiful warrior, that’s the rule of the 70s and 80s. And let’s not even talk about how her entire life and character is influenced by sexuality, from her “rape as backstory” to her specific weakness tied to sexual relationships… There is clearly a “woman-object” aspect here. BUT, and this is where things get important, Red Sonja is also, surprisingly, a feminist icon. Because she is precisely a fierce, strong and terrifying female warrior who equals or outmatches other men (and even defeated Conan a few times). She is as brutal, and drunk, and crass as other barbarians can be (despite her always looking like a super-model). She is a free, independent and wild figure of revenge and justice managing to get to the top in an ancient patriarchal world… Which results in a very strange, double-edged, ambiguous status of the character, both praised and dislike for how she was created. This notably led to several writers trying to come up with justifications, explanations or reflections about the “chainmail bikini”, and trying to apply some logic behind simple sex-appeal. For example in one version, Red Sonja deliberately wears this outfit to “distract” men with her beauty while she cuts their head off, using their own lust and misogynistic vision of women to make herself look less threatening and fearful – they probably can’t imagine that a sexy woman wearing nearly nothing can stab them in the heart or kick their head off. Another version rather insisted on Sonja wearing barely anything so that her immense agility couldn’t be hindered by a heavier armor. A third version even decided to have Red Sonja herself complain about the unpracticality of the bikini outfit – but despite recognizing its flaws and problems, refusing to let go of it, because with time she grew attached to it and cannot imagine herself going to battle dressed differently.

- - - - -

The actual origins of Red Sonja are quite interesting… Yes, she was invented by Robert E. Howard, the same man who created Conan. But, the original character of Howard had very little to do with the character as formed by Marvel. Most notably, Howard’s Sonja, named “Red Sonya of Rogatino”, was a female swashbuckler of the 16th century Europe. Her appearance story, “The Shadow of the Vulture”, was about the siege of Vienna by the Ottoman armies in 1529. It was Marvel’s own decision to turn her into a barbarian warrior, and to move her to the fabled “Hyborian Age” of Conan, not just to surf on Conan’s big popularity at the time but also to allow various team-ups between the two characters.

That being said, the character as established by Marvel itself has been prone to various changes throughout her various incarnations and reincarnations (because yes, the topic of reincarnation is often used to explain how one version of Red Sonja dies before another pops up). For example, some writers decided that she was never raped by the mercenaries, and never received a ban on sexuality from her goddess, and in turn became a true pansexual – and I insist. She isn’t just bisexual – she is also willing to get into bed with gods, spirits and supernatural entities. Other writers also decided to get rid of her superhuman abilities and supernatural status by removing the whole “Blessed by the goddess” aspect, and rather depicting her as a woman that trained hard all of her life and became the strongest woman of her land and age. Some series add to her immense strength, swordmastery and agility the divine power to wield any weapons – which means she can turn any object into a deadly battle artefact.