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I love me a good Red Sonja story and Conan the Barbarian 24 is just that. You see, the best stories are those where Red Sonja and Conan work together. It makes for more interesting story telling an the results are wonderful. This also happens to be the first full-length comic that Red Sonja had appeared in. Later she appears in Kull and the Barbarians to reveal her origin.
Conan the Barbarian 24 is titled The Song of Red Sonja and it is basically about Sonja manipulating Conan into helping her steal an item. It starts off by having her dancing on a table-top in bar in her bare feet. Her dancing is so seductive that a large man tries to take her. Conan tries to defend her and ends up getting punched in the head. Soon the entire bar is fighting each other. Although Sonja didn’t have her sword or boots at the moment she did have a whip and uses it to instigate the fight further.
Upon leaving the two decide to take a dip in the stream. Sonja takes off her chain mail shirt because it is too heavy and swims topless. Conan looks at her bare breasts, becomes aroused and tries to have sex with Sonja. She implies that she might do it later if he helps her with a task. She needed Conan’s strength to help scale a tower filled with jewels.
The place is not unguarded however. Sorcery protects the place as a giant golden snake attacks them. Conan leaves without even taking any jewels, thinking that his prize will be Red Sonja. Instead she leaves on horseback, letting him know that he had been used.
One of the most interesting aspects of this issue is that Sonja is wearing a chain mail shirt and hot pants. This is how Marvel asked Frank Thorne to illustrate her as well. However he disagreed and decided to go with the sexier chain mail bikini instead. Because of Thorne’s decision, now the bikini outfit had become of the typical outfit associated with Red Sonja forever.
The artist Barry Windsor-Smith shows his talent in this comic. However it also shows how he favors an over abundance of lines over other types of shading such a stippling or even cross-hatching. Be sure to pick up (Affiliate Link) Conan the Barbarian 24 so you can read it yourself. It’s a real collector’s item due to it’s early appearance of Red Sonja.
Their Appeal
Conan and Red Sonja are the most popular of all the characters in the sword and sorcery genre, which is a fantasy sub-genre that mainly includes action, adventure, and magic with sometimes dark, violent themes. Both of them are warriors living in brutal ancient worlds where they confront foes like monsters, witches, and evil cults. Many fans feel attracted to them because they have a strong, sensual look that usually clashes with the darkness of their world.
Conan was born in Cimmeria, a place full of rocky highlands and dismal woods. He came out of the mind of Robert E. Howard in the 1930s, and ever since then he has been featured in numerous novels, comics, movies, and games. Conan is an unafraid, battle-hardened expert with brawn and brains, countering his enemies using his might, speed, and wiles to stay alive. Also, he is a roamer as well as a rebel who refuses civilization and laws which characterize far more advanced realms that he visits. He cherishes freedom, loyalty, and honor above anything else.
Conan’s figure is typically characterized by being muscular, with a tanned skin tone and black hair. He commonly wears no more than a few protective clothes like boots, a loincloth, and a belt.
Red Sonja is a female version of Conan, who originated in the work by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in the 1970s after Howard’s story. She is a warrior woman from Hyrkania, a land of steppes and deserts. She can beat any man at swordplay. Her past is haunted by an unending thirst for revenge on those who harmed her once upon a time. She also does not enjoy being tied down and likes traveling the globe seeking excitement as well as delivering justice.
As for Red Sonja’s image, she is often portrayed with a slender frame, light complexion, and reddish hair, along with either green or blue eyes. She adorns herself in a scale mail bikini, as well as boots and a cape.
Throughout their tales, Conan and Red Sonja have been familiar with each other on many occasions, either as comrades or foes. The basis of their relationship is a mutual admiration mixed with physical attraction that stems from having similar outlooks in life and sharing similar life experiences. But still, they have a variety of dissimilarities beginning from their origins to motivation and temperament. For example, Conan is more pragmatic, stoic, and cynical, while Red Sonja can be seen as idealistic, fiery, and passionate. Their different methods often bring them into conflict, yet they also draw from each other’s strengths where one is weak.
Among sword and sorcery, Conan and Red Sonja have become two of the all-time heroes because they embrace the features that make this genre most attractive: the combination of elements of fantasy, action, love story, and horror. They are both heroes who face great danger and defy unattainable odds; however, they are also flawed individuals struggling with their emotions and desires. The personalities and actions of the characters invoke admiration and force us to ponder over them at the same time.