A Red Sonja Cover Gallery




A Red Sonja Cover Gallery XXX: Open



	This is the thirtieth installment in our Red Sonja themed cover galleries, continuing from the first gallery. Below, we present ten selected covers from various comic books, featuring Red Sonja in an open stance.



	1 title: Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword (2005) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Adam Hughes writer: Michael Avon Oeming artist: Mel Rubi issue: #08 of 80 release date: March, 2006 cover: A cover commentary: We begin this gallery with a question, "What does it mean when a woman sits with her legs apart?" In civilized society, women are expected to sit with their legs crossed. To do otherwise is considered unladylike. To be sure, Red Sonja was not raised in a civilized society nor did she consider herself a lady of refinement. This leads us to a second question, "What does it mean when a woman sits with her legs apart and a bloody sword positioned between them?" This is a somewhat different kind of question.



	2 title: Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword (2005) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Greg Horn writer: Michael Avon Oeming artist: Mel Rubi issue: #08 of 80 release date: March, 2006 cover: B variant commentary: The covers selected for this gallery (as well as other covers which were omitted as we culled the entries down to ten) share a common theme, namely a distinctly similar open stance adopted by the artists to portray Red Sonja. While the initial impulse may be to suspect that this recurring image is intended to be titillating, in this gallery we investigate other potential explanations.



	3 title: Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword (2005) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Tomm Coker writer: Michael Avon Oeming artist: Mel Rubi issue: #09 of 80 release date: April, 2006 cover: C variant commentary: After Red Sonja was rescued by the goddess, Scáthach, she took an oath of celibacy, rejecting all men unless they were first able to best her in combat. Imbued with extraordinary agility, strength and ferocity, Red Sonja remained a chaste warrior. There is little suggestion of chastity in this cover by Tomm Coker. One supposes that the allure of Red Sonja is heightened by her unattainability. Covers, which accentuate her desirability only serve to amplify the allure.



	4 title: Red Sonja: She-Devil with a Sword (2005) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Wagner Reis writer: Eric Trautmann artist: Walter Geovani issue: #61 of 80 release date: December, 2011 cover: B variant commentary: The attributes of strength and ferocity are traditionally considered male traits, as are the vocations of warrior and mercenary adopted by Red Sonja. This cover by Wagner Reis juxtaposes a demure femininity with the open seated position of a man and the carefully placed sword. There can be little argument, as one surveys the covers in this gallery, that the sword is intended as a phallic symbol, male genitalia being the only portion of masculinity that Red Sonja lacks.



	5 title: Red Sonja: Vulture's Circle (2015) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Jay Anacleto writers: Nancy A. Collins & Luke Lieberman artist: Fritz Casas issue: #2 of 5 release date: February, 2015 cover: A cover commentary: If the sword is symbolically Red Sonja's masculinity, we conjecture that the artistic and commercial appeal of these covers lies in their ability to tap into the (expressed or latent) interest in homo-eroticism of the largely male readership.



	6 title: Queen Sonja (2009) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Lucio Parrillo writer: Luke Lieberman artist: Milton Estevam issue: #35 of 35 release date: April, 2013 cover: A cover commentary: There are variations on the theme. Here Lucio Parrillo substitutes for the sword a great axe, but the open stance and inviting expression remain, as does the symbolic intention.



	7 title: Vampirella & Red Sonja (2019) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Gerald Parel writer: Jordie Bellaire artist: Drew Moss issue: #1 of12 release date: September, 2019 cover: Kirby's Comic Art retailer exclusive variant commentary: In this cover by Gerald Parel, the more feminine character of the interstellar vampire, Vampirella, is added to the scene. Clearly with her bloody sword in hand, open stance and stern expression, Red Sonja is depicted in the male role for this couple.



	8 title: Red Sonja (2016) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: John Royle writer: Amy Chu & Erik Burnham artist: Carlos E. Gomez issue: #21 of 25 cover: D variant release date: September, 2018 commentary: There are other potential symbolic interpretations of a woman sitting with a bloody sword between her open legs. There are suggestions of masochism, in which the sword is used to inflict pain, though the expression of Red Sonja in none of these covers especially supports this interpretation. There is also the alternative suggestion of the threat of castration. In this cover by John Royle, the resolute and somewhat frightening expression affixed to Red Sonja's face would tend to support this view.



	9 title: Red Sonja (2016) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: David Williams writer: Amy Chu artist: Roberto Castro issue: #23 of 25 cover: B variant release date: November, 2018 commentary: One supposes that any and all of these interpretations are possible. Of course, successful art invokes different responses in different people. (Surely there are some who would simply be offended by any one of these covers and move on immediately.)



	10 title: Red Sonja (2019) publisher: Dynamite cover artist: Joe Jusko writer: Mark Russell artist: Mirko Colak issue: #2 of 28 release date: March, 2019 cover: D variant commentary: In any case, the representation of Red Sonja with sword placed between her open legs continues to appear, as illustrated by this cover from Joe Jusko to the second issue of Mark Russell's 2019 interpretation of Red Sonja. That we chose to dedicate an entire gallery to this theme will undoubtedly be judged by some as an error in judgment.



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