Red Sonja Is Getting a New Creative Team for 2019 Reboot

Red Sonja, whom writer Mark Russell calls the “bad-ass Queen of Comics,” gets a fresh new take beginning in February of next year with Red Sonja #1. The series’ publisher, Dynamite Entertainment, made the announcement Monday in a press release.

Fueled by vengeance and an affinity for ale, Red Sonja is one of the strongest warriors alive in her eponymous fantasy comic. The new team—Russell, artist Mirko Colak, colorist Dearbhla Kelly and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou—plan to build up a story that feels like an epic by building up the world around the character. Series editor Nate Cosby says in a statement, “Sonja will be the focus, but what’s exciting is to see the lore and world-building that Mark’s infusing into this new ongoing, to create a fusion of modern storytelling while placing big classical elements front and center.”

Russell himself has made a claim to fame with his satirical hits at DC, including The Snagglepuss Chronicles and The Flintstones, even garnering Eisner attention for the latter. Colak comes fresh out of Conan and Kingsway West, while Kelly’s painterly style can be seen in Image’s Paradiso. Finally, Otsmane-Elhaou is best-known for his work on Dream Daddy, as well as his monthly comics magazine, PanelxPanel.

Talking about the series, Colak said, “There is no special mystery why I accepted the offer from Dynamite. One name, basically, was enough: Sonja. In my country, Serbia, Red Sonja is very popular and I have to say, I am very familiar with Sonja’s world.”

The current run of Red Sonja, written by Amy Chu and drawn by Andrea Mutti, comes to an end in January. This new team won’t miss a beat, as they’re scheduled to debut their book the following month. Until then, check out issue one variant covers by Amanda Conner, Joseph Michael Linsner, Christian Ward and Frank Cho, plus a cosplay cover, below.