Conan Red Sonja #3 continues with the duo being forced to take part in gladiator games to determine the fate of their respective countries. When they initially met years ago they killed a king’s son for a treasure that ended up being the bloodroot seed. And this king has never forgotten how they killed his son, and he hired the best trackers to find and kidnap them to force them to fight in a gladiator game with the odds stacked against them. He’s not trying to give them a fair chance to survive, he wants to watch them be humiliated and mutilated for his pleasure to satisfy his lust for revenge. But he underestimated the duo as they make light work of the mini-army sent at them. And as a final act Red Sonja throws her trident at the king, killing him and ending his reign of terror. However, Conan doesn’t take any joy in killing the foes who attacked them as he is older now and sees things differently. He shows Red Sonja the countryside and how it went to waste with the king only caring about his revenge. During that time the people suffered and left the land. But the mourning isn’t for the tyrannical king or his corrupt son but the people during that time. But Sonja and Conan’s bond grew over that time as well since battling the bloodroot. And since the bloodroot threat isn’t over, can the two of them find what is needed to defeat it once and for all?

This has been a really fun series, and I’ve enjoyed the character portrayals a lot. And despite the story jumping ahead 6 years last issue the story still flowed wonderfully from the first issue to the second. This issue jumped ahead a number of years too, and I appreciated the character progression conveyed by the superb writing. It was clear that the years took their toll on Conan, who suffered more loss than Sonja, presumably, since nothing was said about her life over the years. This was consistent with the first issue’s statement about how this story would cover their formative years leading to the point where they become the well-known heroes throughout the land. So it was good to see character growth that would reflect Conan’s understanding for when he becomes king. But it had another and more immediate outcome, and that was Conan and Red Sonja becoming closer. And the interactions leading up to this was great for both characters.
This issue would have more action later on, and the bloodroot would come back into play in an interesting and surprising way. But pitting one against the other was somewhat cliché considering the fact that they both knew Thoth-Amon couldn’t be trusted so wouldn’t remain true to what he claimed the victor would receive. So thankfully the writing made it mostly entertaining in the sense that both characters retained their development when trying to find a way out of Thoth-Amon’s plot. And the artwork went a long way in helping that by making every swing and blow as intense as it needed to be. So I can’t wait until next issue when the tables are turned against Thoth-Amon.

SUMMARY

Conan Red Sonja #3 is another entertaining issue that makes this series consistently enjoyable with great character development and scenarios. It’s good to see character growth for Conan with his perspective on everything taking place, and even though it’s not shown for Red Sonja, that much can be assumed from the writing. It feels somewhat cliche to have the two facing off considering their growth up to this point but the action throughout this issue is overall solid. So I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the next issue when the two of them go back at Thoth-Amon.

Release Date: 3/25/15

Writers: Gail Simone, Jim Zub

Artist: Dan Panosian