Comic Art Collection 6: Red Sonja

Red Sonja by Stephanie Buscema, 9 x 12

A few things about this piece....

1. Cathy has only two rules about the art hanging on my wall. Nothing sexually explicit and nothing graphically violent. Those are pretty understandable and easy to follow rules and I abide by them. I mention them because this piece is about as close as I come to breaking that rule. I think I get away with it in this case (and Cathy has never mentioned having a problem with this piece) because it's cartoon-ish enough to not be a problem.

2. For years I never really cared for Red Sonja. Sword and sorcery was never really my thing. And Red Sonja was always too far into the T&A side of things. Plus, there is some truly horrific elements to her origin which just made her unpalatable for me to read.

Which goes to show that the right writer working on a character can do wonders. Gail Simone took over the book in 2013 (with artist Walter Geovani on interiors) and transformed the character, purging the really troubling elements of her origin, giving her much more agency. And for a woman who runs around in a chainmail bikini Simone did a reasonable enough job of explaining why. She also introduced a real delightful sense of humour to the series. Sonja's growing frustration in one story arc about not being able to get laid because she simply doesn't understand the fuss about needing a bath first is maybe crude, but it's hilarious crude. The entire run can be found in one collected hardcover.

By the way, if you're not following Simone on Twitter you are depriving yourself of one the most genuine sources of joy on social media. She is a remarkable presence.

3. So why did I get this piece? During Simone's run her publisher, Dynamite Comics did a lot of variant covers for each issue, often featuring some of the best women artists in the business. Covers like this.

Like most art, I don't know why I like it, I just do. So I tracked down the artist, Stephanie Buscema. She's not doing a lot of comic book work at the moment as far as I can tell, focusing on her own designs, many of them Hallowe'en themed. But at the time she was putting a few pieces up her site. The piece above wasn't one my first choice, but that got snapped up before I could ask about it. But I'm really happy with this one.

I also faced another challenge....Buscema was reluctant to ship to Canada. Which sounds silly, but shipping art from the United States to Canada can be a nuisance. The shipping and insurance costs can add an extra heft to the cost. And it can be a nuisance for artists to deal with FedEx or UPS. I know a couple that won't do it. However, she agreed to try this one time, mostly as an experiment to see how big a nuisance it would be.

It's been a few years since I bought this, but she said she wouldn't be doing it again after the above piece. I don't know if she's changed her mind recently, but I'm glad she made the exception for me.

Also, I notice the price of her original artwork has gone up significantly in recent years. Good for her. I'm glad I was able to get one beforehand, where it hangs on my wall.

Last Five
1. Just breathe - Pearl Jam*
2. Slow down Jo - Monsters of Folk
3. You let me down - Joel Plaskett
4. Human wheels - John Mellencamp
5. Don't forget me - Neil Diamond