• Title: Red Sonja #5
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Gail Simone
• Artist: Walter Geovani

Writer Gail Simone’s opening arc continues as Red Sonja returns down the mountainside with her bodyguards Ayla and Nias to receive the rest of the cure for the plague slowly destroying her body and exact vengeance on her former friend Annisa for killing the king who freed them both from the pit while leaving his kingdom to die of plague.

Dealing mostly with Red Sonja returning from her exile and slowly regaining her strength and fire at witnessing the atrocities of a woman she once loved as a sister, Red Sonja #5 spends most of its time setting up next month’s final issue to the opening arc as the two warriors step into the arena to battle one more time.

The issue does end with a bit of a twist as both women come face-to-face with a common foe from their past suggesting that the epic final battle between the two warriors that the storyline has been leading to may not occur in the arc’s final issue (or perhaps at all if both don’t survive the attack of their former slave master). Worth a look.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]