The She-Devil Unleashed In Red Sonja: Birth Of The She-Devil #4 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Raka and his hordes approach. Red Sonja, Ozzyus, Elli, King Andol, and his armies stand against the tide of mayhem and chaos. It looks likely that none of them will see tomorrow, but, no matter what it takes, Sonja wants to see Raka dead for what he did to Shashana. Meanwhile, Raka wants Shashana back, and Ozzyus takes the lead in killing Raka.
Red Sonja: Birth of the She-Devil #4 brings this early story of Red Sonja to a violent close. It’s an all-out war between Sonja’s crew and Raka’s army.
It’s an exciting climax to the series, and it’s cathartic to see Sonja finally face the murderous and monstrous Raka.
It isn’t without its flaws. There are some moments where the emotion of the dialogue doesn’t match up with the visuals. Also, the sequencing of the action is incoherent at some moments; it comes off as more random instances than the flow of a single battle.
Raka’s nihilistic theology doesn’t really get to any grander point. It remains at the thesis statement that humanity sucks. It doesn’t go any farther than that. We also don’t get the impression that any kind of god is behind is actions despite the two-sided conversation Sonja had with a corpse last issue.
The ending is good. We get an emotional payoff to the drama, and we see Red Sonja reassert the kind of woman she is after receiving a grand offer from one of the survivors of this war.
Sergio Davila knocks it out of the park in this issue. Despite some of the aforementioned dialogue mismatched with certain panels and the unclear sequencing of some action scenes, Davila’s art still looks fantastic. The action scenes that do land well are brutal and brilliant. Ulises Arreola’s color art supports it all with explosive color work that brings every page to vibrant life.
Red Sonja: Birth of the She-Devil #4 is a finale that far outweighs any flaws it may have. The action is thrilling, Sonja remains a fantastic lead, and Davila and Arreola nail it on the visuals. This ending definitely gets a recommendation. Feel free to give it a read.
Red Sonja: Birth of the She-Devil #4 comes to us from writer Luke Lieberman, artist and variant cover artist Sergio Davila, color artist Ulises Arreola, letterer Taylor Esposito, and cover artist Lucio Parrillo.
Final Score: 8.5/10