David Avallone And Edu Menna Set Out For A Pulp Adventure In ‘Red Sonja: Noir’ This June

Red Sonja is going pulp.

To an extent, pulp is part of her origin as writer Robert E. Howard began his career writing for pulp magazines. Even Marvel Comics, where Red Sonja as we know her truly debuted, owes a debt to the format and its use of genres as varied as monsters, fantasy, and more. Of course, pulp is most associated with detective stories and in June, Sonja will be facing one of her own.

Dynamite announced Thursday the imminent arrival of Red Sonja: Noir #1. The special one-shot issue sees the She-Devil With a Sword taking on a hard-boiled case. When she discovers a partner in the mercenary business has been murdered, she’ll stop at nothing to learn who did it. But finding the culprit also involves locating a priceless artifact known as the Crimson Calypso. Will the search require as much deductive reasoning as swordplay? Or will Sonja prove to be more of a Jack Reacher type — taking hits and giving them right back. And considering the conventions of pulp, will the victim prove to be the greatest threat of all?

The 28-page tale comes courtesy of writer David Avallone and artist Edu Menna. Supporting the special are covers from Lesley “Leirix” Li, Joseph Michael Linsner, and cosplayer Molly Stewart.

Red Sonja: Noir #1 is due out in June from Dynamite.