Red Sonja Worlds Away Vol 05 End of Road (RED SONJA WORLDS AWAY TP)

Enjoyed this volume alot

The end of Amy Chu's run on the volume and a bit of a let down after the fantastic as well as weird scenes she had with Red in the future. We get Red Sonja dealing with a troll who no longer enjoys bridges, a somewhat judgy musician, and a few other notable characters but not much in the way of actual plot. The best part of the story was Skath regaining his sense of self and that felt more like it should have been part of the previous volume. Its okay but I kind of wish she'd stuck with her supporting cast and maybe kept Max.

Nice collection, more of an anthology in this trade paperback when compared to the rest of the Worlds Away series, collecting issues 21-25 of the series. Readers get a definitive end to the saga of Skath begun in the previous trade paperback, as well as the blowback from dealing with Kulan Gath. The opening story in the collection finishes this story and features Lera and Taya once more in what appear to perhaps be their final appearances (it is the final appearance for either of them in this trade paperback). I didn’t think the story rushed and it was nicely wrapped up with a good arc for Skath and some cool artwork with Sonja fighting a shark, but it is only one of the issues covered in this collection (issue 21, the first one, with issues 22, 23, 24, and 25 featuring other stories).The next issue in the book, issue 22, departs from the Carlos Gomez artwork of all the previous issues/trade paperbacks of the series, this time the artist being Jonathan Lau. He does a good job though Sonja sports a rather different, wilder, bushier hairstyle. The tale is an interesting one revolving around a very nicely drawn troll, touches upon events previously in the Worlds Away series, and may have even been slyly meta in some ways in that Sonja and the troll both fight but also have a philosophical discussion. I liked it.Then is issue 23, this time the artist Roberto Castro, with a return to a more typical hairstyle for Sonja with some nicely drawn, rather realistic hair and Sonja perhaps a bit on the bustier side. I liked this story too, this one seemed to have nothing to do with the Worlds Away saga as a whole but the reader gets a treacherous king, a sphinx, a gryphon, and a goddess. None are to be trusted, though to be fair the gryphon was pretty straightforward in being a gryphon. It is great seeing a sphinx as they are so little used in fantasy (and riddles too!) though I don’t see a lot of gryphons either. Some good action and a solid addition to the series.Issue 24, art this time by Pasquale Qualano, was like issue 23 had really nothing to do with the Worlds Away saga but was still a good stand-alone tale about a “crone” (who takes exception to being called a crone) who decides to teach Sonja a lesson in manners by basically screwing with her mind with a bunch of illusions and bad dreams. Some really nice artwork, the artist drew some absolutely fantastic facial expressions of Sonja being nervous, surprised, exasperated, or in one panel absolutely delighted (I loved that one as it made me laugh out loud). Some really cool angles and perspectives in the artwork, great use of shadow, only thing I will note in a few panels at certain angles it looks like Sonja is practically wearing nothing. Still, very well drawn and a fun tale, particularly in the panels depicting the woman messing with Sonja’s mind and loved the trippy, almost horror movie ending.Carlos Gomez returns for the final issue contained in the trade paperback. As a few flashbacks for the series are included, just a few panels, this does feel like the end of the Worlds Away saga, though by this point it seems like a long way from the days of Kulan Gath, Lera, Taya, Max, Professor Wallace, Spike, and Holly. Like in issue 22 with the troll, there is a surprisingly meta philosophical discussion that I liked and some really nice artwork where Sonja fights pirates with the fight going rather differently than I expected. Though I liked all the artwork and all the version of Sonja in this book, at this point to me Gomez is the definitive Sonja artist. I also liked the opening panels which has Sonja singing a campfire song to herself, (“There once was a fair Amazon, who liked to fight without her clothes on, you might think it a mess, to battle undressed, aye, her enemies laughed – but they’re gone”).The book closes with a rather nice and extensive cover gallery (as many of the issues if not all of them have variant covers; this is about 25 pages of full color artwork). As with previous issues, a few were cosplay photos but most were drawn or painted illustrations. Stand outs include the Sean Chen artwork, Cris Peter-colored cover of issue 21 (Sonja with a sword raised, lightning behind her, standing in front of some dream-like almost Lovecraftian ruins), the one used on the cover of the trade paperback and also one of the issue 22 covers (by Reilly Brown, colored by Mohan), a great one by Carlos Gomez and featured on issue 23’s cover (depicting Sonja, Lera, and Taya), and one used on some of the issue 25 covers by David Williams (with a phenomenally rendered face with a thin, bleeding cut on her cheek and flowing, curling red hair).Amy Chu wrote or cowrote all the stories in the trade paperback (issues 21,22, and 23 also featured Erik Burnham, Erik also wrote the script for issues 21-23 and cowrote the script for issues 24 and 25; Alex Chang cowrote issue 24). I really enjoy Amy Chu’s work and sincerely hope she writes more Red Sonja. Her and Gail Simone had absolutely wonderful takes on the character, nicely updating the character, setting and stories (more humor and with from Sonja, more Sonja using her wits to best her foes or help her friends, more female characters and particularly female warriors both friend and foe) while still getting the appeal of the series (sword and sorcery low fantasy, lots of monsters and evil sorcerers, lots of sword fights, and of course the scale mail bikini though occasionally mixing it up a bit with clothing choices). Solid end to the series (if it is the end).

I keep thinking the author will run out of story and repeat themselves. Has not happened yet. Loved the last story in this set. Great reading.