Red Sonja / Tarzan #2 (Cover A)

Another summer purchase at New England Comics in Quincy MA USA.

Title: Red Sonja / Tarzan
Issue: Volume 1, #2 (Cover A)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2018
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Walter Geovani
Colorist: Adriano Augusto
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Editor: Joseph Rybrandt, Luke Lieberman, Kevin Ketner
Cover: Aaron Lopresti

The second issue of Gail Simone and Walter Geovani's crossover between Tarzan and Red Sonja goes straight to the time travel and time paradoxes, not to mention a bit of Victorian-era namedropping.

This also features a straight-up fight between Sonja and Tarzan, which seems to exist here mostly because you can't really do the crossover without having them fight, and the second issue was as good a place as any to get it out of the way.

Notably absent from this issue is Eson Duul, the villain, who got a ton of screen time in the the first issue (reviewed here, btw).

This issue is primarily focused on getting the two title characters acquainted with each other (twice, because time travel), and as such, it fell a bit short in the plot development department. It did end with a setup that should get things moving forward (backward!) next issue.

Rating: 6/10

Red Sonja / Tarzan #1 (Cover A)

I got this along with the second issue of the series this past July at New England Comics in Quincy MA USA.

Title: Red Sonja / Tarzan
Issue: Volume 1, #1 (Cover A)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2018
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Walter Geovani
Colorist: Adiano Augusto
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Editor: Joseph Rybrandt, Luke Lieberman, Kevin Ketner
Cover: Adam Hughes

This classic pulp hero teamup spends most of its first issue establishing the villain, Eson Duul, who is basically an over-the-top interdimensional version of Kraven the Hunter, with a couple of reasonably dangerous henchpersons in tow.

He starts out in a business dispute with Lord Greystoke, but that very rapidly turns personal. Meanwhile in Sonja's corner of the multiverse, Duul has gotten the better of Sonja in an encounter and she is brooding on revenge and seeking out a bit of dimensional travel to get her back on Duul's trail.

I'm a huge Burroughs fan, and I thought the portrayal of Tarzan as Lord Greystoke in England, the competent aristocrat putting a thin veneer of civilization over his true nature, was spot-on.

Sonja also had some great moments character revelation.

I'm a bit less sold on Duul, whose motivations feel generic, and who is so over-the-top nasty that he comes off as a bit too much of a villainous cliche. That being said, he is nicely established as a genuine threat even against a combination like Tarzan and Sonja.

Rating: 6.5/10