Savage Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes

Savage Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes #1-4

by Doug Murray, Frank Cho

Savage Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes delivers an action packed story and incredible art as Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword battles the beautiful and deadly Ice Queen and her army of Yeti Warriors! Under the Frozen Wastes, Sonja will work to lead an army, and restore the broken spirit of the Ice Queen's human slaves. This hardcover collection features all four issues of the series, a complete cover gallery featuring Frank Cho's incredible covers and more!

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Sword and Sorcery, Fiction, Collections, Comic Book

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2007

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salt, Haywire, Atomic Blonde, Black Canary

Sonja is like Charlize Theron in action or Scarlet Johansson. She’s smart, tough, has her streaks of compassion, is beautiful, dominant, sensual and powerful. All this is not always brought into the mix. The artist here, Homs, creates a more complete Sonja than I’ve seen thus far. And his art is definitely top shelf - smooth, detailed and dynamic. The coloring is wonderful though kudos for that belong to the colorist, not Homs.

I appreciated that in this issue Sonja did not only fight with sword, knife and spear but with her body - that is, she employed true wrestling and martial arts moves employed by law enforcement and the military. In one fight, she deals with a monster by trapping it - and ending it - with a head scissors.

If there were romcoms on Sonja I might read them to relax with. I don’t think there are and it’s obvious one of the draws to graphic books is, well, graphics. Reviewers, male and female, regularly comment on the quality of the drawings. So, I don’t know if Sonja would do as well without them.

She’s definitely popular because there appears to be no end to the series available about our strong, beautiful ginger. I’ll read a few more and call her my book gf. Ha ha ⚔️

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent sword and sorcery story (even if it is cheesy at times). Gorgeous artwork (even if a chain mail bikini is terribly impractical). And those two things coming together mean this is a fun read, not serious, deep or complex, but popcorn and a coke entertainment that any fan of Sonja will enjoy.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nice art and a good plot made this a very enjoyable read. Recommended

[Greg (adds 2 TBR list daily) Hersom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5- There's a lot of mediocre Red Sonja tales out there. The sheer number of them mathematically demands they can't all be winners.
But the creators that get it. The ones that are able to combine the cheesy male testosterone driven overtones of a hot red-head in a skimpy, impractical, chain-mail bikini (and I know the whole story that Red wears it as distraction in a fight and as bait to draw in scumbag rapists. Whatever it just looks sexy), with rib-roaring, sword & sorcery yarn make a for a great guilty-pleasure read.
This one does that.
I always love Cho's illustrations, even though he mostly did the covers. The story is nothing but fun.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially a retread of an old Conan story from the Marvel comics. Great pacing, a kickass Sonja, massive monsters, a crazed villainess. It's a pity Sonja was the only one left standing - I'd hoped for a more upbeat ending.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Frank Cho. Yes he is writer and artists that enhances the female form, celebrates it. This is a good thing but in the current climate of comic books it is and has become a bad thing. That is a shame, because this is a return to the good old grimdark, sword and sorcery stuff that the books of Red Sonja from the 80's were all about.
Sonja is warring in the north, near Hyrkania and she runs afoul of some bestial men, hardly better than animals. When she is captured and taken to their queen she discovers a mixture of yeti and man, and forms in between that have been bred by this dark queen to do her bidding. The enchantment she has allows her to share their life's blood and when they are hurt, marks appear on her. A mortal wound simply fades away on the warriors of her personal cadre.
Sonja has to figure out how to win her freedom. She does so by defeating the queen's own champions and inciting the less bestial men to follow her. She soon becomes a symbol of hope to them and leads them to the surface, far from the collapsing caves the queen rules from. As the warmth of the winter sun washes over her, all is changed. The curses she laid are dispelled and Sonja is freed.
This is a simple tale, and yet well written and drawn. It is made for a sword and sorcery fan and in that it will not appeal to everyone. I like it a lot and I want more!

Danny

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better Red Sonja stories, especially from this era. If you’re looking for a quick, brutal, savage, barbaric adventure with questionable taste in the Frozen Wastes, then this is the comic book adventure for you. Plus the art is some of my favorite in the Red Sonja line. Lesbian Cannibal Vampires and Neanderthals oh my!

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I was expecting but nothing really wrong with it either. Art was pretty decent throughout and the story was okay. As this says it's #1 I am wondering if there is a second volume. There is no cliffhanger or anything so a second volume would have to be totally separate story.
One thing that did stand out to me was the lack of dialog. The art carries the story but I got through the 129 pages in an hour and a bit.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so fast and moved onwards all the time. Good fun.
But sadly the story could've been told in half of the time and that art was really clumsy and so-so but then there were some nice bikini poses also.
Good fun while it lasted.

[Pranay · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was full of loop holes and the art was so-so. Can be missed.

[mike andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red finds herself on the tundra and while she is certainly not dressed for snow, the cannibals make that the least of her worries

[Yongyoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is exquisite and the story is not so bad. It's a nice take on the hidden molemen trope.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least it's an entertaining insult to your own intelligence.

[Juan Cortez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick but really good read.

[Eli Poteet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ice realms 4 part series

[Cynthia Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first story arc of Red Sonja I have ever read and I have to say I love her character. She is fierce and sexy and a born leader. I am excited to read more about her.

[Ithlilian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review of issue 1, not the entire hardcover edition.

I'm sure this series consists of a metal bikini wearing heroine beheading a bunch of people and bad guys. There's probably a scantily clad goddess character that challenges her dominance and butt kickingness. So, not for me.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of this was really cool (pardon the pun). Seeing the interplay between Sonja and the Queen was often intense. The story was a little more layered than some of Sonja's adventures I've read, but there was still a lot of good, old-fashioned violence. All in all I had a good time.

[Ocean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cut above some of the other Red Sonja stuff that I've read. This one was a fun story that reminded me of some of the older Conan stories, so it feels like it fits more into the universe. Really just plain fun.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less good than the other issues red sonjas I have read, but still enjoyable

[James Atkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Murray and Cho are a powerful pair, adding Him just made this a perfect read. Artwork is superb and the story is engaging. Worth checking out.