“In this issue, we get the first glimpse of Red Sonja. Sonja, a creation of Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, was an amalgamation of two fiery females created by Robert E. Howard. Red Sonja’s complete origin would be told in the pages of Conan the Barbarian #24 the following month.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to The Classic Conan Countdown, a series of reviews focusing on the original 275 issues of Marvel Comics’ Conan the Barbarian, which were published from 1970 to 1993. This is a review of Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 1) #23.)

By DEAN PLAKAS — Paint Monk’s Library Writer

Written by Robert E. Howard and loosely adapted by Marvel Comics scribe Roy Thomas, “The Shadow of the Vulture” is a landmark issue of Conan as it marks the debut of Red Sonja in Marvel Comics’ version of the Hyborian Age.

Created by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith, Marvel’s Red Sonja is based on two of Robert E. Howard’s creations: the pistol-wielding swashbuckler ‘Red Sonya of Rogatino’ (from his 1934 short story “The Shadow of the Vulture”) and the swordswoman ‘Dark Agnes de Chastillon” (from his short story “Swords Woman” published years after Howard’s suicide). Both Red Sonya and Dark Agnes are red-headed women with short tempers. They share similar origins in that they were both mistreated by men before they embarked on their lives of adventure.

Red Sonya’s adventures are placed in the days of the Ottoman Empire, where she is the Polish-Ukrainian sister-in-law of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. 16th Century France serves as the background for Dark Agnes.

Both female characters are among Howard’s works of historical fiction, while Conan remains purely in the fantasy genre. In developing this mash-up of Howardian heroines, Thomas and Smith transposed their timelines thousands of years back to the days of Conan. Most of the melded character is the Red Sonya from the story on which Conan the Barbarian #23 is based.

A lawsuit in 2008 was settled with regard to copyright and trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and unfair competition with regard to the Red Sonya and the Red Sonja names and characters.

Review: Conan the Barbarian #23

Marvel’s rendition of “The Shadow of the Vulture” is very similar to the original Howardian tale but with some major character shifts. Prince Yezdigerd and Conan the Barbarian are playing the roles of the Ottoman Sultan’s Grand Vizier Ibrahim and the knight Gottfried von Kalmbach respectively but in the Hyborian timeline.

In both versions of the story, Mikhal Oglu, the feared soldier known as “the Vulture” is charged with hunting down the hero and bringing his head to the arrogant antagonist. The Vulture’s fate is the same in both stories.

The tale begins as Conan steamrolls his way into the king’s palace in the city of Pah-Dishah. The barbarian is bringing a message to King Ghannif from his son-in-law Eannatum. Eannatum is the king of the besieged city of Makkalet and the husband of Melissandra, Ghannif’s eldest daughter.

Ghannif gives Conan a sack of gold for delivering the message and then entreats the barbarian to entertain him with stories of the barbarian life. Since arriving at the king’s court, the Cimmerian has been assaulted, insulted and threatened and he leaves abruptly without honoring the king’s request.

Meanwhile, in Makkalet, Mikhal Oglu (the Vulture) pays Prince Yezdigerd a visit. Oglu is given the mission to hunt down Conan and to bring his decapitated head to Yezdigerd for scarring the prince’s face and other troubles the Cimmerian has caused. Oglu’s Turanian army tracks Conan down and razes the village where he has found comfort.

The barbarian tells his female friend Ivga that she is safe, but she is killed by an arrow intended for Conan. Stealing a Turanian soldier’s horse, Conan races back north to Makkalet (which he has been doing since issue #19, for Crom’s sake…) with the Vulture and his Turanian soldiers in pursuit.

Exhausted, Conan’s horse collapses and the barbarian rushes to a door leading to the city of Makkalet with the Turanian horde just behind him. The door opens and out rushes an army of warriors from Pah-Dishah led by Red Sonja.

A warrior tries to get Conan to safety, but Conan refuses. His pride won’t let him sit out this fight, and his ego won’t let him sit out the battle while a woman fights it for him! He thanks her but she tells him no thanks are necessary – she is a paid soldier of King Ghannif of Pah-Dishah and doing her job.

As Sonja and her bowmen enjoy the evening with food and drink, Conan strolls the city at night and stumbles upon Queen Melissandra. He ignores her forced pleasantries for he knows she tried to have him killed.

As he continues his walk, he comes across spies of Prince Yezdigerd who are in the process of sending messages to the prince. Conan is knocked unconscious and tied up by the spies. He finds himself rescued again Red Sonja. After defeating the traitors in their midst, Conan sets a trap for Oglu.

In a locked room, the Vulture is confronted by Conan. He informs the Cimmerian that he is the best swordsman in all of Turan and our hero reminds him that they are not in Turan. Conan douses all light in the room and they fight in darkness. The next day amid celebrations at the Turanian camp, a messenger delivers to Yezdigerd a pretty package – containing the head of the Vulture.

CAPSULE REVIEW: It’s not every issue where a character is introduced who saves Conan twice in the same comic and ends up getting her own title. It’s also not every issue where three different inkers are used in the same book to ink one penciler’s work. This IS that issue.

The splash page is beautifully drawn with fine detail and background work by Barry Windsor-Smith; however, anatomically and composition-wise, Smith’s rendering of Conan on this page is questionable. As he is drawn on the page, Conan would have to be nine feet tall and all leg for him to have two full-grown guards between his legs trying to take him down, unless they are circus midgets, which they are not.

There is also a guard behind Conan running up the steps, but take a good look at the steps – they are the tiniest steps compared to the guard’s foot! Other visuals are better, like when Ivga is killed by an arrow after Conan told her she will be safe with him. Take a good look at the panel where she dies – his hands are covered with her blood – blood is literally and figuratively on his hands.

Other than Barry Smith himself, Dan Adkins was one of the best to ink Smith’s pencils. He was meticulous in his work, which was a blessing and a curse, for sometimes he wouldn’t be able to finish an issue in time for the deadline. This is one of the issues where Adkins didn’t ink it all – Sal Buscema and Chic Stone helped, and you can really see the difference in styles. Compare the fine linework of Adkins over Smith to the more broad embellishments of Sal Buscema and Chic Stone over Smith. You will also notice much less detail in the background, if there is background at all when Stone or Buscema have inked Smith’s pencils.

This brings us to the depiction of Red Sonja. In 2011, Red Sonja was voted Comics Buyers Guide “hottest fictional female” in comics but you never would have guessed that from her first appearance here.

Smith drew her very conservatively, with short red pants and a long-sleeved shirt made of chainmail and no gloves. The curvaceous, full-figured heroine in the bikini-style costume made of chainmail with matching boots and gloves – as she is most well-known – would never have been if not for Spanish artist Esteban Maroto (and later Frank Thorne) who redesigned her look and submitted to Roy Thomas. We’ve been indebted to them ever since.

With regard to Roy Thomas, hwoever, there is one thing that I find curious in his dialogue in this issue. He mentions Hell and the Devil. Crom! – Hell and the Devil were religious concepts that had not taken effect in the days of Conan. Unless Thomas transposed Hell and the Devil for this issue too…

On a scale of 1-10, I rate this issue an 8.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate this issue an 8 (please click here to our review guidelines.)

On eBay, this issue commands a hefty price as it is the first appearance of Red Sonja. Ungraded versions vary widely, ranging from $40 (in poor condition) to $180 (listed as near mint but ungraded.) At the time of this post, high (9.4 and higher) CGC-graded copies listed for sale ranged from $240-$600.

“And this story shall also be told.” – The Wizard in Conan the Barbarian