In Review: Red Sonja/Tarzan #5

Synopsis: The final showdown with Eson Duul looms ahead for Tarzan and Red Sonja. Their worlds and their people are at stake and it will take everything they have to stop a man who only wants to destroy everything he can!

Review: This penultimate issue of Red Sonja/Tarzan is fully load with loads of action and some great backstory.

The Story

Rather than immediately picking up the action from where it left off in the last issue. Gail Simone provides us with the compelling backstory of Eson Duul. Which gives a little insight into his origins and the beginnings of his ruthless streak.

We then get taken to the scene of battle in which Tarzan is face to face with Dull, but Dull has Sonja in a very precarious position. A position, which gives him optimum leverage, which pretty much leaves them in a standoff.

The macho dialogue between Dull and Tarzan is pretty damn funny. Gail Simone obviously enjoys her action films and has an appreciation for the villain that talks endlessly about how awesome he is before even throwing a punch. She uses this as a perfect opportunity for Red Sonja to do what she does best, which is basically act rather than talk about it.

The issue concludes with Tarzan and Sonja once again on the tail of Essan Dull, but this time they know where he is going.

The Artwork

Walter Geovani’s artwork continues to impress and he gets to play with a lot of great ideas in this issue.

The work he does on the final few pages where Tarzan introduces Red Sonja to a world that does not exist in normal time is beautifully drawn.

Overall

This is a fantastic penultimate issue, which does a great job of setting things up for the final battle between Dull, Tarzan and Red Sonja. I loved the macho posturing between Dull and Tarzan and how Sonja reacted to it by playing possum and gaining that element of surprise.

I also loved the artwork in this issue and thought the final few pages were absolutely jaw-dropping. In fact, it is a shame that we’ll only have the one issue left to explore these new vistas.