NYCC: Simone, Scott revamp Red Sonja, Vampirella & Dejah Thoris for Dynamite
I feel that the most critical step to really re-inventing those characters would be to get them away from Dynamite Entertainment.
I enjoy Gail Simone’s re-invention of Red Sonja and understand there’s a balancing act with the branding and appearance. But an ongoing thing with Dynamite Entertainment is that they stockpile old characters to use them in spinoffs, mash-ups, etc.
So far, at Dynamite, we’ve had:
- Steampunk Red Sonja in a skimpy scalemail bikini
- Red Sonja being stripped against her will covers
- Steampunk Red Sonja now with covers by sexy pinup artists
- The Black Tower – which is actually worse than it looks
- Swords of Sorrow – where every female lead was in bikini armor
I mean – these are the most recent spinoffs (one working with Dark Horse):
Furthermore, while these designs might be bold for Dynamite, they’re not really that bold when you step back and look.
Red Sonja is basically back to a sexier version of the outfit she in her very first appearance, Vampirella appeared in a space suit in March (and I remember seeing concept ideas to re-invent her wearing full body gear in the 90s) – and okay, the movie bombed but nobody thinks it’s because of what Lynn Carter wore as Dejah Thoris.
What would really be bold – is actually re-inventing these characters without anchoring them to bad branding and design decision made in 70s (or earlier). Red Sonja has changed far more than her costume has, and not updating her appearance to reflect that hampers the comic.
At the end of the day – the reason these properties got sold to Dynamite Entertainment and the reason this is the second time Red Sonja’s been re-invented since then is because the old branding isn’t speaking to audiences today.
– wincenworks
