Well, it doesn’t get any better. Red Sonja/Conan #2 strives to be more than a straightforward story about an evil wizard after two warrior titans (not so terrible a thing for a story to be) but from the beginning pages we have a chronologically confusing narrative with a meandering pace and non-distinct artwork. Pop quiz hotshot! What’s the worst thing about writers using time as a story telling convention? Let me answer my own question, it’s when time is handled poorly.  The fumbling of the chronology of a rather uncomplicated story in this issue is tough to see past. There were multiple times it felt like Red Sonja had snapped out of backstory only to find that she was still in backstory. And it’s odd that she would stand around all issue to hear about a battle she already fought. The continuity is frustrating.

There’s nothing that really stands out about the art either. The characters and the environments are unremarkable; even the few splash pages were just, meh. In fact the one thing that stood out to me was the googly-eyed pose Red Sonja struck when thinking fondly of Conan, not only is it out of character but the art itself seems out of place, like it belongs in Uncanny X-Men instead. Can’t quite place it...

Look, it takes effort to make any comic, good or bad. This just isn’t a good book. Some odd story telling conventions lead to some screwy continuity issues and the art seems to have backslid from the previous issue. Unfortunately, it’s not worth your time.

Score: 1/5

Red Sonja/Conan #2 Writer: Victor Gischler Artist: Roberto Castro Publisher: Dark Horse/Dynamite Entertainment Price: $3.99 Release Date: 9/9/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital