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Review: Altered States Red Sonja #1

Posted on March 9, 2015 by

The Altered States alternate reality for Dynamite characters took off with an impressive launch last week with the introduction of the Vampirella version of the character, but the application to try something new with familiar characters is a lot more sedate when it comes to Red Sonja. As opposed to Vampirella which chose to alter the character’s background as well as to thrown her into a new setting this issue sticks closer to the same format, even if there are a number of differences to make this a new take on the old character.

Whereas the Vampirella version bypassed the familiar almost completely, this issue does not. Instead it reads as a “What-If?” concept of how to use Sonja in a modern day setting, and even incorporates Sonja into the story, somewhat throughout by way of capturing her essence in her sword. It tells the story of Sonja, a museum researcher who comes upon two separate but related items, one belonging to the she-barbarian, the other to her enemy. When the power of the first is released Sonja and the entirety of New York City is thrown into a version of the past, with fantasy taking the place of technology. By grabbing her sword she is able to channel the powers of her namesake, and she must fight her old enemy to revert New York to the way it ought to be.

The idea behind the Altered States is to try something new, but it does not really work here. While Vampirella was able to use some of the old to mix into something different, the formula doesn’t work here. Instead this reads as just another case of an Egyptologist stumbling upon some untold power, as was common in the golden age of comics with the likes of Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the Blue Beetle (among others.) While not a failure, the end product here is equally not really inspired, using too much of the familiar and not enough of the new.

Story: Brandon Jerwa Art: Juanan Ramirez
Story: 7.3 Art: 7.3 Overall: 7.3 Recommendation: Pass

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.

Review: Altered States Vampirella #1

Posted on March 3, 2015 by

Some might question the logic of this new direction for Dynamite characters which focus on retelling their stories in an alternate reality setting. It first started with Legenderry in 2013, as a steampunk re-imagining of Dynamite’s most notable characters, and it continued recently with the launch of individual Legenderry titles as well as with the new alternate reality series Altered States. Designed as a sequence of one-shots, Altered States takes the normal Dynamite characters and puts them in a different setting and with different backgrounds.

In this story, Vampirella is reimagined as a space explorer by the name of Ella. On a somewhat routine journey to Venus in the not so distance future, her ship along with its crew is thrown into another corner of the universe, where she is left to fend for herself on an alien planet. The planet is populated with people that look a little like they might belong on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom, but so too is it populated with another group of people, somewhat vampiric in appearance that Ella must help to battle. In the progress of the story there are enough ties to her own story to make fans realize that it is in fact Vampirella, but also enough of the new twists to impress.

Although the concept risks being too much of a parody of itself, it still works with the fresh approach to the story. One of the better examples is the use of the name Ella, as she does become Vampirella in a sense, just perhaps not in the way that the readers might have expected. More so, the success of this series is the injection of new inspirations into an old character. Those inspirations themselves might be borrowed from other genres as well, but the formula works well here, and despite being a one-shot, this will likely leave fans wanting more.

Story: Nancy A. Collins Art: Francesco Manna
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review

Dynamite Takes Familiar Characters to Altered States

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Brett

Dynamite Entertainment has announced the first wave of its all-new Altered States line where familiar characters from Dynamite’s comics will appear in brand-new adventures unlike anything fans have seen before. Vampirella, Red Sonja, The Shadow, and Doc Savage will each star in their own story set in a parallel reality in the vein of DC’s classic Elseworlds and Marvel’s What If! where anything can – and will – happen to them.

The publisher has brought on an array of the industry’s top talent to help tell these unique tales:

Writer Brandon Jerwa teams up with artist Juanan Ramirez for Altered States: Red Sonja, a story about a red headed museum worker in New York City who soon finds herself fighting for survival in a dystopian-inspired Hyborian wasteland.
In Altered States: Vampirella, veteran Vampirella scribe Nancy A. Collins and artist Francesco Manna turn the tables on Ella Normandy after she survives a crash landing to become the sole human on a planet full of Vampires.
Writer David Avallone pulls double duty in this special event, teaming up with artist Ivan Rodriguez for Altered States: The Shadow, and a tale that proves once and more that there are worse things in the world than the evil that lurks within the hearts of men. Then in Altered States: Doc Savage, David and artist Dave Acosta explore what happens when the world’s most powerful man is turned into a rampaging beast whose very humanity may be lost forever.