Acclaimed comic book writer Gail Simone says there’s a kind of “joyousness” in working on many different projects at the same time.
She’s the main writer on “Uncanny X-Men,” the X-Men franchise’s longest-running series since its beginnings under Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. She’s writing a miniseries for Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon” universe. There’s a new She Spawn book coming, as well as a foray into the world of James Bond.
And for the first time, the “Birds of Prey” and “Wonder Woman” writer has published a prose novel: “Red Sonja: Consumed,” out November 19 from Orbit / Hachette.
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Readers may remember the title character as a warrior woman with flaming red hair wearing a bikini made from armor. A cult-favorite adventurer and hero, Red Sonja’s deadly skills with weapons earned her the moniker, “The She-Devil with a Sword.”
The character was originally inspired by the early ‘30s pulp fiction of Robert E. Howard, also known as the creator of “Conan the Barbarian.” Although the two heroes never met in Howard’s literary works, in 1973, Marvel debuted Red Sonja to the readers of their “Conan” comic series. She would go on to lead her own title, appear in animated TV, and headline a movie with Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Simone and the “She-Devil” have their own history. In 2013, Simone was tapped by Dynamite Entertainment to write for their “Red Sonja” title, including a fresh take on the character’s personality and her origin story. Originally signed up for six issues, Simone would go on to write 18.
“She’s always been a fascinating character to me,” Simone said. “Writing a prose book gave me the expanded format to really do a deep dive.”
In “Red Sonja: Consumed,” the warrior is living as a nomad doing dangerous work for hire, accompanied only by her faithful (if sometimes disapproving) horse, Sunder. Having just stolen a valuable treasure from her ex-girlfriend Ysidra, who also happens to be a queen, Sonja is doing her best to stay one step ahead of her furious pursuers bent on revenge. And of course, she’s up to her usual activities: drinking beer, getting into fights, enjoying new lovers and living life one day at a time.
But as mysterious and gruesomely bloody attacks begin in her homeland, Hyrkania – where she vowed never to return – Sonja’s deeply buried past is about to rise to the surface in a way she can’t ignore any longer.
Simone once again takes on a much-beloved character in a different medium to explore the depths of Red Sonja’s story. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Q. When you were speaking at WonderCon in Anaheim, you mentioned your mother played a part in why you began writing for the “Red Sonja” title.
Yes, that is absolutely true. I got a call from Nick Barrucci at Dynamite, asking if I was interested in writing “Red Sonja,” and I said, “No, I don’t think so.” I was having lunch with my mom at the time, and she said, “What was that?” And I said, “Oh, they asked me if I wanted to write Red Sonja.” And she said, “You have to write Red Sonja. She’s my favorite.”
I had no clue that this was the case with her, but it was. My mom also has red hair, and there were very few really strong heroines for her to look up to, so she just really fell in love with the whole idea of Red Sonja. I still wasn’t gonna do it, but she literally did the mom thing and nagged me for two weeks straight.
So I finally said, “OK, this is really strange, but I’m going to agree to do six issues just for my mom.” And once I sat down to write that first comic, I just fell in love with writing her character. Here we are – all these years later, and I’m still writing “Red Sonja.”
Q. What was different in writing a book versus a comic book series? What surprised you about the process?
When I was asked to do the novel, I hadn’t been writing the “Red Sonja” comic for a period of time. I just thought it sounded really interesting – it would be a challenge to really get into her character, inside her head, and take her on a journey that we couldn’t really do in the comics.
Well, the process was long. I felt very lonely sometimes. But with every new format that I try to tell a story in, I don’t really approach it as being something difficult or something to overcome. Instead, I get to try to tell a story in a way that won’t work any other way. That’s why I chose the plot and the character elements that I did. Everything that I did for the novel is there because I just didn’t feel like it would come across better in any other format.
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I’ve been told by artists that I write visually. When an artist is taking a comic book script that I’ve written, they have said that they can “see it” when they’re reading it. So that visual storytelling was there, but I had to greatly expand it. Normally I rely on the artists in a comic to get all of these things across – but in a novel, I’m relying on the reader, so I have to give them the words to picture it.
In comic books, the thing that I’m so particular and finicky about is dialogue – but in a novel, there’s a lot more to be picky about! I want the reader to have enough words and information to understand the message or the visual or the emotion or whatever the scene requires.
Q. What part of the story did it feel really good to dig into that you haven’t been able to explore before?
Every panel is precious in comic books. Every word and every image counts, and you rely on the artist to tell a lot of the story.
In writing a novel, you can really sit down and intimately communicate to the reader Sonja’s loneliness, how she got to where she is and why she makes the choices she does. She lives in the moment, so she doesn’t really think about yesterday or tomorrow the way that most people do. You can tap into why she loves the way she loves, the destruction she leaves behind…all these deeply held emotions are more difficult to really get into in a comic book form.
Q. Speaking of which, Red Sonja is bisexual, right? What was the importance of tapping into her sexuality and who she loves?
I think that for Sonja, it makes sense. I actually call her pansexual; it makes sense for her because she lives in the moment, and she travels, and so whatever is in front of her at the time of her loneliness is a potential connection. She’s not going to turn something down because other people might judge her harshly. She doesn’t live that way.
That’s one of the things that I love about writing Sonja. Women often consider every move they make: how to stay safe, what to say, when to say it, what to wear. And Sonja does none of that, and that’s very refreshing. Can you imagine how liberating it is to write a character that can live in the moment and not have to consider all of those things before she makes a decision? She can just live her best life without that baggage.
Q. At the top of every chapter, you created excerpts from historical documents, records and even poems about the famous Red Sonja and her deeds. What’s the story behind those?
Although we’re following Sonja on her journey through this novel and getting to know her intimately, I wanted her to also feel legendary. Including those passages was the way I decided to do that. Some of them were difficult to write, and some of them were a blast to write. It’s fun for me to write song lyrics and poetry and passages that sounded official.
I doubted myself many times, and when the novel was all done, I asked some people, “Should I just take all those out?” Everyone flipped out, they were like, “No, we love those!”
Q. You have a great relationship with the people who read your comic books. What new audiences are you hoping will read this novel?
I hope that readers of fantasy will find this book. I feel like it’s a modern fantasy, and I’d like to hear the feedback of that audience. I’ve also written this novel to where you don’t need to have known anything about Sonja in order to read it, so it’s very welcoming to anyone that wants to read about a badass female warrior.
I think there’s something in there for people from different backgrounds – comic book readers, horror readers, lovers of fantasy – who want to read about Red Sonja’s life and how she lived it. If someone reads the book and feels like they want to try living more in the moment and appreciating life as it comes along, I think that’s a good takeaway.
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