“The Blade of Skath”
Writers: Amy Chu & Erik Burnham
Artist: Jonathan Lau
Red Sonja is riding on her horse when a troll pops out of the woods. It knocks her off and the horse runs away. Only this troll doesn’t attack. In fact it is friendly and apologizes for scaring the horse and promises to look for it. Seems this is the troll that Max met and convinced it to be good. So Sonja crosses the bridge and finds the nearest tavern. At the village she finds it crowded and the locals none to happy. Seems the troll is letting everyone it. This is depleting the small spring they depend on. The tavern keeper offers to pay Sonja if she can convince the troll to return to his toll collecting ways. So she goes out and picks a fight. Eventually the troll realizes that it’s nature is to collect tolls. So Sonja gets enough gold to buy a new horse so she can continue her wandering nature.
What is with Sonja’s hair? It looks like Sideshow Bob’s. I don’t think the new artist has a realistic look for Sonja. Otherwise this was a offbeat story. The troll is just so friendly and doesn’t provoke easily. But his inability to police the bridge is destroying the village. An interesting commentary that doing good so you feel good about yourself is not necessarily good for the world. Some people could follow that advice.
Comic book cave of awesome 