As I've noted before on this website, I'm not a fan of the barbarian, sword-and-sorcery genre. As a kid, the only reason I ever thumbed through issues of Savage Sword of Conan at the corner store magazine rack was in the hope I might catch a glimpse of a boobie. John Layman's script understandable relies on happenstance to bring these two characters together, and while the coincidences don't seem ridiculous, I don't see the compelling reason for any of it. In other words, there doesn't seem to be a story crying out to be told here, just excuses for a teamup.
The lone-world warrior known as Claw the Unconquered is haunted by nightmares in which he sees himself brutally slaying women and children, innocents who do not deserve the fates he foresees. He is convinced the demonic hand with which he's been cursed is the source of the dreams and that its evil influence will cause those visions of villainy to come true. He crosses paths with a woman warrior from his nightmarish visions -- whom he learns is named Red Sonja -- and he learns that she may know of a way to cure his infernal ailment. Little do they know that they're headed into unfriendly territory.
For a long time, I viewed Andy Smith's artwork as merely a clone of the style of Bart Sears, with whom he collaborated frequently. He shatters that preconceived notion about his work with this project. His art is much more conventional in tone here, and it reminds me a bit of the work we're seeing from Juan Santacruz in Incredible Hulk. It's kind of like a cross between the styles of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and M.D. Bright. There's a rough, gritty quality to the line art that's in keeping with the brutal nature of the characters and story. Overall, the visuals are competent throughout, but they don't really strike me as being particularly outstanding or special.
Ultimately, this is really a Claw comic book rather than a Red Sonja tale, but since DC/Wildstorm is the primary publisher here, that really isn't a big surprise. The reaosn it's a Claw book is that he is the only one with a real story, or a personality. Claw has a motive here, and as far as barbarian warrior tales go, this is an effectively sad one. Sonja seems to serve two secondary purposes: (a) sex appeal, and (b) name recognition. She's the one with the larger sense of myth propping her up, so her participation seems designed to add some weight to the title for fans of the genre. To be honest, I think the story would be more effective as part of a solo Claw title, though.
There's no denying that John Layman is a talented writer. His flair for over-the-top satire was evident in his Puffed comics, but as is the case with many other writers, his efforts for company-owned comics storytelling hasn't really exhibited his strengths and unique qualities as a writer all that well. This is a standard company-crossover/teamup comic book, nothing more, and Layman isn't really to be criticized for that. I just wish we were seeing more creator-owned work from him, projects that don't limit him. 4/10
