Shadow of the Vulture: The Origin of Red Sonya

[Iron_Chef]

Just read REH's "Shadow of the Vulture" novelette---his one and only tale of Red Sonya, set in 16th century Vienna against the Turkish hordes beseiging the city. Found it in an early 90s anthology titled "Echoes of Valor III", edited by Karl Edward Wagner (creator of Kane). What a fantastic, raw, hyper-violent slice of heroic adventure fiction! This character is the one Marvel Comics based Red Sonja on (note the different spelling). Anybody else read this rare REH classic?

 

[cornelius]

There's also a set of Red Sonja novels ( 6 in total ) written by Richard L Tierney set in the Hyborian Age . I don't know if these were published after the marvel comics but they predate the film . Amazon have them used and there were a couple on ebay recently . You might want to give these a look . I can't vouch for them myself as I've only got the first two and I haven't read them yet . Hope this helps .

 

[VincentDarlage]

Just read REH's "Shadow of the Vulture" novelette---his one and only tale of Red Sonya, set in 16th century Vienna against the Turkish hordes beseiging the city. Found it in an early 90s anthology titled "Echoes of Valor III", edited by Karl Edward Wagner (creator of Kane). Anybody else read this rare REH classic?

Yes! I have the story in a volume of REH's historical fiction called "The Sowers of the Thunder", which includes 'The Lion of Tiberias', 'The Sowers of the Thunder', 'Lord of Samarcand' and... 'The Shadow of the Vulture'.

I particularly liked the end of ''The Shadow of the Vulture'.

'The Lion of Tiberius' was adapted by Roy Thomas as Lions of Corinthia for The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian, Vol. 1, No. 228, December 1994, Published by Marvel Comics.

And, of course, 'The Shadow of the Vulture' was adapted for Conan the Barbarian by Roy Thomas in issue 23, way back in 1972.

 

[Anonymous]

Just read REH's "Shadow of the Vulture" novelette---his one and only tale of Red Sonya, set in 16th century Vienna against the Turkish hordes beseiging the city. Found it in an early 90s anthology titled "Echoes of Valor III", edited by Karl Edward Wagner (creator of Kane). What a fantastic, raw, hyper-violent slice of heroic adventure fiction! This character is the one Marvel Comics based Red Sonja on (note the different spelling). Anybody else read this rare REH classic?

would not red sonja have been based on howards dark agnes stories

 

[Deathdealer]

would not red sonja have been based on howards dark agnes stories

No. The character in Shadow of the Vulture is named Red Sonya of Rogatino. Roy Thomas based Red Sonja on her. I'm not certain, but I suspect that Howard's Dark Agnes stories were later mined for Sonja comics just as many non-Conan stories were mined for Conan stories.

 

[thulsa]

And, of course, 'The Shadow of the Vulture' was adapted for Conan the Barbarian by Roy Thomas in issue 23, way back in 1972.

By the way, for those who haven't got the 1972 issue, this story is featured in the color reprinting of the classic Marvel stories by Dark Horse, in "The Chronicles of Conan, Volume 4: The Song of Red Sonja and Other Stories", out now.

The same volume also includes the Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith adaptation of "Red Nails", a story which definitely ranks among my personal REH favorites. It has everything: A lost city, catacombs, dinosaurs, undead, whipping scenes :wink: , gory mass combat scenes, traps, secret doors, sorcery and magic items (including a wand of magic missiles... sort of) and intrigue. In other words, a complete D&D/Conan RPG adventure!

- thulsa

 

[tarkhan bey]

Does VOL4 contain all the stories in "THE HYRKANIAN WAR"saga?

 

[thulsa]

Does VOL4 contain all the stories in "THE HYRKANIAN WAR"saga?

Actually, the "Hyrkanian War" storyline begins with "Hawks of the Sea" in the second half of Volume 3 (pages 95-158), while the conclusion is the first half of Volume 4 (pages 7-92). The rest of Vol. 4 is taken up by Red Nails (pages 95-152).

All four volumes published thus far have 3-5 page articles at the end written by Roy Thomas, where he reminisces about the making of each issue in the seventies, how he adapted other REH stories into Conan tales, what they did to avoid censorship by the Comics Code, etc. Quite interesting stuff for fans of the Conan comic.

- thulsa