Red Sonja: Empire of the Damned #2 Review

My Rating

“Chapter Two”

Red Sonja had arrived at the foothills leading into the Hyrkanian Mountains. Two days prior, she had cut out a map tattooed on human skin of the deceased, but the imagery is incomplete. As the red-haired warrior studies each marking, a scream can be heard from a short distance away. In a rage, Sonja scrambles out of her camp and goes to investigate the disturbance.

What foul creature roams the hillside leading to the Lost Valley and the hidden treasure? How far will Red Sonja trust those who make their living with spell-craft? Is there a curse guarding against intruders? Collect the series to find out!

Reviewer Notes

I don’t get it. Have the writers at Dynamite Comics simply decided to just phone it in now? This is not a five-dollar book, to say the least. Oh, how I pray for the good ol’ days when Marvel Comics produced Red Sonja content. I’m giving issue two of ‘Empire Of The Damned’ a very generous three out of five stars. A Doctor Seuss book has more content than this.

“The Secret of the Hyrkanian Mountains”
(A Poem of Hyboria by a Forgotten Bard)

Where the Hyrkanian peaks in silence brood,
’Neath veils of storm and whispering wood,
There lies a vale no mortal sees—
A cradle shrouded by ancient trees.

The winds cry tales through frozen stone,
Of riders lost, of kings dethroned;
The moonlight drapes the peaks in flame,
Yet none return who speak its name.

Beyond the passes, cold and sheer,
A silver river winds unclear—
Its song, a ghostly siren’s plea,
That lures the bold eternally.

For in that valley, hushed and deep,
Where time and memory both sleep,
A treasure glows with spectral fire—
Not gold, but something souls desire.

A crown once worn by Eastern lords,
Forged in blood and ancient wars;
Its gems hold whispers, soft and dire—
Dreams of power, wrapped in fire.

But woe to he whose heart would claim
The valley’s prize, the crown of flame;
For shadows guard what men revere,
And doom awaits the treasure-seer.

So let the Hyrkanian storms enthrall,
The brave, the cursed, the doomed to fall;
For where the mountains kiss the sky,
The secret valley will never die.