Ghita of Alizarr

Here's how this works. I read a book or two and tell you about them and try not to get too long-winded, and maybe you'd like to think about reading them as well. This time, a review of Ghita of Alizarr (Catalan, 1990).



A couple of years ago, I noticed that Bizarro Wuxtry had a copy of Eros Books' old complete edition of Ghita of Alizarr. I didn't know what it was, but the photo-cover, featuring a model in one of those Red Sonja bikinis caught my eye. So I asked Devlin about it, and he told me that Frank Thorne had done it in the late '70s or early '80s for a European publisher, and I remembered liking Frank Thorne's art on Red Sonja, but honestly wasn't curious enough to even open it.

About a year ago, some blogger or other mentioned Red Sonja somewhere. I recalled again that I did enjoy the two issues of Marvel Feature that I had as a kid, and asked whether Bizarro Wuxtry had a collected edition in stock. Devlin did not, and I didn't want to commit to a special order for a passing fancy which might not last as long as a glance at Frank Thorne's pages, so I let it slide.

But for a buck, I'll try lots of things. The Great Escape in Louisville had the first chunk of the Ghita story, a 48-page album from Catalan, in their cheap box, so I picked it up. My eyes have been rolled to the top of my head ever since. If you're the sort of person who put down a Red Sonja comic and said "that was all right, but what this comic really needs is for the girl to get naked a lot and for the writer-artist dude to draw himself into the story as a totally cool old wizard who goes to bed with her. With comedy rape scenes, it needs that, too. That'd rock!"... well, then, this is the comic for you. It is not, however, the comic for me. To the garbage this goes!

If nothing else, the dollar spent has totally cured me of the desire to ever again revisit Thorne's Red Sonja. Thank you, Great Escape! When in Louisville, pay 'em a visit!