That time Gail Simone’s mom told her to write for Red Sonja
How the woman who wrote for Wonder Woman and Deadpool rethought the world of Sword & Sorcery.
“I’ve been a fan of strong female characters and pulp and fantasy and all of that forever, and this just kind of fit it all into one for me.”
Sword & Sorcery heroine Red Sonja has a long and relatively complicated history. A character based on literature but actually created for comic books (we’ll get to that in a second), Red Sonja has since become a face in a number of media outlets. Like games and movies.
And also including a number of novels. (Including some from the 1980s—but we’ll get to those in a bit.)
Gail Simone’s debut novel is Red Sonja: Consumed. (And we’ve heard that another book is on the way.) Of course, as a famous comic book writer, Simone already had a history with writing Red Sonja. So asking her to take this next step was a great idea.
Here are a few review of how the book turned out:
“In many ways, Red Sonja: Consumed is a bit rough, but that’s a preferable contrast to much of today’s genre fiction, which tends to be overly smooth. And this roughness is in keeping with the pulp tradition Red Sonja comes from.” (New Edge Sword & Sorcery)
“A bold reimagining of a classic character in a classic Fantasy setting; Simone manages to recreate Sonja as a more detailed character with nuances that go beyond the comic book version.” (SFF World)
“A fast-paced and entertaining dark Sword & Sorcery novel. The book is an easy recommendation to existing fans of Simone’s work on the Red Sonja comic book, but no prior experience with the character is necessary.” (Grimdark Magazine)
As we get further into this article, we’ll look at the history of Red Sonja, Gail Simone’s experiences with the character, and how the author switched from one medium to another.
Table of Contents:
The beginning for Red Sonja
Gail Simone writing Red Sonja for comic books
Simone teaming up with all those other women writers
Gail Simon’s debut novel(s) about Red Sonja
Red Sonja novels (from the 1980s) also coming back into print
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The beginning for Red Sonja
Magic Carpet (Jan 1934)
Red Sonja was inspired by Robert E. Howard’s character Red Sonya of Rogatino (note the different spelling of her name). That original character appeared in REH’s 1934 short story “The Shadow of the Vulture.” (Magic Carpet Magazine, January 1934.) But this was historical fiction, which means she didn’t exist in the same continuity as REH’s Conan the Barbarian. (More info about this character at The World of Robert E. Howard.)
Now, the chainmail bikini Sword & Sorcery version named Red Sonja (note again the change in spelling)—who does exist in the same world as Conan—was actually created by Marvel Comics for their Conan comic books. Inspired by Howard’s other character, but she was made to fit in with the Conan stories. Once introduced as part of that universe, she and Conan the Barbarian had several adventures over a number of decades.
Since her debut at Marvel, Red Sonja has gone on to appear in comics from different publishers (including crossovers with Conan and other characters). There were also some Red Sonja novels in the 1980s from authors David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney. And a couple of appearances in games.
On screen, Red Sonja movies included one starring Brigitte Nielsen in 1985, and one starring Matilda Lutz in 2025. The character also appeared in an episode of TV’s Conan the Adventurer in 1998, played by Angelica Bridges.
Gail Simone writing Red Sonja for comic books
When the rights for Red Sonja moved to Dynamite Comics, one of the writers who got involved was Gail Simone, a legendary comic book writer who has also written for movies, TV, and games. Comics fans remember her writing for the likes of Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, Tomb Raider, X-Men, and Deadpool. (And more.)
Simone’s Red Sonja series comic book series, which began in 2013, rethought elements of the character. She stopped being just a sex symbol and became more of an actual character.
Turns out that the only reason Simone took on the comic book was because her mom convinced her to write it. Her mom was a fan.
“So I said, okay, I’ll write six issues for my mom,” Simone told Paste magazine. “And once I figured out how I thought we could keep [Red Sonja’s] history, but also update the character and tell more modern stories about her world, I sat down and said, Oh, I’m just going to write a few pages of this.”
But she quickly found that she liked what she was writing.
“I’ve been a fan of strong female characters and pulp and fantasy and all of that forever. And this just kind of fit it all into one for me. Plus, she’s very fun to write.”
Simone wrote that Red Sonja comic book series for 18 issues, before passing it on to someone else.
Simone teaming up with all those other women writers
During that time, there was also the side project Legends of Red Sonja. For this comic book mini-series, Simone invited 11 more female writers—from fiction, comic books, TV, and games—to help tell Red Sonja’s story.
The list of women writers who contributed to the Legends of Red Sonja anthology include Tamora Pierce, Mercedes Lackey, Marjorie M. Liu, Nancy A. Collins, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Rhianna Pratchett, Devin Grayson, Meljean Brooks, Rhianna Pratchett, Leah Moore, Nicola Scott, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Blair Butler.
“I hear all the time that Not many women want to write comics,” Simone told Comics Beat. “And it’s just such nonsense.”
All the writers she invited were women who have inspired her. In fact, as creators, she considered them all heroes.
“My idea of Sonja is pretty ingrained in my mind, but I was definitely inspired by these women and always have been.”
Before we go any further, here are the collected editions with the comics we’ve been talking about:
The Complete Gail Simone Red Sonja Omnibus
Gail Simone’s Red Sonja comic book run has been collected in a one-volume edition. Contains issues #0-18 of her writing the Red Sonja series.
Where to find The Complete Gail Simone Red Sonja Omnibus online:
Legends of Red Sonja
Simone headed up the anthology mini-series with several other authors—all women writers—all sharing their own visions of Red Sonja. Collects Legends of Red Sonja issues #1-5, the script to issue #1, concept art, and more.
Find find Legends of Red Sonja online:
The Red Sonja novels—including an omnibus
Gail Simon’s debut novel(s) about Red Sonja
By the time a publisher wanted a new novel starring Red Sonja, Gail Simone seemed like a an obvious choice to ask. She written quite a few of the stories in the comics and crossovers and different things—including a game and some animation—and even worked on the beginning of the film.
But when the opportunity came up… Simone was nervous about it.
“I just was like, Ah, I haven’t written a novel,” she told Paste magazine. “And it was kind of right before the pandemic when we started talking about it. So I said, Well, let me think about this.”
So, Simone sat down. Thinking about tone. How this might work. And wrote a chapter.
“So I wrote a chapter and submitted it,” Simone says, “and everyone just really loved it.”
Simone remarks that with the novel, we can get so much deeper into Red Sonja’s world and feelings and motivations. Why she does the things she does.
She also points that, in the comic book format, storytellers don’t generally have time or space for these levels of character.
“We have to rely on a lot of visuals and stuff in comics,” she says. “Which is great. I love it. But we don’t have the time to delve that deeply. And so I think being able to really try to relate and understand her is something that was really rewarding, I think, to get a chance to do.”
Simone has since announced that she’s working on the second novel in the series.
Where to find Red Sonja: Consumed online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore)
Other Red Sonja novels from the 1980s coming back into print
In the 1980s, Red Sonja starred in several novels by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney. All those books are coming back into print in the collection Red Sonja Omnibus.
In an interview, Smith said he was proud to have co-written stories about a strong woman character.
“I loved that idea,” he told DMR Books. “Those are the types of women who raised me and whom I grew up around.”
As such, Smith considered Sonja the kind of “good-looking, redhead, country woman” who can walk into a truck stop, put down as many beers as any guy, beat him at arm wrestling, and “kick the ass” of any trucker who tried to go too far with her.
“I still have the letters we were sent by young women in the early eighties thanking Dick and me for writing books with a strong woman character these girls could look up to. There was nothing quite like Sonja out there at the time.”
With these novels coming back into print in a single volume, Red Sonja Omnibus will include:
The Ring of Ikribu (originally published by Ace 1981)
Demon Night (Ace 1982)
When Hell Laughs (Ace 1982)
Endithor’s Daughter (Ace 1982)
Against the Prince of Hell (Ace 1983)
Star of Doom (Ace 1983)
This all-in-one edition goes on sale Oct 27, 2026.
Pre-order Red Sonja Omnibus online:
How the woman who wrote for Wonder Woman rethought the world of Sword & Sorcery. “I’ve been a fan of strong female characters and pulp and fantasy and all of that forever.”