Red Sonja

Red Sonja
Textless cover of Red Sonja #16 (July 2015). Art by Ed Benes.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics (1973–1986) Dynamite Entertainment (2005–present)
First appearance	Conan the Barbarian #23 (February 1973)
Created by	Roy Thomas Barry Windsor-Smith
In-story information
Notable aliases	Mary Jane Watson[1][2]

Red Sonja is a fictional sword and sorcery comic-book superheroine^[3] created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino.

Marvel Comics published stories featuring Red Sonja until 1986, and returned to the character for a one-shot story in 1995. In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing stories of the heroine, during which the original Sonja was killed and replaced by a "reincarnation". The series was rebooted by writer Gail Simone in 2013, telling an altered version of Red Sonja's early life story via flashbacks. Subsequent writers of Red Sonja have included Amy Chu, Mark Russell, Luke Lieberman, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Amanda Conner, among others.

Red Sonja has appeared in numerous titles, both as a solo protagonist and together with Conan, as well as in crossovers with characters from Marvel Comics and Dynamite Comics. A total of six Red Sonja novels were published from 1981 to 1983 all written by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney and, in 1985, a feature film starring Brigitte Nielsen in the title role, Red Sonja, was released.

Sonja's signature clothing is her bikini armor, consisting typically of scale mail. In 2011, Red Sonja was ranked 1st in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[4]