Arvidland The Online Journal of Writer Arvid R. Nelson · Weapons of Mass Enlightenment

2Jun/102

Queen Sonja #7 in stores

Queen Sonja Issue 7 front coverThe second installment of my five-issue run on Queen Sonja hits stores today. Come and get it! We're trying to show another side of Sonja – not a "kinder, gentler" she-devil, that would suck, but definitely more human. Whether or not we succeeded, the art by Jackson Herbert is worth the price of admission alone.

Check out the ax in Lucio Parillo's front cover to the left – the reflection of the face. I love little details like that.

And a little correction: the credits for the previous issue listed Joshua Ortega as the writer. Josh is a great writer, but #6 was all me, bay-bee.

28Apr/100

Queen Sonja #6 in stores

Queen Sonja Issue 6 front cover

Queen Sonja Issue 6 front cover

And, er, it has been for exactly a week.

The story is, of course, by me, with art by Jackson Herbert. Jack does emotions and facial expressions really well, one of the hardest things to achieve – and his combat sequences are full of storm and fury. This is definitely a set-up issue, but we managed to pack a lot of action into it, too.

Check out a review from Major Spoilers right here. Quoth Scott Hunter, the reviewer: "I definitely recommend that you go out and give this book a try, and I know that I’ll be looking out for the next issue." Thanks, Scott!

Read a preview of the first five pages courtesy of Comixology right here.

3Mar/102

The Red Queen

There's a saying in German: "Better to be burned out twice than to move once". I hope I never find out if that's true, but moving definitely sucks. Robyn and I just schlepped all our stuff from Queens, New York, to our new home in Northampton, Massachusetts. I owe my Dear Old Dad and my friend Kenny a huge debt for helping us pack the truck so artfully, like a gigantic 3D Tetris puzzle.

Queen Sonja #6 front cover

Queen Sonja #6 front cover

And a Red Sonja miniseries by moi debuts this month: Queen Sonja: The Red Queen. It's – believe it or not – a love story. We wanted to explore some of the deeper parts of Sonja's character; yes, she's the "She-Devil with a Sword", but she's also a very complex human being, and deeply wounded. A big part of love, for me, anyway, is about being vulnerable. So you're going to see some things Sonja usually keeps buried deep down bubble to the surface.

But the story's totally bad-ass and Sonja-licious, too. At least I hope so – a Sonja story in which people sit around and talk about their feelings all the time is, let's face it, a weak Sonja story.

It's five issues, Queen Sonja #6 to #10. First installment drops March 31st! There's a little interview with me on the series up at Newsarama.