Dynamite And Dark Horse Announce Conan And Red Sonja Crossover

The latest relaunches of Conan The Barbarian and Red Sonja -- published by Dark Horse and Dynamite, respectively --have revitalized both franchises. Writer Brian Wood's work on Conan has been well-received, and the announcement of Gail Simone writing a new Red Sonja ongoing brought a level of attention and excitement to the character that had not been seen in some time. And though the two series are currently released by separate publishers, the characters remain forever associated with each other. With that in mind, Dynamite Entertainment and Dark Horse have announced they will collaborate to release a crossover between Conan and Red Sonja, to be published by both companies and written by Wood and Simone.

This crossover represents the first time the characters have appeared together in comics in more than 15 years. The story will be published as two series, Conan/Red Sonja and Red Sonja/Conan, by Dynamite and Dark Horse, respectively. In a press release, Dynamite CEO and Publisher Nick Barrucci described the two characters as the "power couple of fantasy," and Simone suggested it will "probably be the most fun you'll have reading a comic all year." Regarding adding to the mythos of these two characters, current Conan scribe Wood stated the crossover will be "epic and huge as these things should be... and something that matters, that's relevant, and adds something to each character's rich history." We've previously discussed the appeal of the sex and violence approach Wood has taken to his run on Conan, and that theme will likely continue in this crossover between the popular sword and sorcery couple.

Conan The Barbarian was created by Robert E. Howard in 1932, and adapted for comics by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in 1970, under the auspices of Marvel Comics. Continuing comic stories of Conan have been published by Dark Horse since 2003. Red Sonja, loosely based on the Red Sonya of Rogatino character created by Howard in the 1934 short story "The Shadow Of The Vulture," was created by Thomas and Windsor-Smith, and debuted in Conan The Barbarian #23 in 1973. Dynamite Entertainment began publishing further stories starring the character in 2005.

No artists have been announced, and a release date for the story has yet to be revealed.