The series is a Spin-Off from Conan the Barbarian and stars Red Sonja, a warrior woman in the ancient Hyborian Age. Sonja is a travelling adventurer, mostly seeking riches. Sometimes she's a bounty hunter, sometimes a brigand — and sometimes she's just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Whereas Marvel's version of Conan was directly based on Robert E. Howard's stories, Sonja is far more loosely adapted from Red Sonya of Rogatino, a 16th century Russian warrior who appeared in Howard's historical adventure The Shadow of the Vulture and had no connection to the Conan tales. Howard is still credited as her creator, and Sonja is still considered a licensed character.
The title is a revival of the original 1971 Marvel Feature series, which was a Rotating Protagonist comic, changing focus every arc. However, for this second volume the comic only lasted seven issues, and stayed with Red Sonja until the end.
The last arc is a Crossover Finale, ending in Conan the Barbarian, so the story isn't actually resolved in Marvel Feature.
After Marvel Feature ended Marvel launched a new Red Sonja series, continuing her adventures.
Marvel Feature (1975) provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: "The Temple of Abomination" is a Comic-Book Adaptation of the Robert E. Howard story of the same name, but its original hero Cormac Mac Art and his allies play no part in it. The original antagonists, the serpent men (who also appear in Howard's Kull stories) are also adapted out, replaced by a band of satyrs.
- Almost Dead Guy: In "Blood of the Tracker", Tamalk lives just long enough to tell Sonja and Dunkin that Gromlic's camp was attacked while the band were sleeping and everyone else is dead. Then he succumbs to his wounds.
- Bad Samaritan:
- Comic-Book Adaptation: The first issue's main story, "The Temple of Abomination", is very loosely adapted from the Robert E. Howard story of the same name. Sonja replaces the original hero of the tale, Cormac Mac Art, the setting is moved to the Hyborian Age, and the villainous serpent men are replaced by satyrs.
- Continuity Nod: In the first issue, when Sonja finds an ancient temple in a Nemedian forest, the narration mentions that she's seen other such ominous, isolated stone buildings, such as Castle Vincentius. The wizard Vincentius fought Sonja in an earlier Conan the Barbarian story.
- Crossover Finale: The final "Sons of Set" arc is a crossover with Conan the Barbarian that sets Sonja against Conan, with the story ending in Conan's title. The last issue of Marvel Feature is only midway through the arc.
- Deadly Dodging: When Sonja's unarmed and trapped by Unkas, who's blind but tracking her by sound, she lures him towards a cauldron full of molten rock. Sonja calls out to draw his attention, then dodges - he cuts a rope supporting the cauldron and dies when molten rock pours over him.
- Devoured by the Horde: In "Eyes of the Gorgon", Delores Garde, the woman behind the titular "Gorgon", is devoured by her brother Unkas's horde of rats. The rats had initially tried to swarm Sonja, who was confronting the siblings, but she escaped by throwing Delores to them instead.
- Dies Wide Open: At the start of "Balek Lives!", Sonja's on horseback and being pursued by other riders. She misjudges a jump and falls to her death from a cliff, with her body shown sprawled in a broken heap, eyes wide open. It's all an illusion by Neja the witch, to help Sonja shake off her pursuers.
- Disney Villain Death:
- In "The Temple of Abomination", the piper who leads the satyrs falls into the deep pit that the "slither-things" dwell in. They noisily feast on what's left of him, but it's implied that the fall was sufficient to kill him first.
- The witch Neja fights Sonja on a cliff top and meets her death when Sonja pulls her over the edge. Subverted in the same scene with Neja's Living Statue, Balek the Invincible. Sonja sends it over the same cliff, but Balek's invulnerable and seemingly unstoppable, so just climbs back up again.
- Dolled-Up Instalment: "The Temple of Abomination" is a Comic-Book Adaptation of the Robert E. Howard story of the same name, but the original story stars his Irish hero Cormac Mac Art, doesn't feature Sonja, and is set far closer to modern times.
- Fauns and Satyrs: The villains of "The Temple of Abomination" are a band of cruel creatures that appear to be satyrs. They have horns and hairy goat legs, and are described as demi-men and man-goats, although they never describe themselves. They seem to be Long-Lived, and their leader controls his brethren by playing music on his pipe.
- Fed to the Beast: The Satyrs of "The Temple of Abomination" intend to feed the captive priest to the unseen "slither-things" who dwell in the pit below their temple. Once Sonja gets involved, it's the Satyrs' leader who ends up feeding them instead - although, mercifully, it's implied that the long fall into the pit killed him first.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Towards the end of "Blood of the Hunter" Sonja, exhausted and dying of thirst, loses consciousness and wakes to find a coral snake curled up on her chest. Sonja must stay motionless until rain sends it slithering for unseen shelter. The same page ends with her pursuer, Rajak the Tracker, finally confronting her. He reaches into Sonja's bag to reclaim his stolen treasure - and is fatally bitten by the snake hiding in it.
- Freudian Excuse: In "Eyes of the Gorgon", the villain behind the Gorgon scheme, Delores Garde, is seeking revenge because her parents were stoned to death after her deformed brother Unkas was born. Unkas himself is happy to help her, but it's Delores who's driven by revenge.
- Headbutting Heroes:
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: In "The Temple of Abomination", Sonja discovers a priest of Mitra who's been horribly tortured by the temple's satyrs. Too weak to stand, he tells her that he wishes his beliefs did not prohibit suicide. Sonja takes the hint and promptly delivers a Mercy Kill with her dagger.
- The Juggernaut: Balek the Invincible is a huge living statue in the form of King Thelok of Skurga. It was intended as a mere toy for Thelok, but after he was defeated and imprisoned he called down the spirit of the dark god Balek to possess it. The statue became an unstoppable warrior that slaughtered whole kingdoms, a thing that could only be halted by removing the gold key that activated it.
- Keystone Army: The satyrs of "The Temple of Abomination" have been controlled by the piper's music for over a thousand years. As soon as Sonja smashes the pipe, they stand mindlessly, still as statues, and only the piper remains as a threat.
- Kill It with Fire: In "The Bear God Walks!", the real Bear God burns along with its forest home, killed by a flaming torch dropped by its impersonator, Bramus. It's implied that he's actually a Load-Bearing Boss, hence a single flame destroying the whole forest on a rainy night.
- Literally Shattered Lives: At the very start of "Eyes of the Gorgon", Sonja arrives in a deserted village and accidentally knocks a petrified villager from his chair in the tavern, shattering him when he hits the floor. It's later subverted by the reveal that the Gorgon is a more mundane hoax, and the 'victim' really was a statue.
- Living Statue:
- Long-Lived: The piper who leads the satyrs of "The Temple of Abomination" states that he's been controlling his brethren for over a thousand years. It's unclear whether he's long-lived or truly The Ageless, as Sonja kills him before he can say much more.
- Master of Illusion: The old witch Neja is able to use illusion magic, and makes her introduction by tricking Sonja's pursuers into believing that Sonja and her horse have plunged to their deaths after misjudging a clifftop leap. Unfortunately, without time to prepare, Neja can't exclude individuals from her illusion spells - so Sonja also believed she was falling to her death.
- Melee Disarming: In "The Temple of Abomination", Sonja manages to catch the piper's pipes with her blade, knocking them from his hand. While they're not obviously a weapon, they're actually controlling the mob of satyrs attacking her. When the music stops, so do all of the satyrs, except the piper himself.
- A Molten Date with Death: In "Eyes of the Gorgon", after Sonja blinds Unkas, he hunts her by sound. Sonja tricks him into attacking her when she's standing by a huge cauldron of molten rock, then dodges so that he cuts the rope supporting it. Unkas is killed when the cauldron topples and pours molten rock over him. It immediately hardens, leaving his corpse standing in a way that looks as if he's actually been petrified, not burnt to death.
- Oh, My Gods!:
- Sonja swears by Erlik a lot, including "Erlik's gullet!" and "Erlik's beard!". Narration notes that Erlik is the oldest and darkest god of Hyrkania.
- Mitra is invoked fairly often. The priest Sonja meets in the first issue begs for water "In Mitra's name" and Sonja herself uses Mitra's name, "Sweet Mitra!" and even "Mitra's mother!".
- "Ishtar's girdle" gets a mention
- "Bel's breath!" is used at one point.
- There are several references to Tarim's blood.
- Pit Trap: In "The Temple of Abomination", Sonja unwittingly triggers a pit trap in front of the gods' statues. She only avoids falling by putting her sword across the pit and grabbing the blade - fortunately, her gloves protect her hands. It's later revealed that unseen "slither-things" are waiting at the bottom of the pit.
- Poison Ring: In "Eyes of the Gorgon", Delores Garde, the woman behind the 'Gorgon', uses a ring with a needle to inject her victims with a paralyzing poison. Once they succumb, they're replaced with statues to convince the village that the Gorgon has turned them to stone.
- Recycled Title: The same title was previously used for Marvel Feature, a 1971 Rotating Protagonist series.
- Retronym: After Dynamite Comics gained the rights to Red Sonja, the series was collected and reprinted as The Adventures of Red Sonja (volume 1), removing mention of Marvel and disambiguating it from Dynamite's own versions of the character.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax:
- The Gorgon is just a woman in a mask, with no magical powers, and her 'petrified victims' really are statues. The real victims have been abducted and replaced, not turned to stone.
- The Bear God that Sonja hunts is just a man hidden in furs. Although there is a real one as well...
- Seers: Karanthes, priest of the Stygian god Ibis, claims to have seen his meeting with Sonja written in the entrails of birds.
- Spin-Off: Sonja first appeared as a supporting character in Marvel's Conan the Barbarian series before getting her own stories in Marvel Feature.
- Taken for Granite: In "Eyes of the Gorgon", Sonja finds that the titular creature is petrifying residents of a small town. Subverted with the reveal that it's a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax staged by siblings whose parents were once killed by the townsfolk. They're drugging and kidnapping their victims, replacing them with statues.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: After initially seeming to help Sonja, the witch Neja drugs her drink before revealing, as Sonja loses consciousness, that she's a descendent of the traitorous Lamrac and intends to unleash her ancestor's creation, Balek the Invincible, upon the world.
- Targeted to Hurt the Hero: After Sonja robs the brigand Rejak the Tracker, he goes on a terrifying quest for revenge. He kills Sonja's friend Katrin and everyone else in her inn, kills Sonja's ally Gromlic and his band, and then slays Gromlic's son Dunkin, who was away with Sonja when his father's men died. He makes a point of leaving Dunkin's impaled corpse on the edge of Sonja's campsite, so that she sees it when she wakes, but doesn't attempt to confront Sonja herself until days later, when she's isolated, exhausted and dying of thirst. He even murders a farm that happens to be in Sonja's path as she flees, just in case people there might try to help her.
- Thinking Out Loud:
- Torches and Pitchforks:
- Treacherous Quest Giver: The mayor of Yorkin offers 1,000 gold pieces, contributed by the villagers, to anyone who can kill the Bear God. The villagers are motivated by the deaths of their loved ones - when Sonja arrives, the mayor is using a child's mutilated body to get their support. But the "Bear God" Sonja's hunting is actually the mayor's brutish ally Bramus, and it seems they plan to kill the bounty hunters, have Bramus take credit for the Bear God's death, and then split the money they've raised. Which also implies that they killed the child and the other victims themselves.
- The Unfought: Sonja never actually fights Rejak the Tracker. She initially catches him while he's asleep and robs him at sword point. In revenge, he hunts Sonja and kills her allies so they can't intervene, but by the point he actually confronts her she's too weak to fight. He's bitten by a poisonous snake hiding in Sonja's saddle bag, which Sonja seemed unaware of, and dies before he can harm her.
- You Killed My Father: After Rejak slaughters Gromlic's band, Gromlic's son Dunkin swears that he will avenge his father and kill the murderer. Sonja, seeking to protect him, promptly knocks him out. It's brutally subverted, as the next time Sonja sees him he's a corpse on a spike, another of Rejak's victims.
"I made a vow once that no man would touch me, save he that bests me in battle. Perhaps it was a stupid vow..."
— Red Sonja, Marvel Feature (1975) #2
