Image Comics Review: Sonata #11

Review: SONATA #11


[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer:  Brian Haberlin and David Hine

Artists: Geirrod van Dyke and Brian Haberlin

Colors: Geirrod van Dyke

Letters: Frances Takenaga


Reviewed by: Carl Bryan


“How did you do it Korbyss?  How did you save your skinny wrinkled a$$ this time? ” – Sonata

“THE CITADEL: DEATH IS NOT THE END” Part Five Triumph turns to despair as Sonata returns as her people’s savior, only to find that there is no one left to save.


Brian Haberlin and David Hine  continue to weave their own universe via a Romeo and Juliet tale, but add a bit of Battlestar Galactica, a dash of Star Wars, and now some Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Or maybe some of Netflix’s Altered Carbon.

Our main protagonists, Pau and Sonata, are fresh from learning that the gods created their respective tribes (the Rans and the Tayans) to be vessels to contain their minds/souls after their current forms are exhausted.

Ironically a god that can die is not a god…is it?  But that being beside the point, this revelation puts the gods into a bit of a pickle as Sonata is not into giving up her body so a god can inhabit her.  Nor is Pau…however it is a little late for him.

Issue 10’s revelation of the Angel of Death provides the gods original intent, but this issue fleshes out the development of the two tribes, what the gods subscribe to, and ideally gives a stronger back story to Sonata’s fabric of existence.

We even get to enjoy an earlier version of Korbyss when he first landed on the planet.  Part physician, part witch doctor, part…well a mixture of comic relief and part schizophrenic, Korbyss provides the sand that fills the cracks of the story.


Choices…this issue is chock full of them.  How do you impose your freedom and your choices on a god?  How does a god impose their choices on another god?  And how do you sacrifice one parent for another?  Pau does this in a major cliff-hanger that will have implications for this world for issues to come.

Great story telling with some great use of literary angles worthy of some strong literature – a Shakespeare tragedy in outer space.



More Positives

So Geirrod van Dyke and Brian Haberlin simply can draw.  The images of this book jump off the pages, and the attention to detail is exquisite!  Image comics is the correct forum for these two to draw in.  Not that DC or Marvel couldn’t accommodate their type of playground antics, but there is something unique about the story telling they are doing with their art!



This is a complicated comic when you look in the rear view mirror.  After having read eleven issues, each one takes on a different angle and it becomes a bit of an Easter egg hunt to find the literary references.

If you are into puzzles, that is a good thing.  However, you have to get the language under your belt.  Fortunately, Image is providing not one but two ways to do that.

Sonata Vol. 1: Valley of the Gods and Sonata Vol. 2: The Citadel will provide a new reader a quick and concentrated way to catch up.  Is it worth it?  Yes.  Is it needed?  Yes.



Sonata #11 is a turning point!  It’s a catalyst and a cliff hanger.  I am intrigued as to how this is going to turn out,. But more importantly what will the authors use in their next issue to provide in their cadre of literature knowledge.  High brow comic book reading is what is in store for you!

Carl Bryan

Doc B is a college physical education instructor that has coached numerous sports on the rec, club, and collegiate level. He has a wonderful wife, two awesome kids, and remembers when Kryptonite came in a lot of different forms. He also has learned not to utter "Mxyzptlk" backwards!