Undead Du has been cosplaying as the swashbuckling sword swinging beauty for a while now with her self-made costume and she has to be one of the most notable Red Sonja cosplayers around, so it was great that she got this nod! I had the chance to have a quick chat with Du at the recent Montreal Mini Comic-Con and got the scoop!
Here’s what she had to say!
FPB: First of all congratulations on the variant cover, I know you’re a big fan so this is a huge deal! How did this come about?
Du: Well I’ve been cosplaying as my Red Sonja character for a few years now when they were doing a cover contest and I wanted to say good luck to everyone who was entering and began interacting with their social media page, and they decided a few months ago to do cosplay covers and I was lucky enough to be asked to be on one.
I was fully excited because I’ve always had a lot of fun with that costume! I find the character empowering! As well I tried to create a challenge for myself, because I wanted to craft a costume that was under $20, to prove that anyone can make a cosplay under ANY budget!
So, the fact that it was a character I loved AND a costume that I challenged myself with...yeah, it was REALLY cool to be given that opportunity.
FPB: So, have you been a fan of this character for quite some time? When did you get into Red Sonja and how does she appeal to you?
Du: I sort of fell into Red Sonja actually! I inherited some comics from a friend and they were like “oh here’s some stuff you might like” as he was cleaning out his place, and that’s how I got into Red Sonja! It was probably only about 4-5 years ago. For me the character’s pretty new in my life. But I really like strong female characters and I think I relate more to strength. I myself was always a very sporty girl. I find women are usually portrayed as intelligent but physically weaker, so it’s great to show a physically strong woman. I related to that more growing up. I was great in school, but sports was where I really identified myself.
FPB: The first Red Sonja shoot you did, it was outside in the winter. What was that shoot like? Just how uncomfortable was that?
Du: That was the first shoot I did as Red Sonja. We shot another one for the comic cover. But this one I shot with Richard Dufault of Open Shutter Photography in JANUARY. And there was ...a lot “behind the scenes” (laughs).
There was a tarp and blankets and a lot for me to huddle under...but it was cold. It was very cold! We had to go in knowing exactly what we wanted to shoot and what we wanted to do. So, a lot of planning went into it, instead of like “okay, it’s cold...what do we do now?”
It was fun, but I don’t know often I will be doing winter shoots (laughs)!
FPB: You said it was a very low budget costume to create, what were some of the challenges in doing that?
Du: I just wanted to do something cool that wasn’t expensive. I wanted to challenge myself to be creative by using materials I found just at the dollar store, and thought of how I could re-imagine common items into something cool.
I used a lot of craft foam. It really is just a bikini with craft foam on it, painted in silver, and old parts to make the belt. It’s really just a matter of thinking outside the box. It’s easy to buy expensive things that are already made. I really wanted to recreate her costume in an easy, inexpensive way.
FPB: And it paid off in a big way! When is Red Sonja #1 going to be available?
Du: It will be available in January, you can pre-order it now. Make sure you ask for the COSPLAY VARIANT COVER. It’s available online but make sure you write in the cosplay variant cover at the checkout! So it will be out in the beginning of the New Year!
FPB: Awesome!! We can’t wait! Thanks for the chat!
Du: Thank you so much!
And of course, you can also order your copy of Undead Du’s cosplay cover RIGHT HERE on this very website! Be sure to get yours and follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and keep up to date with her convention appearances to meet her get your copy signed!
That will be all for now, kiddos! Happy holidays and BLEED OUT!
