Dynamite Entertainment is set to again unite many of its licensed characters in a new event, debuting in May and titled "Swords of Sorrow." While Dynamite has brought together a wide swatch of characters before -- like in the recent "Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure" -- this one has the distinction of being written by women creators and starring all female main characters including Vampirella, Red Sonja and Dejah Thoris from "Warlord of Mars."

"Swords of Sorrow" was originally announced last July under the working title of "The Women of Dynamite," and like in that original announcement, Gail Simone -- who has been writing "Red Sonja" for Dynamite since 2013 -- is the main writer on the project. She'll be writing the core "Swords of Sorrow" series, which is scheduled to start in May with art from Sergio Davila, as well as serving as "architect" for the various tie-in books set to unfold as part of the overarching story.

"I love pulp adventure, always have," Simone said in Dynamite's press release announcing the event. "But as male-dominated as comics have often been, the pulp adventure world seems to be even more so. Most of the big name stars and creators are dudes, and that's fine, it's great. But it hit me... what if that wasn't the case? What if adventure pulps had also been written with female readers in mind, and awesome female characters in the spotlight? That's the scenario we are imagining, and it's just been a blast. The key players are Red Sonja, Vampirella and Dejah Thoris, but it's such an epic-spanning, world-hopping event that we also have Kato, Jungle Girl, Lady Rawhide, Jennifer Blood and so many more."

Also expected in May as part of "Swords of Sorrow": A "Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella/Jennifer Blood" miniseries written by Nancy A. Collins (Dynamite's current "Vampirella" writer) and drawn by Dave Acosta, "Swords of Sorrow: Chaos" written by Mairghread Scott (writer of "Transformers: Windblade") and drawn by Mirka Andolfo, plus a "Swords of Sorrow: Masquerade/Kato" special written by "Ms. Marvel" co-creator G. Willow Wilson and "M3" writer Erica Schultz, with art from Noah Salonga. Writers Leah Moore, Marguerite Bennett, Emma Beeby and Mikki Kendall are also named as contributed to as-yet unspecified future "Swords of Sorrow" stories.

"The prospect of Gail Simone helming this historic event (and I really think 'historic' is the applicable term, because we've never seen such a far-ranging cast of female icons before) would have been enough to make the Dynamite team ecstatic ten times over... but then Gail took it to the next level," Dynamite CEO and Publisher Nick Barrucci said in the announcement. "She proposed to make the event even bigger by creating a tapestry of interwoven stories, a work of art to which many of today's most revered female talents could contribute."

As frequently is the case with Dynamite events, expect plenty of variant and incentive covers for "Swords of Sorrow" -- the first issue will have a main cover illustrated by J. Scott Campbell, and subsequent variants and tie-ins will feature the work of Jenny Frison, Emanuela Lupacchino, Robert Hack, Joyce Chin, Tula Lotay, Nei Ruffino & Cedric Poula and Billy Tan.