BotTalk Reviews

A crew in cryosleep wakes up and eventually begins the explore a planet.  As they talk the things they mention seemingly appear, although alien and distorted in nature.  Eventually they come upon two lifeforms, one beating the other.  One of the crew intervenes and they are soon overwhelmed by aliens and taken into custody.  Placed in a holding cell they attack the wall and it reacts.  They escape and eventually the real aliens show themselves.  They state that the planet can read their minds, that the planet is for relaxation and therapy.  They offer to start over and go through a reconfigured therapy but it will take centuries.  The crew, except for one, agree.  Alone, he returns to Earth but those in charge refuse to believe his story. In every aspect this has the feel of the original Twilight Zone.  The black and white art.  The designs of the space suits and spaceship.  The aliens.  The ending.  I expected nothin...

James T. Kirk and Captain Sato discuss classic literature while the command crew arrives.  They make final preparations to engage Transwarp drive when a fleet of Klingon ships are detected.  The Borg-enhanced Omega arrives and immediately comes under attack.  As the Omega fights for its life Kirk begins to flashback to the death of his son (David Marcus in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock).  As a Klingon boarding party breaches the hull Kirk appears on the bridge, reporting for duty and wearing a Starfleet uniform. We see the polarity between a resurrected Kirk and Sato, his modern counterpart.  Sato knows little of war while Kirk is more than experienced, Sato even giving Kirk a specific number of people who died as a result of orders he gave.  We get some time with the crew of the Omega... but not much.  A few even appear to have been killed off during the battle.  This is still the most engaged, to pardon a pun, I've felt with an IDW Trek c...

As the landing party tries to avoid The Seed they become separated.  Spock and D-6 encounter Scotty and the trio manage to escape in a mini sub as the underwater complex is destroyed.  Underground, Chapel comes face to face with La'an Noonien-Singh and Number One, now possessed by The Seed.   Again, a lot going on this issue... and again, very little seems to happen.  The cliffhanger of the Enterprise being surrounded is followed up on by only a few pages.  The action of this issue is focused on the surface, with Chapel having several conversations with her old friend, now possessed by The Seed.  It is the old routine of a friend telling someone things they don't want to hear or don't want to admit.  Seen it before a thousand times.  D-6 continues to feel like a Star Wars character and Scotty hardly registers to me as actually acting like Scotty. six out of ten.

Part 3 starts with a quick flashback scene with Christine Chapel and Jinare before returning to the present with the plant terror trying to coax chapel to join, but is stopped by Una Chin-Riley.  Una and Chapel stay behind to buy time for the rest of the landing party, meanwhile in orbit the ship is about to be attacked by an alien race. Spock and D-16 make it to the sub but are stopped by the returning giant squid from issue one.  In between space and underwater we learn the vine creatures were imprisoned by an ancient race called the Arken (who are surrounding the Enterprise) who have less than benevolent reasons for imprisoning the vine people, the vine people are pissed and we’re left in another cliffhanger. One of the many things I’ve always liked about Star Trek, they introduce an alien race that’s considered ancient and give you enough information that leaves you wanting more. And with this issue specifically they are doing just that while keeping the pacing moving alo...

A Scourge of the Serpent Novel by Tim Waggoner Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love  From Titan Books and Conan Properties International Also available unabridged on audiobook from Blackstone Publishing, read by Bradford Hastings  Spoilers! Spoilers!  The Deities of Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age are rallying against the sinister snake-god Set (the great serpent Jörmungandr) who is busy preparing for the arrival of the even more wicked Woeful Eye (Shuma-Gorath?) who is planning a conquest of Conan's planet. Set recruits Stygian sorcerer Uzzeran (Master of the Revenants (corpses steered by Set shadow-snakes)), Shengis (Uzzeran's Stygian servant who wears the Snare amulet that ensnares Serpent-Men) and Rynthia (a Zamorian woman who was raised by sorceress Nabishut). Ishtar (fertility goddess of the Shemites) recruits Conan and Valja (a Zamorian woman). Mitra (god of the Hyborians symbolized by The Phoenix) recruits Naerys (an Ophirian priestess of Mitra & a former test subject o...

Jim Zub's The Conquering Crown part 1 (of 3): The Implausible General A CAPITAL, BRAND-NEW CONAN ARC BEGINS NOW! Poitain, Aquilonia's southernmost province is under siege by the soldiers of King Ferdrugo de Ramiro III of Zingara.  Count Trocero of Poitain and his knights get ambushed by Zingaran archers.  Captain Prospero of Poitain (King Conan's future right-hand man) is defending Culario (capital of Poitain).  Tarantia (capital of Aquilonia). Numedides the Mad King of Aquilonia, whose subjects are starving in the streets, wants his army and his knights (The Black Dragons) to stay by his side... he will send a lesser, more expendable force to assist Trocero... the Mercenaries. The leader of the Westermarck Wolves, Sumner (an homage to Andrew Sumner, COO of Titan Entertainment Group) rouses his sellswords, including Conan and Ular. Conan & Co arrive in Poitain to meet with Count Trocero.  Count Trocero and his knights + the Westermarck Wolves fight the Zingarans,...

Brad Boimler and Sam Rutherford ordered an android from Harry Mudd Companions! Beckett Mariner tries to avoid going to the dentist! Cerritos is visiting Laaperia for second contact! Surely this is a normal day for the Cerritos! And it kind of is, Boimler and Rutherford’s android goes on a rampage while Shaxs Drazon chases down Mariner to drag her to see the dentist. Eventually the Cerritos arrives to make second contact with the Laaperians, but when the away team beams down, they arrive into a... to be continued! A good issue after a string of not great issues, and is a day in the life type story that eventually reaches the overarching plot, a plot that is a mystery for the crew to solve.  So a good story, decent art as always.  It’s about as Rick Berman era trek as you can get. 7/10

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciller), Tony Kordos (inker), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story : Two Joe teams, on in a desert another in frozen arctic lands, are sent to investigate the construction of two Cobra Terror Dromes. Due to circumstances, both end up engaging with the Cobra forces there.  Writing : There is a few interesting things going on with this issue.  First is the contrast going on with the extreme environments the Joe teams find themselves in.  On top of that, each gets two pages so reading the book we keep going back and forth between these environments.  This isn't too jarring because the stories play out very similar.  Hama also takes this opportunity to use some less-used characters - Iceberg, Frostbite, Snow Job, Sub-Zero, Dusty, Mongoose, and Lightfoot.  I've always enjoyed when some of the lesser-known Joes get some time.  This issue is also pretty much...

Transformers Lives Again! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s Energon Universe, he now takes the writing reins of the flagship Transformers comic series as well, with Dan Mora now on pencils and Mike Spicer still on colors. In this twenty-sixth issue, the new alliance the Autobots have struck with the humans is put to the test and the Ark is a stage for conflict as Decepticon Thundercracker seeks to free Skywarp from Teletraan-1. Oh yeah, Thundercracker and Skywarp went on a little trip last issue. Yup, they were teleported into the midst of Cobra-La and when they return, Thundercracker is in no mood to listen after being confronted with the organic horrors he witnessed there. Thankfully, Optimus Prime manages to talk him down and agrees to help free Skywarp from being entangled with Teletraan-1. Thundercracker’s uneasy loyalties take center stage here and Kirkman sets him up for a new role in this universe that may seem a bit familiar to fans of Beast Wars or ...

Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, your local spinner rack is once again showcasing another brand new issue of SSOC!  64 startling pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint! Inside this stunning magazine you will find the following: Terrific art pin-ups: Conan the Barbarian by Thomas Nachlik Conan the Barbarian by Fernando Dagnino Guerra CONAN: TATTERED WINGS chapter 1: Mirrors of the Soul by Liam Sharp Conan and his Hyrkanian mercenaries have been hired to rescue the "kidnaped" son of wizened warlord Marrik Ban Torr. Shemu, Batu and the rest of Conan's comrades get taken out by unseen Wolven (wolf-men) slingers. Conan gets tapped twice in the head and passes out. Conan wakes up the next day and builds a funeral pyre for his fallen friends.  The ancient Bel-Karun, Uruk-Tah and another guard escort Conan to "the aerie" to meet the Master of the forgotten Fortress of Ekur-Gal: King Anzu-Kur, the bird mage of the Black Pinions... who is a twin ...

Void Rivals Recover! UNITY was averted and we recover in issue # 24 of Void Rivals! Void Rivals is Robert Kirkman’s sci-fi comic that tells the tale of two crumbling planets linked by a “Sacred Ring” (it’s not Halo), their peoples at war for generations. When a member of each culture are stranded together, the two find they must put aside their differences if they want to survive. This story takes place in the so-called “Energon Universe”, Skybound Entertainment’s initiative to relaunch properties like Transformers and G.I. Joe within a shared universe that also happens to include the original characters and setting of Void Rivals. Ongoing artist Conor Hughes and colorist Patricio Delpeche join Robert Kirkman for this 24th issue and wrap up the second year of Void Rivals. Unity has been averted for now, but the threat of Goliant is still looming over both Agorrian and Zertonian civilization and the universe itself! We catch up with our various factions of characters here as a new era b...