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Star Trek: Red Shirts - Ghost of the 21st Century #2 review

Lyna Taval and Harry Deubert make their escape off planet, meanwhile Captain Miller makes his own plans to stop them! This issue keeps up the pace of the previous issue, where after checking in with Lyna’s handler and learning there’s a second witness to Captain Miller’s... villainy, they then fight their way out of an ambush. All in all the 2090s redshirts is off to a good start, leaving enough here to make the reader come back for more next month. 8/10

Star Trek: Deviations - Evermore review

In a slight variant from the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode where a nebula has the enterprise play out a fantasy story for Joseph M'Benga's daughter in that show’s season one, this is what if the fantasy was tales by Edgar Allan Poe. Wherein the doctor now has to work through the fantasy and still ends up letting his daughter go to become a nebula entity. If you love Poe, you may like this issue. I think the story has a target audience and Edgar Allan Poe fans are it. This is a 19th century gothic story instead of the fantasy knights and princesses and monsters story of the streaming episode, but they both essentially end the same way. And the art work tries to play along as a visual representation of a Poe work and in that it does its job, if a bit too clean. But in the end it’s a 5/10

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #332 review

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Pat Olliffe (artist), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story : Cutter, Shipwreck, and Wetsuit are on the Killer W.H.A.L.E. Hovercraft assisting Deep Six as he investigates a sunken Russian submarine. Ghostrider in The Phantom X-19 Stealth Fighter is providing air support when three Rattlers and a ASPID helicopter arrive with two Cobra Eels and a Hydro-Viper who head down to the sub as well. Writing : Sometimes this is just what you need, a nice stand-alone issue with some good action and fight scenes. The Russian sub may come up later down the road but for now, it's just a MacGuffin for our characters. And we get nautical guys doing nautical stuff and a flier...flying! Everyone is doing their role nicely and it all fits together in a nice, tight story. Art : Art and colors are sublime in this issue. Olliffe does a good job with the action scenes and, between him and Ham...

Star Trek: 60th Anniversary Special review

1. Escape from the planet of Mudd (Story by David Gerrold, Art by JP Buzio, Colors by Christine Franzen) For the first story we are treated to a sequel of classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode I, Mudd, wherein we pick up after the enterprise had left Harry on a planet of about 500 Stellas constantly nagging. Harry Mudd devises a way to distract the Stellas and get off planet. This wasn’t too bad of a story in its own right. You almost feel bad for Harry, and they got his character down well enough you can hear Roger C. Carmel’s (Cyclonus from Transformers season 3!) voice as Harry whines and plans his way out. It’s not that it’s a necessary sequel, but it’s still a welcome short story if you’re a fan of Harry Mudd episodes. 2. The Engineer's Dilemma (Story by Dana Gould, Art by Megan Levens, Colors by Charlie Kirchoff) After the events of TOS episode The Lights of Zetar Scotty stands in his quarters going over the decision to let Mira go as she moved on to her new post at...

Transformers #36 (2023) review

More thrills! More shocks! More new arms! The bold new era for the Autobots and this book continues! Robert Kirkman, chief architect of the Energon Universe, writes the flagship Transformers title and Jason Howard takes over as regular penciler for this new story arc with Mike Spicer on colors. Howard had previously drawn issues # 13 and # 14 of this book, along with many covers. In this thirty-sixth issue, a new Superion is born! Doctor Arkeville proves his worth! Starscream prepares a plot! And Beachcomber searches for a new purpose! What is it with Skybound and giving people new arms? Optimus, Rom, and now Superion… I dunno. Anyhow, as practically EVERYONE expected, Thundercracker becomes part of Superion in this issue! And uh… well, there’s not a lot of fanfare to it, actually. It’s just treated as something Thundercracker could already do. Off-panel upgrades from Wheeljack, I guess? I dunno what I expected, maybe Cobra-La to have the Enigma of Combination or something, but it just...

Sonic the Hedgehog x Godzilla #2 review

Conan & Dragonero #5 review

CONAN & DRAGONERO part 5 (of 7): Ice & Flames (chapter two) The gems within the deceased dragon have teleported Conan of Cimmeria, Ian Aranill... and the dragon's remains to the Hyborian Age of Conan in THE DESERT OF SHEM. The dragon's carcass lies near the Mountains of Fire (where the magic gems were originally mined/extracted). Conan and Ian fight lizards to get to the dragon's corpse, they discover that the gems were taken. Conan finds a bone pendant. Near the City of Shushan, Conan asks a merchant if he knows the owner of the necklace. After brawling with the locals, Conan gets his answer: nameless savage Cannibals (the Zugite cult?) who are living in the mysterious ruins of Kuthchemes (from Black Colossus). Conan mentions Zug (the ancient god) and Thugra Khotan (the dark sorcerer who had reigned in Kuthchemes three thousand years ago). Conan and Ian reach the towering ivory dome of Thugra Khotan. Inside the dome, the stolen mystical jewels turn the leader of th...

Patchwork review

Novel by Cody Walker Cover by Ben Marra Spoilers! Spoilers! Since 1962, Atlas Industries (a multi-billion dollar corporation) has been the leading name in Rebirth Engineering. Atlas manufactures new reanimated sentient beings (second-class citizens known as Patchwork people/Patchworks/Patchies) made up of body parts of different corpses stitched together. This is the first election where Patchies are able to vote and Senator Edgar Bates is up for reelection, the Senator hires a Patchie journalist... Ms. Brynn Drew (a Patchwork person made from four different women), he wants to know what goes on behind the scenes in the creation of Patchies at Atlas Industries (one of his big money donors to his campaign) and the struggles that Patchwork voters (who live in slums) experience. During her investigation Brynn will encounter a grave-robbing duo, an in-house Atlas Industries motherly figure that helps new Patchies upon Rebirth (since the process eliminates previous memories), two pleas...

Predator versus Planet of the Apes #2 review

The Gorilla soldiers of General Ursus sniff out the cloaked Predator (an alien Yautja warrior) and shoot at it. The injured Predator kills even more soldiers and disappears. Ursus decides to team up with Arch (the American National Space Administration astronaut) to find George Taylor. Arch gives one of her fuel cells to Ursus. Cornelius and Zira discover the Predator out like a light and patch him up. Ursus and Arch reach the Statue of Liberty (a gift from France, Planet of the Apes (the original novel) was written by a French author). Mutant controlled Gorilla soldiers (a platoon previously sent by Ursus into the Forbidden Zone (the ruins of New York City)) attack Ursus and Arch! Cornelius, Zira and their new Predator compadre arrive to save Ursus and Arch from the crazed soldiers. What I did like: Dr. Zaius appears on one page! Fantastic covers by Stonehouse, Christopher Campana/Cam Smith/Rachelle Rosenberg, Dave Wachter and Mike Henderson/Nolan Woodard! What I did not like: St...

Universal Monsters: Blood of the Wolf Man #3 review

Adam is questioned about what happened. He tells the detective he is a werewolf and he killed the people at the party. He also shares what really happened to his older brother, that he killed himself. As the detective takes Adam away he gets into an argument with his father. He tears away the medallion from his neck and transforms into a werewolf in front of everyone. The cops open fire but it has no effect. He begins cutting down everyone in sight. His father hides as the massacre continues and emerges from his hiding spot to find the Wolf Man standing over him. I feel like this is the first issue of this mini-series I have connected with. No more beating around the bush. Things are laid out clearly. Adam is a werewolf. His older brother killed himself and their father covered it up. He then transforms in full view of everyone in the police station and goes on a rampage. Will Adam, as a werewolf, kill his fat...

MASK: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand #4 (2026) review

Creators : Dan Watters (writer), Marco Ferrari (artist), Pierluigi Casolino (colorist), Rus Wooton (letteter) Story : Matt Trakker meets up with Dusty Hayes in New Orleans to stop someone with a mask on from hurting people. Matt and Dusty talk a lot about the past and more details emerge on how everything is connected. Miles Mayhem (leader of V.E.N.O.M.) ended up putting a dangerous mask on a random individual to distract Matt while Mayhem goes and does something else. Writing : The beginning jumps right into the story with very little carry over from the previous issue. We get another classic mask character (Dusty Hayes) introduced along with his jeep, Gator, (though it doesn't change to a boat this time). The end of the issue also brings in Buddie Hawks too. And Miles traveling to Boulder Hill, NY was a nice inclusion as well. Overall, while most of the issue is Matt and Dusty trying to help Buddie, there is a lot of talking about ...

Void Rivals #33 review

It’s a ROMlution! Or a Romvolution? Rom the Space Knight is here in issue # 33 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. In this thirty-third issue, Darak and Solila make formal acquaintance with Rom the Space Knight and his partner, the organic blob known as Carpet! Also, Cobra-La is still there and we catch up with Skuxxoid as he arrives on a new, very-familiar planet! Who’s this Rom guy? You know! Rom! The Space Knight! Yet another Hasbro property folded into the...

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - Lost Contact #5 review

And now the conclusion to the first arc that begins Academy’s life as a comic even as paramount foolishly has cancelled the show on streaming! And having learned that the team works better when they communicate clearly with each other, they make contact with the aliens and all work together to help bring the shield generators back online. And our cadets learn the importance of first contact and interpersonal working relationships. And Starfleet of the 31st century takes important steps towards a positive restoration for the future. So the art is the weakest part of the story, but it’s a kind of classic comic style as well which I think fits the tone of this arc’s conclusion, where the beginning was a darker more chaotic style and here in 5 it’s more lighter and orderly while we see the cadets get it together and help these aliens. But I’m probably just nitpicking at this point, reading all five together would absolutely make this whole story make better visual sense. But it’...

Conan the Barbarian #34 (2023) review

Jim Zub's Cursed Shores Beyond part 2: An Isle of DREAD The Briney Wren (Captain Quinn Corvaxis' ship) has been utterly destroyed by an unnatural storm. Conan the Buccaneer, Valeria, Morley and the rest of The Red Brotherhood disembark on a strange isle and find cadavers trapped in crystal obelisks (like mosquitoes in amber). Conan and co. enter the adjacent jungle, Valeria encounters a baby herbivorous dinosaur, it rejoins its herd. Three large theropods attack! Rodriguez (an homage to the colorist) is bitten in half, the herbivores start a stampede. Conan kills one of the theropods, Valeria does the same, the third one opens Conan's back with its claws. The rest of the pirates kill the third theropod. Conan and co. drink coconut water and eat the theropods. Captain Quinn talks of his experiences on Captain Gunnet O'Bryan's Glory-Bae and the DawnyHawk. Morley spins a tale about an invisible man with glowing red eyes. While on guard duty, Morley robs Valeria of her...