BotTalk Reviews

CONAN & DRAGONERO part 7 (of 7): The Demon from Tarantia (chapter two) CONAN OF CIMMERIA and IAN ARANILL kill the hideous creatures of the eldritch demon, they arrive at the temple, Ian fights the demon while Conan restores the giant chalice to its original position, Conan puts the gems back in the chalice and the demon is sent back to its dimension.  Myrva Aranille (Ian's little sister) passes through a magic portal (created by Alben the Wizard from the Order of the Luresindi) to gather her brother. Ian thanks Conan and leaves with his sibling. Dragonero is now back home near the maritime city of Solian, he celebrates his return with Gmor Burpen (an Orc, Ian's best friend), Sera (a She-Elf from Frondascura), Alben and his sister. Back in the Hyborian age, Conan enjoys a night of drinking.  What I did like: An unused cover layout from Lorenzo Nuti showcasing Conan & Dragonero in action. Ian Aranill is an homage to Jeff Bridges as Jack Lucas from The Fisher King (1991)....

Story : After a brief flashback with Lara and Emma climbing the Himalayas, we are back in  the present on Cobra Island with the Joes (Lara, Shipwreck, Outback, Stalker, Helix and Recondo as they approach the freighter. Destro and the Baroness are able to figure out what the Joes are looking for and prepare to search the freighter while a team of Iron Grenadiers heads to engage the Joes. The team is pinned down until help arrives from the air drop team (Hit & Run, Snake-Eyes and Alpine). After taking out the Grenadiers, Lara finds a hidden passageway in the rocks and her and Shipwreck head in.  Writing : a nice second issue, with some good action, plot and suspense to go with it. We learn a bit more of Lara’s background and why she’s on her mission. It’s also nice to see a well balanced field team that makes mostly sense with some characters who don’t get a lot of time in the series, like Hit & Run (Light Infantryman) and Alpine (Mountain Trooper). One thing that does s...

Story : It’s full blown action as MASK tries to rescue Scott Trakker (Matt Trakker's son) from the clutches of V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). Nash Gorey with the Outlaw shows up as well. While Miles Mayhem and VENOM are forced to retreat, they do end up with something valuable.  Writing : This issue is mainly just fast-paced action. We get to see all the current MASK and VENOM characters and vehicles going at it. Nash Gorey and the Outlaw are introduced, a couple of later additions to the toy line.  General Flagg also makes an appearance, along with mentions of Energon, which help keep the series connected to both the ongoing G.I. Joe and Transformers series.  While this is mainly an action issue, it leaves off on a couple of nice cliffhangers.  It’s also nice to see that Matt is more than just a super scientist type, he also studies people and can figure out how they’ll react.  Art : Really solid art. Not only do we get to see the vehicles in acti...

General Ursus forces a Mutant (a mutated human telepath) to make the Predator (an alien Yautja warrior) his and Dr. Zaius' slave. Arch (the ANSA astronaut) blows up her crashed spaceship (and the Gorilla soldiers of General Ursus who were sniffing around for weapons) and grabs all the futuristic guns lying around. Cornelius and Zira bring some primitive humans to The Mutants of the Forbidden Zone (the ruins of New York City). Cronus (another Mutant) utilizes his telepathic powers to teach the primitive humans how to use the futuristic guns. Will Arch and her new army of Mutes and Mutants be able to stop Ursus and his mind-controlled Predator from exterminating all humans? What I did like: Sumptuous covers by Stonehouse & Salvador Larroca/Morry Hollowell! What I did not like: Astronaut Arch has completely forgotten that she is on a rescue mission.  Still no smart aleck giant brains in jars aka The Inheritors. Very disappointing. Where is Mendez XXVI!? Needed more Minister Sabian...

SOLOMON KANE: THE LION ERRANT part 4: Valley of Death  The Valley of Narrai next to the river Gaur (Narmada River).   Ghebal Qagh (Master of artillery in the army of the two Khans) uses his large-calibre cannon to kill Baghela and his mahouts... Kalyan Shah and his musketmen... and Arjun Das and most of his spearmen. Chandra Shah (Prince Vir's uncle, Dalpat Shah's younger brother) flees the scene. The lion named Somnandi/Dawon throws Ramih Khan off of his mount. Somnandi the Lion becomes gigantic. The warrior queen Rani Durgavati turns into the Hindu goddess Durga. Ramih Khan turns into the buffalo demon Mahisha/Mahishasura. The vetala (Lopesh) tries to steal Solomon Kane's Atlantean staff, Abramo Bensaid immolates Lopesh and Kane drives his stave into the vampire's heart. To save the Mughal Empire, Ghebal Qagh fires his cannon on Mahisha, Mahisha kills Durga, Kane kills Mahisha with his Atlantean stave. Prince Vir Narayan (son of Rani Durgavati) and Beohar Kayastha (Ra...

Jim Zub's Cursed Shores Beyond part 4: A Glimpse Beyond Flashback: Conan decapitates Thulsa Doom, Black Stone cultists sense the demise across time, some start worshipping the elder god... The Woeful Eye/Shuma-Gorath, others... a new eldritch being... Jaggta-Noga. Jaggta-Noga knows that Set (the sinister snake-god who loathes the Woeful Eye) sent Conan back in time and that some of Set's power remains sprinkled on the Cimmerian. Jaggta-Noga needs to feed on Conan to completely cross into The Hyborian Age.  On The Isle of Dread, CONAN OF CIMMERIA slays the last two robe wearing "Noga Kinfolk" servants of Jaggta-Noga, Conan battles Morley, Conan offers Morley to Jaggta-Noga, Morley gets ingested by Jaggta-Noga.  With its connection to Conan's world waining, Jaggta-Noga creates a sucking vortex, it grabs the barbarian, VALERIA prevents Conan from reaching the maw of Jaggta-Noga. Denied his Set flavoured amuse-gueule, depleted of power, Jaggta-Noga is forced to return...

Tides of the Tyrant-King part 2 (of 4): The Desperate and The Drowned The Hyborian Age of Conan.  Mago and Tormey die. Hydallan falls in Thulsa Doom's pool of Emerald Water and is strengthened by the malachite liquid he swallows. Hydallan escapes with Conan (as seen in Conan the Barbarian (2023) #4). Hydallan rebuilds his village of Erianne, suffers from Emerald Water withdrawal, gets sick, dies and rises from his grave as a reanimated servant of Thulsa Doom. The forest north of Messantia (capital city of Argos). CONAN OF CIMMERIA dreams of Thulsa Doom, he wakes up and tells Zuleika (the mysterious Circassian girl who needs more of Thulsa Doom's emerald elixir to save her lover (Stephen Costigan in the future) from withdrawal and death) that he has a score to settle with Thulsa. Zuleika explains to the Cimmerian that her lover (Costigan) is a thrall of Thulsa Doom/Kathulos. Wolves attack, Conan butchers the wolves. Chinatown, London (Limehouse in the East End), 1924. (from Robe...

Group huddle! It’s reunion(s) time in 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-fifth issue, virtually our entire cast gather, take stock, fight, make new friends, unmask, and do various other things! So everyone’s here? Geez, almost. With Skuxxoid arriving on the planet that Darak and Solila, not to mention Pythona’s gang and ROM are currently stranded, that’s nearly the entire cast of Void Rivals in this issue. That’s not even mentioning the final cou...

After a quick recap from Jadzia Dax, we go into our story where our people on the holosuite attempt to solve the game and out in space Defiant defeats the Maquis. Well this sure was a rushed conclusion, Dax and others look at a body then rush outside, give a speech. And outside Sisko figures out what happened to the Varela crew. And that’s it. What should’ve been a two issue conclusion is rushed out in one issue. I mean for a rushed final story it was alright, but when they tell you the stakes are high, they need to deliver those stakes. And the object everyone is trying to find just kinda goes away, and Verad becomes a werewolf... for reasons and just kinda goes nowhere. Plus the Blade is this entity game master that just kinda exists. And I don’t know, this wasn’t great. This story could’ve been in any corner of the franchise, it didn’t really need to be DS9, and it feels that it’s DS9 just to be DS9. 3/10. Its only saving grace being that it is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But this n...

Story : Flint is able to stop the G.I. B.A.T. but Duke is hurt so Night Force and the Joes head back to base. The Baroness makes contact with a handler of some sort to get supplies and information. Hawk/Zartan meets up with General Flagg and they discuss the Mobile Command Center and its Energon stores. Hawk/Zartan splits the Joes up into two teams - one to track the Baroness and one to escort the MCC. Flint is unhappy he needs to take the G.I. B.A.T. again and asks Scarlett to keep an eye on Cobra activity that would indicate the Baroness gave them info. Hawk/Zartan contacts Zarana and Zandar to get them to mobilize Cobra to make it look like Cobra knows something. Meanwhile, the Baroness finds Hawk's cabin and a surprise inside.  Writing : Not as much action here, but there in going-ons. Many plots are building to a head and Flint isn’t so sure of Hawk anymore. We also get to see Doc and Flagg in the Joe comic now too!   Art : Really good throughout the issue. Getting to see...

And so on the holodeck Worf and co. find O’Brien and are faced by the head of the Game in the form of a classic vampire. Outside, Odo investigates the Varela and the Defiant makes its return to DS9. Oh good Verad is back. Okay so a couple of continuity things right off, first we see Bashir and Doctor Selar in sickbay, Selar is supposed to be in a coma but then both are captured when Maquis throw Odo and team in confinement with them. Also Odo is off searching the ship, but he’s also walking past Quark? And Selar apparently made a quick recovery.  Also Verad and Maquis? Verad wasn’t even a great antagonist in the show, they could’ve chosen any number of characters. Also the portrayal of the Maquis as power grabbing terrorists, they were never that. They were colonists angered by the Federation’s decision to abandon them for some treaty, making them the big bad for plot reasons is just kinda lazy. On the plus side the A story on the holodeck is a much better story involving a mystery...

The battle begins.  The Emerald Chain fights desperately to destroy the last remnants of the Federation.  Sato and Kirk coordinate fleet actions to get as many ships as possible into the singularity.  Sato proposes Agnes assimilate him so the others can escape.  So she and Kirk can live.  Sato and Kirk have one last argument but this one Sato wins.  He is assimilated.  His plan works.  Two years later we see former members of the Omega living their lives.  A statue of Sato at Starfleet Academy... and on some distant planet a Borg Nanite free Kirk and Agnes watch the sunset.   Most of this issue feels like the George Lucas shorthand of, 'they fight'... but it is pretty great.  I liked Kirk and Sato working together after being at odds for so long.  I thought it was great they had one last 'argument' that Sato one.  After everything his solution was to sacrifice himself.  So much of this series focused on Sato instead o...