BotTalk Reviews

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Andrea Milana (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story : Cover Girl and The Baroness continue to fight for Major Bludd so that Raptor doesn't kill the Baroness' parents.  Clutch is trying to figure out Cobra's weapons with Autobot Hound but realizes they have to return to the M.A.R.S. headquarters to see if they can find more.  Destro is unsettled that he doesn't know more about Cobra Commander's past and confronts him in a secret lab of the Commander's. The tide finally turns for the lady Joes and Risk confronts Clutch, wondering what's up with him, at the M.A.R.S. base as Mercer shows up.   Writing : A good fast-paced issue that mixes a bit of action with a lot of intrigue, both from the Joes and from Cobra.  Williamson also has a nice touch of adding in bits and pieces of classic character lore into the mix, such as Major Bludd deciding to share some of his poetry.   Art : Milana continues to ...

Creators : Larry Hama (Writer), Paul Pelletier (Penciller), Tony Kordos (Inker), Francesco Segala (Colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (Flatter), Pat Brosseau (Letterer) Story : Things come to a head in Scotland, Springfield and Cobra Island.  The Springfield team needs to make a quick escape as does the Cobra Island team.  Meanwhile, in Scotland, Cobra Commander is trying to escape.   Writing :  Wow...this was not Hama's best work.  Part of it is all three narratives of this tale are the same.  Both G.I. Joe teams are made and need to escape while Cobra Commander is trying to escape Scotland.  On top of that, the Joes at the Pit are tapped into the Cobra feeds at various locations and know all of this is happening, which begs the question, why risk soldiers' lives when you already know what is happening.  Then the "we just happened to tap into a feed at a Scottish airport" at the right time to see a Cobra Hurricane VTOL Vertical Takeoff and Landing Jet...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Andrea Milana (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story : Raptor (Cobra Falconer) continues his attack on Cover Girl and Baroness in Paris, relating briefly his origin.  Finally, he and Major Bludd are able to capture the duo.  At the Pit (The G.I. Joe command center), Risk expresses concern that Clutch is acting off to Duke, who brushes it off.  Meanwhile, Clutch talks more with Autobot Hound and promises to help him find the Autobots and more Energon.  At a prison facility, Mercer has broken in and found a rogue M.A.R.S. agent who helped fixed up Decepticon Starscream.  Destro tells Mercer to make sure the agent doesn't share the info.  In an undisclosed location, Major Bludd tells the Baroness and Cover Girl they must fight for their freedom, ending the issue on a cliffhanger.  Writing :  Williamson has done a good job making Raptor a bit more interesting.  He keeps the bulk of ...

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciller), Tony Kordos (inker), Francesco Segala (colourist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatterer), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Plot : At the Pit, Duke, Black Hat, Stalker and Mainframe monitor and support the various Joe teams.  In Springfield, Storm Shadow and Dawn sneak in through the tunnels and learn some important information about Cobra Commander.  At Cobra Island, Multo and Helix are able to disguise themselves to sneak into the casino to they can figure out who all of Revanche's sleeper agents will be while Muskrat and Wet-Suit spy on Dr. Mindbender meeting with Alpha-001.  In Scotland, Cobra Commander makes his escape, not realizing he's being spied upon.  Writing :  Hama is doing a decent job of setting up all his players for the big set pieces but sometimes the issues lack a lot of action.  We get a little bit with Dawn and Storm Shadow finishing off a cyborg from the invasion of Springfield.  However,...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Andrea Milana (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Rus Wooton (letter) Story : After a training exercise at the Pitt, the Baroness wishes to have 48 hours of leave (even though she's technically a prisoner).  Clutch brings Autobot Hound into the base.  Cobra Commander and Destro look at the Transformers battle in Seattle and decide to try to retrieve whatever they can from the devastation, though Cobra Commander wants a fully functioning Cybertronian.  Baroness is allowed a leave but Cover Girl needs to go with her.  They get to know each other a bit and enjoy some time in Paris until Major Bludd sends his agents after the Baroness.   Writing : This is a good character-driven issue, especially for the Baroness and Cover Girl.  We get some background on them and they seem to really start to bond over a few shared similarities.  Cobra Commander is still cryptic with Destro but a larger picture is starting to form, c...

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciller), Tonk Kordos (inker), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Plot : The infiltration team made up of Wet Suit, Muskrat, Helix, and Multo set up their surveillance of Cobra Island.  In Springfield, the Ninja Team go undercover to figure out what Destro is up to.  At Revanche, Dr. Mindbender is given an "upgrade" and has developed hand-to-hand skills.  The Cobra Island team witness the cruise ship guests are now sleeper agents for Revanche and both they and the Ninja team check in with Duke at the pit.  Meanwhile, in Scotland, Destro reveals that he added pain inducers while removing bullets from Cobra Commander and will use that to negotiate a good deal. Writing : Like we see a lot, Hama is putting all of his pieces into place for a few issues before getting to the action.  One thing I've enjoyed is that Hama does like to put the occasional military lingo in the...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Andrea Milana (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Plot : Cover Girl asks General Hawk about some files and he dismisses it and proceeds to shred them.  Elsewhere, Beach Head is tasked with retrieving an item from a rich man's home and runs into problems with another group trying to get it.  Eventually, he succeeds with some help but feels he was too "sloppy" in it.  His help was Lady Jaye and Flint, who have an offer for him.  Meanwhile. Major Bludd is upset over his troops' failure to procure the item.  Writing :  Mystery is the name of this issue.  What were in the files Hawk shredded?  What's the item Beach Head is trying to get?  Who is Major Bludd out to get?  And what are Flint and Lady Jaye up to?  Following the conclusion of the first arc, this one introduces a few Joes new to the Energon Universe.  Like before, the framework of their character is there (Beac...

G.I. Joe Picking up from where issue #6 leaves off, Hound and Clutch are at odds but realize they can help each other and a familiar name helps them.  Meanwhile, Cobra Commander's energon supply might be in jeopardy.   A nice interlude that expands on the end of issue 6 of the on-going G.I. Joe title.  We get a bit of background on Hound and how he came to be reactivated.  We also get to see a familiar face from the Cobra Commander mini-series make a reappearance.  I did like this story but do worry that if someone skipped this issue, they might be a bit lost when they pick up issue 7 (though we'll see when it comes out!). Transformers Jazz is kicked out of his Cybertronian band but seems to be searching for something more.  On Earth, he seems to have gotten closer to finding it.  A nice "slice of life" style story, we get to see Jazz on Cybertron playing in his rock band and, like on Earth, they have drama.  This plays up to a lot of Jazz's perso...

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciller), Tony Kordos (inker), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer). Story : At the Pit, a car drives up with Cobra agents willing to defect.  Dr. Mindbender makes his case to join Revanche as Alpha-001 brainwashes the tourists so they don't remember their time on Cobra Island.  Cobra Commander continues to be a captive of Destro, who stops the Baroness from killing the Commander.  The Joe Ninja team gets new orders to impersonate the defectors.  Meanwhile, the Cobra Island infiltration team returns only to be told they'll be heading right back to Cobra Island.   Writing : This is a build-up issue.  As the storylines from the past year wrap up, new plots are put forth.  I was a bit disappointed that the Infiltration Team is heading right back to Cobra Island.  While the justification is sound (they just got back and know it well), it's always nice when ...

Creators : Wes Craig, Jason Wordie Story : Duke infiltrates a Cobra island facility, quickly taking out Cobra troops.  One gets by him and causes him a lot of problems with his mission, almost killing Duke.  We discover there is some sort of facility and Duke plans to blow it up.  The Cobra trooper returns and Duke is finally able to overpower him but it causes him to delay his escape and he barely makes it out of the explosion but takes some radiation (?) as well but has something for it.  He finds a cabin and it seems to have pictures of a man he used to know, who shows up and attacks Duke.  He kills the man and gets data from a Cobra laptop before leaving.   Writing : While this is part of the Silent Issue month, I do feel this is one of the weaker stories from the line.  Duke just doesn't seem like the "sneak in and take out a facility" guy when the Joe team has characters like Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow that are stealthy and do those things. ...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Plot : Duke and Cobra Commander fight it out, both physically and with words as Cobra Commander is ready to detonate the Brain Bomb.  Cobra Commander also reveals he is aware of the robots (Transformers), surprising Duke.  Meanwhile, the rest of the Joes are trying to escape in a helicopter while Destro is chasing them down in a F.A.N.G. [Fully Armed Negator Gyrocopter].  Clutch  convinces the Baroness to turn around to retrieve Duke, surprising Destro who orders all the troops back to Springfield before the bomb detonates.  Duke is able to stop Cobra Commander, though suffers injuries in the process and tells the Commander that Cobra may live on but not with him, prompting Cobra Commander to stop the bomb.  Before Cobra Commander can kill Duke, the Joes show up.  The Commander tells Duke he hopes they meet again and escapes.  In Springfie...

Creators : Andrew Krahnke (writer), Francesco Segala (art) Story : Roadblock is on a mission to rescue a captured G.I. Joe team member from Cobra as they are traveling through an arctic environment.  The two of them then need to escape from additional Cobra assets trying to kill them and eventually try to contact the Joe team to get them out of there.  Writing :  Wow, without any words, this story really nails down the character of Roadblock.  Here's a big, tough guy willing to stick his neck out to help his fellow Joes.  On top of them, he gets to use his .50 caliber "Ma Deuce" machine gun and even pulls up a recipe to make!  Krahnke is able to incorporate all of these things, along with some nice action, into this issue.  Art :  Segala really nails the art in this.  To be able to hold Roadblock's signature gun, he needs to be a big, beefy guy and that's how he's drawn.  All the colors pop, nothing is too over shaded or saturated on the...

Creators : Leonardo Romero  (writer), Cris Peter (art) Story :  Spirit is investigating some strange happenings in a forest - lots of injured animals with claw marks. He discovers an old research facility deep in the woods and discovers the metal monstrosity that is terrorizing the forest.  Spirit works with Freedom (his eagle) to stop it.   Writing : Continuing the Silent Issue month, Leonardo takes a fan-favorite classic character and dedicates a whole issue to him.  While Spirit has been featured pretty heavily in the on-going series through the year, many times he's regulated to being in charge of the defence of the Pitt.  Here we get to see Spirit being a tracker and warrior.  Spread throughout the issue are hints as to what's going on as well.  And, as a nice feature as well, it's a rare G.I. Joe comic where the Joes aren't fighting Cobra.  Art : Art is top notch.  From the beginning and laying hints as to what is happening to the ...

Creators : Dani, Dan Watters, Brad Simpson Story : Jinx has infiltrated a Cobra airbase and set a charge to blow up a Cobra Night Raven S3P, before it can carry out a mission.  In trying to escape, she runs afoul of Crimson Guardsmen and a Night Creeper.  Fighting her way out with a time bomb ticking, Jinx must make use of all her skills to get away before it blows up. Writing : Being the second in a month-long run of "Silent Issues", paying homage to the original silent issue (GI Joe #21), the Jinx issue can take place at any time after Jinx was introduced to the team (or maybe before?).  There are no named characters besides her in this and we then only see some Crimson Guards and a Night Creeper.  It's a pretty self-explanatory story; one we've seen in action movies countless times - the hero needs to escape before the time bomb they planted blows up.  As that, it's not anything too original.   Art : Overall, not a huge fan of the art in this issue. ...