Bottalk Reviews

Creators : Dan Watters (Writer), Andrei Bressan (Artist), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : Both Destro and Tomax with Xamot go over the events at the end of the last issue (separately) to their respective troops, each blaming the other and planning on how to take the other out.  We get a quick background on Tomax and Xamot as we see their troops training and then get attacked by some Iron Grenadiers. Some Siegies then attack a M.A.R.S. facility but are repelled by some Battle Android Troopers (as it is a storage facility for Energon as well).  The Iron Grenadiers attack another Extensive Enterprises facility but face backlash from some Assault System Pods.  Both sides then meet up at a neutral island but still blame each other for the attack in Darklonia.  While threats are made, both decide it would be best to duel to the death and the winners absorbing the others company.  Destro heads to his hidden sanctuary in Scotland, confident, no one knows where it is but

Creators : Larry Hama (Writer), Paul Pelletier (Pencils), Tony Kordos (Inks), Francesco Segala (Colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (Flatter), Pat Brosseau (Letterer) Story : On Cobra Island, the G.I. Joe infiltration team is captured and put in a cell while the mutated, cyborg troops are loaded into the stealth bombers for an attack on Springfield. At the Pit, Duke informs the Ninja Team that they will be doing a recon of Springfield. Back on Cobra Island, the infiltration team escapes and heads to Dr. Mindbender's lab while out on a highway, the Baroness and the (real) Zartan head towards Springfield in a tractor trailer, with the other Dreadnoks and the Thunder Machine in the back. In a bit of serendipity, the Ninja Team is driving a van next to them (unknowingly) and we get the hint Storm Shadow isn't wild about Scralett's plan.  In Dr. Mindbender's lab, the infiltration team gather lots of information and capture Dr. Mindbender and discover a frozen body in a secret comp

Creators : Kelly Thompson (Writer), Marco Ferrari (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : Scarlett is now a prisoner of the Arashikage clan, reviewing her objectives (gain access to the stronghold, establish contact with Jinx, secure a possible weapon) and is planning her escape, having fully prepped (including keeping a razor in her abdomen).  She is caught and fights off more ninjas before Storm Shadow stops it and takes her to a room (including a flashback scene of Scarlett training with Jinx) and inquires about what she is trying to do.  She says she wants to find meaning again, feeling her skills aren't being used fully.  The Hard Master arrives and says Scarlett can't join because while she has skills, she lacks loyalty, honour and sacrifice.  They give Scarlett a mission to infiltrate a Yakuza controlled tower to steal back an Arashikage weapon of "unusual" origins to prove herself. Scarlett parachutes on top of the tower, sneaks in a

Creators : Larry Hama (Writer), Paul Pelletier (Pencils), Tony Kordos (Inks), Francesco Segala (Colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (Flatter), Pat Brosseau (Letterer) Story : On Cobra Island, Revanche delivers a stealth bomber to Serpentor-Khan and he is quite impressed with it and wants more delivered. The G.I. Joe Infiltration team (Helix, Multo, Muskrat, and Wet-Suit) sees it and reports back to the Pit.  Duke, Stalker and Mainframe realize the bomber is probably intended for Springfield.  Mainframe then also shows them satellite footage of Dawn's parents being killed (from last issue).  Back on Cobra Island, Serpentor-Khan gets a report of a transmission leaving and has his forces track down the G.I. Joe team, which results in a running battle through the jungle.  At the Pit, Duke and Psyche-Out inform Dawn of her parent's death and console her, as Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Storm Shadow remind her she has family in the Arashikage clan.  In Springfield, Cobra Commander is upset ab

Creators : Dan Watters (Writer), Andrei Bressan (Artist), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : In the Republic of Darklonia, the Prime Minister's palace is under siege by insurgents and when his troops try to fight them, they encounter a Battle Android Trooper (B.A.T.).  The troops then realize more are being dropped into the city and the BATs defeat the troops.  The Prime Minister calls Destro and surrenders; Destro arrives and says his cousin, Artyom Darklon, will take over and the Prime Minister shoots himself to avoid what the mob might do to him.  Destro is then in call with Cobra Commander, who is upset about his actions in Darklonia and they get into an argument over how M.A.R.S. Industries is working with Cobra, not subordinate to Cobra.  Destro then visits an ancestral shrine and seeks guidance from his ancestors about what to do with the Energon.  Weeks later, at Darklonia's arms convention we're introduced to other arms manufacturers - Boston,

Creators : Kelly Thompson (Writer), Marco Ferrari (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colourist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : In Monaco, Scarlett/Shana M. O'Hara infiltrate a mansion that is having some sort of auction and sees Jinx/Kimi Arashikage there as well.  Despite orders not to, Scarlett engages and frees hostages that were going to be sold to bad people (and it seems Jinx freed one as well).  Scarlett is let go from her special contract for breaking orders but discovers Stalker/Lonzo R. Wilkinson has broken into her house and has a job for her.  We find out that Scarlett and Jinx were roommates (and in special forces too) and developed their own set of code signals which Jinx had used.  We also discover that Jinx has been missing for 2 years and has infiltrated the Arashikage Clan in Japan.  Scarlett's job is to go and do the same.  She gets dropped off by Snow Job/Harlan W. Moore and fights some of the clan's ninjas before presenting herself to the Hard Master (whom Jinx

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Andrea Milana (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : Across the world, Destro is seeing reports of various M.A.R.S. facilities being attacked and overrun.  His men finally bring in Dreadnok Ripper as a captive, who says the man responsible wants to meet him.  So Destro, Mercer, Ripper and some troops fly out to a small town, only for the troops and helicopter to be destroyed by lasers (impressing Destro) and Cobra Commander comes out to greet them, wanting to get into a deal with Destro in exchange for providing Destro with some of the new energy he's discovered.  As they explore the facility, they see more scientists (who seem to be working against their will) and Cobra Commander mentions that there are other forces but they need a common leader to unite them all. He then shows Destro what a Battle Android Trooper can do when upgraded with the energy.  They agree to the deal and, as he changes into his uniform, Co

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Tony Kordos (inks), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story : In the Bayou, Zartan is being hounded by a heat seeking missile, able to personally avoid it while sacrificing his Chameleon [Swamp Skier] and realizing, from the debris, it was from M.A.R.S. Industries but suspects Destro was not behind it.  On Cobra Island, Serpentor-Khan and Dr. Mindbender watch the footage from the missile but are unsure if Zartan survived or not.  Elsewhere on the island, they inspect how the new Cobra cyborg troops are coming and then check-in with their Zartan imposter meeting with Destro.  At the meeting, Destro and the Baroness get word that the Zartan they are talking to is an imposter but Destro decides to play along.  We then cut and see Snake Eyes go through an urban training simulation and, afterwards, Scarlett commends him on it and talks about his different weapons.  In Springfield, Dawn

Creators : Tranformers: Daniel Warren Johnson (Writer), Ryan Ottley (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist).  Void Rivals: Robert Kirkman (Writer), Lorenzo De Felici (Artist), Matheus Lopes (Colorist).  G.I. Joe: Joshua Williamson (Writer), Jason Howard (Artist), Mike Spicer (Colorist). Skybound's Free Comic Book Day entry this year is a nice treat, featuring three stories from their Energon Universe line - Transformers, Void Rivals, and G.I. Joe.  All three stories fit nicely into the on-going narrative, adding a bit more to the overall stories without being "critical" stories to read to get what's going on.  At the same time, you can easily read the stories in this issue without being lost.  The Transformer story deals with how Megatron ended up in Cobra-La and his awakening there.  Void Rivals deals with Hot Rod trying to track down the Quintessons while over in G.I. Joe, Duke is trying to recruit the Baroness to the Joe team.   The art in this issue, while done by dif