Bottalk Reviews

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Tom Reilly (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colourist) Story :  Colonel Hawk and Stalker are questioning Clutch about the whereabouts of Duke but Clutch refuses to answer.  As the Battle Android Troopers (B.A.T.) holds onto Duke, Destro comes out and offers Duke a job, talking about how weapons are the winners of war and claiming he knows nothing of the transforming jet (Starscream) that killed his friend but Duke doesn't believe him and head butts Destro and engages with the B.A.T. again.  Destro, along with Mercer and Scrap-Iron, decide to blow up the base as Duke continues fighting and, finally, defeating the B.A.T., realizing he just needs to outlast its battery (and something Destro realizes needs work).  As the trio drive away, they blow up the base and Duke is presumed dead, put forth by some news reports.  Duke wakes up handcuffed in a hospital bed when Colonel Hawk and Courtney "Cover Girl" Krieger arrive.  Hawk mentions he knows

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Andrea Milana (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : As Nemesis Enforcer fights the Dreadnoks, Cobra Commander drags Ripper to a locked underground chamber and has him open it.  As he explores, he discovers a scientist that the Dreadnoks kidnapped and have been holding in the chamber to study the Energon.  Meanwhile, Zarana, Zandar and Buzzer are trying to figure out how to get away from the fight as we see they are all that's left.  They force Buzzer to be a distraction and as Nemesis Enforcer flies off with him, Zandar grabs some Energon in a bottle from the cabin.  Zandar throws the bottle at Nemesis Enforcer and shots it, blowing it up and buying Torch, Buzzer, Zarana and himself time to get away.  Nemesis Enforcer then decides to check on Cobra Commander.  Back at the lab, the scientist tells Cobra Commander not only has he been using the Energon to make things, he's been finding ways to stretch out the sup

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Tom Reilly (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colourist) Story : Picking right up where last issue left off, the Pit is being raided by Major Bludd's forces as Stalker is trying to stop them to no avail and is unable to contact anyone for support and Duke is being held at gunpoint by the Baroness as Rock 'n Roll and Clutch fight off more troops.  Duke and the Baroness exchange some words and Duke calls her bluff and they decide to (again) work together to get out of the situation.  Stalker arrives and updates everyone on the situation and they decide, seeing a hole opened in the floor, to go down deeper into the Pit to escape.  They enter an old garage/warehouse full of tanks and other experimental vehicles and Clutch and Duke come up with a plan.  Outside, Major Bludd returns, much worse for wear after getting shot and orders his troops to continue the fight.  Just then, a bunker opens and out rushes a Skystriker Combat Jet, APC [Amphibious Perso

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Chris Mooneyham (artist), Francesco Segala (colourist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story : Cobra is investigating the remains of the three modified Vipers that Dawn took out last issue while Dawn is back at her parent's house, reporting to Duke.  She notices her neighbour, a Crimson Guard approaching but her parents take him out and she flees.  Duke now feels that they are in a position where they can act.  Elsewhere in the Pit, Mainframe, Airtight and Black Hat are examining the remains of one of the modified Vipers that attacked Snake Eyes and Scarlett.  One of the hands is still active and attacks but Stalker arrives and destroys it.   Elsewhere in the Pit, Spirit, Lady Jaye and Multo are preparing to take out the three modified Vipers stalking above before they actually discover the entrance and drop a nerve gas grenade down it.  After a struggle, the three Joes are able to stop the Vipers.  On Cobra Island, Serpentor K

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Andrea Milana (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : Picking up where we last left off, Cobra Commander's companion is in the Florida Everglades looking for him as we go to the Commander, being attacked underwater by some alligators that are more than meets the eye.  We then see him get some assistance.  At a bar, Ripper and Zarana arrive and talk to the gathered individuals about "the juice" they have.  They know it's a fuel and they can sell it for a pretty penny.  We then see Zandar show up with Cobra Commander in chains.  They put him in a chain and try to take off his mask but Ripper gets zapped by it as Buzzer laughs and they get into a fight.  Torch arrives and tries to melt it off to little success.  They then each take turns torturing Cobra Commander for information and to try to get him to take off his mask but he remains silent.  When Zandar starts, Cobra Commander tells him his brother Zart

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Tom Reilly (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colourist) Story : At M.A.R.S. (Military Armament Research Syndicate) headquarters, employees are moving locations because Destro assumed Duke would have been killed and not just imprisoned (and implying he had Dr. Adele Burkhart killed as well) and is worried about the device that can track her technology back to him so Destro hires Major Bludd to take Duke out.  At the Pit, Rock 'N Roll and Stalker give their impressions of Duke and can tell something else it up with him.  Down in the prison, the Baroness tries to make a deal with Duke but isn't getting a response from him and Clutch tells her to stop.  Duke surprises her when he reveals he knows who she is with a bit of her background (wealthy European socialite who joined Eastern European secret services and eventually became a terrorist). Duke also tells her he hasn't given up and speaking to Colonel Hawk will help clear his name.  Outside, St

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Andrea Milana (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : Ripper and Buzzer are torturing a couple of men for information about their gun-running meet-up and after they get the information they want; they take off in the Thunder Machine.  Elsewhere in the Florida Everglades, Cobra Commander and his protector sneak away from a gator boat ride further into the Everglades, looking for the energon source.  We also see Cobra Commander is resentful of having a guard as he feels Cobra-La still doesn't trust him (with a bit of backstory on his guard and hints as to Cobra Commander's origins).  A police officer tries to stop them but is killed and, in the scuffle, Cobra Commander sneaks off and finds the cabin of Ripper and Buzzer and discovers evidence of energon being experimented on.  The two Dreadnoks return and have a shoot-out with Cobra Commander in which the Thunder Machine is blown up.  Cobra Commander gets away and

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Chris Mooneyham (artist), Francesco Segala (colourist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story : Picking up from last issue, Serpentor, Dr. Mindbender and Alpha-001 are viewing the results of the assault on Snake-Eyes' cabin with both him and Scarlett presumed dead.  After a few minutes, back at the cabin now, Snake-Eyes and Scarlett get back up, hoping they gauged the time right so that they are assumed dead.  Lift-Ticket, Black Hat, Mainframe and Airtight arrive in a Tomahawk to take the blue ninja remains away and study them.  In Springfield, Dawn sneaks out of her house to spy on Cobra's operation, coming across some of Serpentor's modified Vipers. She follows them, told not to engage.  Back at the Pit, Spirit is told the same thing by Duke, to keep an eye on the Pit infiltrators (from last issue) but not to engage them.  Those modified Vipers explore the above-ground base, seeing made-up but abandoned barracks.  On C

Story : At a junkyard, Duke meets up with an old childhood friend of his, Lance "Clutch" Steinberg and Duke explains the events from last issue to him. Clutch helps Duke by cleaning up and bandaging his wounds and then looks at the device Dr. Adele Burkhart had left him and is able to activate, which shows a map with a glowing dot. After that happens, Destro, sitting in his office, is notified of something. Before Duke and Clutch can leave, they are fired upon by Craig "Rock 'N Roll" McConnel, who uses drones to lead them to Lonzo "Stalker" Wilkinson (which Duke is aware of both men). Duke and Clutch are captured and held in "The Pit", an old decommissioned base, where another prisoner (with a female with glasses and long, black hair) mentions that maybe the three of them can work together. Writing : I like how this story is going. Duke knows, by reputation, who some of these (assumed to be future) G.I. Joe members are. After all, the G

Co-BRAAAAA? Yup! This is Cobra Commander # 1, a brand-new comic series published by Skybound Entertainment and (shockingly) starring the guy who Destro once referred to as a world-class buffoon, Cobra Commander! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s new Energon Universe, G.I. Joe is the second Hasbro property to take its place in this new world after Transformers. Rather than a typical G.I. Joe team book, they’ve opted to do solo Cobra Commander and Duke books to lead it off. This first issue is a ground-up origin tale for Cobra Commander, written by Joshua Williamson (who is also writing Duke), penciled by Andrea Milana, and with colors by Annalisa Leoni. The Energon Universe version of Cobra Commander is a take on the character that draws more heavily from the Sunbow cartoon than the Marvel comic, but contains elements of both portrayals. Oh and also, there might be some minor tie-in to Transformers in here too… Co-bra-LALALALALALALALALALA??? That’s right, the

Creators : Larry Hama (Writer), Chris Mooneyham (Artist), Francesco Segala (Colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (Flatter), Pat Brosseau (Letter) Plot : On Cobra Island, Revanche meets with the mutated Serpentor and wants to team up and offers their services to upgrade the mutants into cyborgs. At the Pit, Duke realizes that the Revanche/Serpentor team will end up attacking the Pit so he has Spirit up the defence. In Springfield, a girl named Dawn returns to her family, though all may not be as it seems. Back at the Pit, the Joes are counter-spying on some of Serpentor's new, enhanced, troops as they are spying on the Pit and they debate on what to do. Meanwhile, at Snake-Eye's cabin in the Rockies, some more of Serpentor's forces attack Snake-Eyes and Scarlett, though find them to be difficult opponents. Back at Cobra Island, Alpha-001, Dr. Mindbender, and Serpentor watch a final broadcast from the troops, showing Scarlett and Snake-Eyes down, before it cuts out. Story : Events a

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Andrea Milana (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Plot : At a snow-cover truck stop, Cobra Commander walks in, demands a vehicle and follows a man out, kills him and takes his ride. In a flashback, we are presented with Cobra-La and its citizens are storming a science hall because the scientists are dealing with non-organic research. One scientist tells the others to retreat, but is killed by (the yet unnamed) Cobra Commander who tells the others to fight back. However, one of his fellow scientists fails to throw a grenade and it explodes, injuring the Commander. He is healed but is scarred and is retrieved by Pythona, who tells him to wear a mask. They meet with Golobulus, the leader of Cobra-La, who hints at Cobra Commander's origins while explaining Cobra-La's views and how Cobra Commander brought "blasphemous" technology into the city and accusing Cobra Commander of leaking what they were doing to th