BotTalk Reviews

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,...

Void Rivals Clash! They do, here in issue # 20 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. New ongoing artist Conor Hughes joins Kirkman and colorist Patricio Delpeche in this issue as Darak and Solila come to blows over what is to be done about the uniting of their peoples against the looming threat of Goliant! Dey fight? Yes, Darak and Solila have gotten conflicting information over what to do about Goliant, which leads them into combat this issue. Darak’s father, M...

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...

It’s a Combiner Wa… skirmish…scuffle? Yup! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s Energon Universe, noted writer/artist rolled-into-one Daniel Warren Johnson takes the reins on the linchpin of this initiative, the flagship Transformers comic series, with Jorge Corona on pencils and Mike Spicer on colors! In this twenty-first issue, Megatron leads a massive assault on the Ark, and he wants his arm back! That’s fine, because Optimus doesn’t want that smelly thing anymore anyhow! He doesn’t care HOW cool and edgy it makes him look! What’s this about combiners then? Well, Megatron’s got TWO to Optimus Prime’s ONE, as Superion makes his debut and immediately needs to take on both Bruticus and Devastator. That is, unless Bruticus and Devastator don’t wreck each other first! As for the rest of the excitement, Optimus finally realizes that the weird visions and violent spells he’s been having are due to Megatron’s arm! Apparently he never played Metal Gear Solid 2 and fig...

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...

Skuxxoid Begins to Return Forever! He does and it starts here with issue # 19 of Void Rivals! Void Rivals is Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici’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. Lorenzo De Felici steps away from this book with this nineteenth issue as we welcome new ongoing artist Conor Hughes to tell a tale of Skuxxoid! A new artist? Yep, according to the letters page, Conor Hughes is our new ongoing artist for Void Rivals and he makes a great debut with a sort of Skuxxoid origin tale! I did apprecia...

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...