BotTalk Reviews

This volume collects the Nancy daily newspaper comic strips from 1951-1952.  We actually get 616 timeless, charming and very clever black-and-white Nancy strips by American cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller (1905-1982) in one collection! Don't worry Sluggo aficionados, Nancy's pal is once again very much present in this tome. What is on the agenda for Sluggo this time around? Let's see: Fixing a fence, dealing with snowballs, protecting Nancy's piggybank, refusing to shovel snow, begging for treats, sweeping, refusing a homemade valentine, flirting with girls, appeasing a bully, using a palindrome, tap dancing, enjoying gum, ice cream, watermelon, pop corn & spaghetti, getting hypnotized, riding bicycles and pogo sticks, branching out, getting a cold, pining for winter, walking on air, settling a grudge, encountering "one-punch" Duffy, getting dimples and stung by a bee, dealing with spring fever, not receiving first aid, having a picnic with Nancy, keeping a co...

Marvel Preview Presents: Merlin the Magician, a saga of epic beauty by John Buscema (Conan the Barbarian, Mephisto vs., Weirdworld: Warriors of the Shadow Realm...), Doug Moench (Batman, Weirdworld: The Dragonmaster of Klarn, Master of Kung Fu, Planet of the Apes...), Tom Palmer (The Avengers, Tomb Of Dracula, Star Wars...) and John Tartaglione (The Life of Pope John Paul II). Arturus Rex (King Arthur) Pendragon of Camelot finds a seriously wounded Knight. Arthur tells his traitorous nephew Mordred to notify the castle. King Arthur asks for Merlin's help to heal the youthful Knight (Beliar (not Belial))... who is too handsome to die. Merlin the Sorcerer is suspicious, Beliar is just too good-looking to be good.  Beliar (son of Asmodiar (not Asmodeus), a baron of the "Nether"lands) tells his tall tale: Beliar kills his brother (Asmodiar's eldest son) by mistake. To atone for his blunder, Beliar tries to right wrongs across the land. Beliar kills an enormous fire-breath...

The Worst Bot Ever Returns?? Yep! Writer Brian Smith and artist Marz Jr. continue the story of Ballpoint, a tiny Decepticon that turns into a pen! Except now he’s joined the Autobots and thanks to an accident involving Wheeljack’s new invention, he’s swapped bodies with the REAL Worst Bot EVER… MEGATRON! Oh right. Yeah, “Bot Swap” is another extra-sized, lighthearted tale in the vein of the first Worst Bot Ever release. The art and story are a little more cartoon-y and not to be taken that seriously, but there’s some entertaining stuff and fun to be had. This instalment kind of reminded me of the episode of Justice League Unlimited where Flash swapped brains with Lex Luthor. Both Ballpoint and Megatron have to deal with being in each other’s bodies and bases… with amusing results on both ends! Writer Brian Smith gets to continue his jokes about Rumble and Frenzy and their own identity crisis, as well as some other funny references that longtime Transformers fans will notice. Otherwise,...

Nearly 300 pages of classic horror stories with twist endings! What you'll actually find inside this Eisner-nominated collection: Super rare BERNIE WRIGHTSON stuff: Self-portrait from Squa Tront (1968) #2 Frankenstein cover for Rocket's Blast Comicollector (RBCC) #86 Back cover for Rocket's Blast Comicollector (RBCC) #72 w/ a cameo by Professor Simon Wright (The Living Brain from Captain Future) by Steve Hickman! An unpublished splash page for "Mother Toad" The revised letter page logo for Web of Horror #4 Preliminary sketch and final "Out on a Limb" cover for Web of Horror #4 Cover for I'll Be Damned (1970) #3 Frankenstein cover for Scream Door (1971) #1 Conan the Barbarian from Madstar Science Fiction Quarterly (1971) #1 Stake-Out, a 4-page homage to EC Comics from I'll Be Damned (1970) #2  Frankenstein inside front cover for I'll Be Damned (1970) #3  Inside front cover for Scream Door (1971) #1 "Curse of the Yeti" cover for Web ...

Who's tight-lipped like the T-1000 Terminator, more menacing than The Mummy (1959), slicker than Swamp Thing, more indestructible than The Blob (1958), immortal like Caltiki (1959) and obscure like X the Unknown (1956)? It's The Sludge from the pages of Lion (a British weekly boys' comic)!  1965. Radiological pollution contaminates a Sargassum... The Sludge is born! The Sludge (a luminous, sentient jelly-like substance) covers and takes over a large commercial liner, everyone aboard abandons ship. Reporter Bill Hanley (more macho than Clark Kent) and photojournalist Rick Slade (more experienced than Jimmy Olsen) of the Montreal (in the Canadian province of Quebec) Argus (an homage to the Argus camera company? To the Canadair CP-107 Argus built in Montreal?) newspaper are our investigating heroes. The slimy, glowing vessel rams into the Port of Montreal, The Sludge oozes onto a pier, the liner disintegrates. The Sludge gives itself a spooky humanoid form. Photojournalist Ric...

The year is 26 CE. Tektons (craftsmen/builders), including a young Yeshua/Jesus of Nazareth and three of his siblings (Joses/Joseph, Jude and Simon (Mark 6:3; Matthew 13:55)), have been hired to rebuild the city of Sepphoris (inspired by Matthew 5:14) by Herod Antipas (the Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea under the Roman Empire during the reign of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1)). During the day, Jesus is suffering from headaches caused by divine visions (John 5:20) of the past (we glimpse the destruction of Sepphoris by Publius Quinctilius Varus). Pontius Pilate, the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea mentions Caiaphas (Jesus will be sent before the high priest after his arrest (Matthew 26:57; Mark 14:53; John 11:49; John 18:14)) who was appointed by Valerius Gratus (the prefect who preceded Pilate). Jesus has a nightmare, he sees SIX (Revelation 13:18; The sixth commandment is "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13)) serpents within the clouds of heaven.  Jesus ventures in...

Marin County (San Francisco Bay Area of California), December 1978 Wendy Moira (a Peter Pan homage?) confesses to Clara Holmwood that she is in love with the leader of "The California Cult", Billy Joe aka William Joseph Franklin. Wendy plays Billy Joe's advanced promo record. Wendy and Clara listen to Billy Joe's song "Come Wander With Me". Suzy Smiles (a radicalized acolyte of Billy Joe who likes to listen to "Always is Always Forever" by Charles Manson) pays the girls a visit. Suzy leads the demoiselles into an ambush, they get abducted by "The California Cult". Death Valley National Park, east of the Sierra Nevada, 5 months later Clara escapes from the Billy Joe Family. Reseda, Los Angeles, California, Present day Clara (now Lucy) cannot afford to pay for her daughter's university tuition, so she agrees to tell her "California Cult" story on TV for beaucoup bucks.  Clara/Lucy, Wren (Clara's daughter), Phoebe (Clara...

This volume collects the Nancy daily newspaper comic strips from 1949–1950.  We actually get 620 timeless, charming and very clever black-and-white Nancy strips by American cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller (1905-1982) in one collection! Don't worry Sluggo aficionados, Nancy's pal is very much present in this tome. We get to see Sluggo ice skating, playing in the coal yard, struggling with his weight and lack of hair, losing his bubblegum, growing taller, using his periscope, magnet and handheld mirror, working at the bank, circus and music shop, reading in his attic, ski jumping, dissipating static electricity, going to the most dangerous place in town, tightrope walking, sleeping in a hammock, mowing lawns, walking on stilts, keeping Nancy off the grass, catching a baseball, dressing for tea, painting, playing the trombone and the xylophone, getting a push on a tree swing, slicing some baloney, dancing, golfing, fishing, swimming, paddling his boat, pulling weeds, camping, learning...

Ninkugel the Harvester purloins bars (a currency) from his stingy employer, Tonkfarr. Ninkugel trades his bars for a Schema Beetle sculpture. The sculpture comes to life and gives birth to a brood that devours all of Tonkfarr's crops. Ninkugel is thrown in jail, he escapes and leaves his village that has become abandoned. Ninkugel comes across a talking lizard, Wurl. Wurl gets killed by slavers: Rolden and "Huntsman". A Bog King appears. Rolden and "Huntsman" slaughter the beast, but Ninkugel drops his blade, blade first, on "Huntsman"'s foot. Refusing to be sold into servitude in Arn-Uthyr (An homage to Uther Pendragon?), Ninkugel murders Rolden and "Huntsman". Ninkugel runs into a talking dragon (a "demon"), he kills it. Ninkugel arrives at another village, he introduces himself as a "Demon Slayer" to Arloth. Arloth introduces Ninkugel to Smekland. Smekland introduces Ninkugel to the village council members (includin...

Star Trek’s first-ever interactive original graphic novel!  “Meet the new GOD of Cats!” Finally a Lower decks story where we can make T'Ana a godlike being while Brad Boimler is turned into a borg and Andy Billups is eaten by a chest bursting alien or “nutrek gorn hatchling”.  What the causality loop crazed scientist experiment was that?! Well what it is, is a choose your own adventure style story that leaves you turning to the pages you’re given until it finally leads down the path toward a very good conclusion. Along the way it gets a little confusing and would probably work better as a physical book and it could just be that way because I’m reading off a pdf file and for all I know the digital copy lets you click on the page option. It doesn’t take away from the issue itself though, which is very good. Good issue and somehow a 10/10

CHAPTER 1 58 BC. Helvetii lands (Switzerland). Marcus Coax/Crow, a gigantic horseshoe moustache-wearing Gaul that looks like the long-lost brother of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, saves Sanian Divico (an Helvetii oracle) and her entourage from Germanic scouts. Sanian invites Coax to her village. Irika and Sanian spy on Coax, while Coax has a nightmare about his recent blood oath of vengeance.  Coax informs Sanian's father, Divico (possibly the leader of the Helvetian tribe of the Tigurini) that Germanic clans are gathering on the other side of Lacus Lausonius (Lake Geneva on the north side of the Alps). The Helvetians are sure to be raided and decimated before springtime.  Flashback!  75 BC. A Rhodian galley is intercepted by Cilician pirates, a 25-year-old Julius Caesar gets captured.  Farmakonisi (island in the Aegean Sea, Greece). Caesar makes the acquaintance of a clean-shaven Coax who does not know his own tribe because his parents were slaves, killed ...

You know the sword-and-sorcery heist story by heart: From 1933, The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard. A strange, blood-freezing story of an idol that wept on its throne, and a valiant barbarian from the fringes of an elder civilization. What I did like: 25 impassioned paintings by French comic book artist and illustrator Valentin Sécher starring David Boistault as Conan. 1) The Maul neighbourhood, the City of Thieves, Zamora, street level. 2) In a tavern, a Kothian, a professional kidnapper schools a young Conan about the Elephant Tower that houses the great jewel called the Elephant's Heart (the secret of Yara's magic). 3) The lacerated corpse of the kidnapper. 4) Conan the Cimmerian hits the streets. 5) The temples of the City of Thieves (Arenjun) and Yara's impenetrable tower. 6) Yara, the high priest. 7) Yara's mysterious gardens. A Zamorian royal guard lies strangled. Conan encounters Taurus.  8) Conan converses with Taurus of Nemedia aka the Prince of all...