BotTalk Reviews

A crew in cryosleep wakes up and eventually begins the explore a planet.  As they talk the things they mention seemingly appear, although alien and distorted in nature.  Eventually they come upon two lifeforms, one beating the other.  One of the crew intervenes and they are soon overwhelmed by aliens and taken into custody.  Placed in a holding cell they attack the wall and it reacts.  They escape and eventually the real aliens show themselves.  They state that the planet can read their minds, that the planet is for relaxation and therapy.  They offer to start over and go through a reconfigured therapy but it will take centuries.  The crew, except for one, agree.  Alone, he returns to Earth but those in charge refuse to believe his story. In every aspect this has the feel of the original Twilight Zone.  The black and white art.  The designs of the space suits and spaceship.  The aliens.  The ending.  I expected nothin...

James T. Kirk and Captain Sato discuss classic literature while the command crew arrives.  They make final preparations to engage Transwarp drive when a fleet of Klingon ships are detected.  The Borg-enhanced Omega arrives and immediately comes under attack.  As the Omega fights for its life Kirk begins to flashback to the death of his son (David Marcus in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock).  As a Klingon boarding party breaches the hull Kirk appears on the bridge, reporting for duty and wearing a Starfleet uniform. We see the polarity between a resurrected Kirk and Sato, his modern counterpart.  Sato knows little of war while Kirk is more than experienced, Sato even giving Kirk a specific number of people who died as a result of orders he gave.  We get some time with the crew of the Omega... but not much.  A few even appear to have been killed off during the battle.  This is still the most engaged, to pardon a pun, I've felt with an IDW Trek c...

As the landing party tries to avoid The Seed they become separated.  Spock and D-6 encounter Scotty and the trio manage to escape in a mini sub as the underwater complex is destroyed.  Underground, Chapel comes face to face with La'an Noonien-Singh and Number One, now possessed by The Seed.   Again, a lot going on this issue... and again, very little seems to happen.  The cliffhanger of the Enterprise being surrounded is followed up on by only a few pages.  The action of this issue is focused on the surface, with Chapel having several conversations with her old friend, now possessed by The Seed.  It is the old routine of a friend telling someone things they don't want to hear or don't want to admit.  Seen it before a thousand times.  D-6 continues to feel like a Star Wars character and Scotty hardly registers to me as actually acting like Scotty. six out of ten.

The Klingons torture the captured Starfleet personnel while, in space, they face off against the Romulans.  Neither willing to make the first move.  On the surface the trapped personnel manage to raise the buried ship from the swamp and blast off.  The captured Starfleet crew turn the tide on their captors and escape.  The buried ship is eventually destroyed by the Romulans and later the Klingons and Romulans agree to meet, and the Romulans ask them to bring the recaptured Starfleet personnel with them.   This issue was better than the previous ones.  The stakes feel higher with Klingons and Romulans getting involved.  Red shirt crew continue to get killed off though, and two are tortured by the Klingons with painstiks.  Honestly, I was expecting more gore once the Klingons showed up, but that was not the case. six out of ten.

The Voyager crew meet in sickbay and discuss the situation.  Part of the command crew attempt to retake Main Engineering.  B'Elanna Torres hits a plasma conduit that should disintegrate Species 8472 on contact, but fails.  8472 destroy the main deflector, rendering Voyager unable to open a rift back home.  The team surrenders and, leaving Seven of Nine behind, are taken to meet the Hierarch of Species 8472.  Kathryn Janeway's meeting does not go well and after B'Elanna finds the data they need to open a rift home Janeway tells her to delete it. Species 8472 kinda has a point here.  Janeway aided the Borg in their conflict.  They didn't follow First Contact procedures.  They also never bothered to learn their real name, they just continue to use the Borg designation.  This issue feels somewhat rushed but it does make Species 8472 seem as threatening as they were during their first appearance.  Though, you would think they would have more...

The experiments continue.  Dr. Jack Griffin takes a room in an unsavoury part of town and tests the invisibility serum on a boy living on the streets.  Instead of complete invisibility it simply makes his outer layer of skin disappear.  After months he is reduced to a living skeleton and finally, a pair of eyes that seemingly float in the air.  Finally achieving total invisibility the street urchin knocks Jack unconscious and escapes.   Again the theme of feeling like an outcast in society, invisible to the upper class, is present.  Jack spends much time simply sitting and trying to be invisible in public places by simply not moving, not drawing attention to himself.  The pressure continues to mount though, as his fiancé seems to find his increasing absence, attention lacking and his boss demanding to see results.  Going from animals to humans for experimentation is a logical step.  We shall see how the newly invisible Tommy uses his ability...

The submarine crew manage to escape from 'squid thingies' and enter some sort of underwater structure.  Making their way inside they encounter people covered in strange vines until they discover Christine Chapel's friend, Jinare, covered in the same vines and seemingly possessed by some entity.  In orbit, Nyota Uhura manages to decipher an ancient symbol.  It states the planet is a prison for the entity.  It then detects the Enterprise and sends multiple ships to intercept.  The robot, D-6... is annoying.  It feels like a character from a completely different show... like a Marvel character... full of quips that are supposed to be funny or endearing but fall flat.  Our actual Star Trek characters also feel off... like they were written by someone who has only seen a handful of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episodes.  Scotty especially feels very ADHD. five out of ten.

Three of the red shirts dangle on the antenna array while taking sniper fire.  Meanwhile, inside the base they discover a warp core.  The base is actually a starship.  As the core is brought online two of the Romulans make it to the Beam Out point, only for one of the red shirts to jump into the matter stream.  The result is horrifying once it materializes.  The other two red shirts that were on the antenna are beamed out by a cloaked ship in orbit... one that belongs to the Klingons. One of the Romulans operating from the Bird of Prey is named Neral.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to be the same character from TNG and DS9.  As that character eventually becomes Praetor, I assume it is.  Honestly that name drop is the most interesting thing about this issue.  More red shirts perish.  The story continues to meander along.  The introduction of Klingons here could be interesting.  But I expect it will be just an excuse to up the...

Kane, a very wealthy man, travels to a remote island.  There the lead scientist tells about their recent breakthrough in virus research.  Kane is eager to take the experimental drug, as he has less than a year to live.  After some reluctance Kane is given the treatment.  He wakes up and finds everyone around him has a blank face.  He runs outside and fines the lead scientist who tells him the experiment mutated after it entered Kane's system.  Before he mutates as well he gives Kane a cure.  Once taken it will spread and reverse the effects.  Kane ponders this, but ultimately does not take the cure.  Content with his restored health, youth and millions of dollars in the bank. Written by Dan Watters and illustrated by Morgan Beem this first issue is... fine.  Twilight Zone is one of those things that is so hard to capture the feeling of.  They've tried again and again over the years.  The movie, the 80s revival, the early 2000s ...

The experiments continue.  The invisibility serum is tested on animals, most do not survive and are quietly disposed of.  A one eyed cat manages to not only survive but escapes.  People report hearing a squalling cat but never seeing one, of a fish seemingly walking away from the local market.  When Dr. Jack Griffin's lab rival acquires an ape for experimentation he invites the cat in... and it kills the ape.   The story continues to progress at a nice pace.  Not too fast nor too slow.  This issue opens with some time between Jack and Flora Cranley, which is much needed.  They want to be together but the demands of society seem determined to keep them apart.  Later, when Jack kisses her she is more worried about appearances.  Appearances, which is something that keeps coming up in this series.  Seen and unseen.  How things appear, and how they really are.  It is not over the top commentary nor does it bludgeon you over the...

The USS Sagan confronts a Gorn fleet.  Moments from destruction they accept an offer to join the Federation and avert an armed conflict... only for their ships to explode, as well as the Sagan.  Captain Sato and four others manage to beam out at the last minute. The Burn has just destroyed every Warp Core in the galaxy.  72 hours later the surviving Starfleet captains meet and discuss the situation on Earth.  Captain Sato suggests using Transwarp.  At this moment a Borg Queen seems to appear, taking everyone by surprise.  It is Agnes Jurati.  She proposes the use of Borg Transwarp technology in exchange for a position as Chief Engineer on a starship and access to a certain item on the Daystrom Institute Station.   A new ship is constructed, seemingly using the old frame of the USS Theseus.  Jurati visits Daystrom Station and resurrects James T. Kirk.   A lot going on this first issue, and many references.  The Burn comes from Star T...

Voyager returns to Earth after its long journey.  A group of four Admirals arrive but strange things are already about.  Tuvok begins having headaches and one of the Admirals locks the computer controls.  Eventually The Doctor determines Admiral Kittum and his team are members of Species 8472.  As they confront Kittum, Admiral Paris is also exposed as a fake.  8472 open a doorway to fluidic space. The story of Voyager's return home has been told a couple times.  Once as a fake out episode on the series and in a series of novels that continued the story of the Voyager crew past the series finale.  The great majority of that continuity was rendered non-canon with the Picard series.  I always felt it was a mistake removing the threat of Species 8472.  They spent so much time establishing them as the next big bad, able to easily defeat the Borg... only to make friends with em and move on.  I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out h...

The team wait for someone to show up and spring their trap.  They anxiously await someone to take the bait... and to fill the time we get some character backstories and characterization.  Eventually one of the officers is killed by the Romulan spies and a jungle monster attacks several of the others.  The monster manages to kill two of the squad but they are able to jam transmissions so the Romulan spies can't beam away.  The Romulan Bird of Prey fires from low orbit as the remaining security team members try to survive.   This feels very jumbled.  We get a little time with the team as they wait for the Romulans to show up, but it all feels very surface level.  Like trying to care for a victim in a Friday the 13th movie.  The more interesting characters have mostly been killed off.  The jungle monster attack feels almost random and the Romulan threat feels far away, even when they show up and kill one of the security officers.  Other tha...

Nurse Chapel is bored by the current slate of missions Enterprise has been on.  She makes arrangements to meet an old friend.  When Enterprise arrives they find no life signs and the base completely empty. Eventually they encounter a robot who shows them to a submersible craft.  The landing party descends into the awaiting arms of an octopus like creature. The set up feels like an episode of the series.  Some of the characters feel like they should, others... a bit off.  These Strange New Worlds minis are very hit or miss with me.  This one, so far, is intriguing.  Star Trek comics should add a little something and not be bound by constraints of budget.  Doing something on an ice planet or underwater, or with robots is a nice change of pace.  I'm curious to see where this is going.   six out of ten.

An ambitious scientist experiments with a serum on a lab rat.  His rival annoys him at best, but he continues with various tests until finally the rat completely turns invisible.  Later, he returns from an evening meal to find his rat has killed the others in its cage.  Dr. Jack Griffin continues his experiments... and waits. James Tynion IV has taken the familiar story of The Invisible Man and given it a more psychological edge.  The Invisible Man is often reimagined as one man's descent into madness and we get some of that here.  Griffin is a quiet, unassuming man who ignores the remarks of those around him.  He sees himself as someone who has plans and lies in wait... almost invisible you could say.  We get brief flashes of horror, his lab rival murdered.  So the descent begins.  There is little horror here, but typically this story has never been one of overt horror.  The art fits the story perfectly, providing dark shadows for the m...

A young red shirt nearly loses his eye to a Mugato.  He walks away with a discoloured eye and some scars that he hopes will appear intimidating.  Some time later he gets a new assignment with several other security officers. Someone has tapped into a Starfleet coms center and its their job to sort it out.  They will offer bait, then cut the data feed and see who comes to investigate.  The officers are fired toward the surface in torpedo casings, though two officers don't survive.  As the remaining team members regroup with the embedded officer on the planet, a Romulan Bird of Prey approaches. This is an interesting change of pace.  A comic focused on Red Shirts.  Of course fans know the joke.  Red Shirts are disposable on the Original Series and we get multiple panels of Red Shirt deaths.  Some gruesome, some funny.  Having them be self aware, that few ever live past thirty, was a good choice I think.  The story feels a bit more ma...

Ankh Es En Amun is in full control of Helen's body and reunites with Imhotep.  He tells her that the body must die so her soul can return to its original body.  Only then can they be truly reunited.  Ankh Es En Amun does not want Helen to die and struggles with Imhotep.  Helen aids Ankh Es En Amun in escaping from Imhotep and the mummy he controls.  As Imhotep prepares to stab Ankh Es En Amu, she and Helen let loose a torrent of energy which disintegrates him.  Ankh Es En Amun departs from Helen's body. This is the best issue of this mini series.  Mostly due to the focus on more familiar aspects of The Mummy.  Ankh Es En Amun and Helen struggled for control over the body and in the end work together to defeat the crazed Imhotep.  No damsels in distress here.  Having Ankh Es En Amun fully aware of her past lives, in addition to Helen, is an interesting choice.  It serves the finale quite well I though.  I have not talked about t...