BotTalk Reviews

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...

Worf's reinstatement with Starfleet is denied by a group of Admirals, only for Jean-Luc Picard to come in and upend the situation.  On Vulcan, Geordi La Forge shows Spock his design for the Jellyfish.  Scotty resigns from Starfleet and meets Nyota Uhura.  Tom Paris reunites with his family.  Martok restores Kahless his honour and gives him a throne to sit and do nothing more.  Ro Laren is held in a detention facility, her sentence reduced.  Finally Benjamin Sisko shares a few moments with his family before returning to the Celestial Temple. This is the final issue of the current IDW slate of books.  It attempts to wrap up various plots, put various characters in place for the events of Nemesis, Trek 09 and even Picard Season 3.  I'd say it achieves this goal.  More or less.  The less being Ro.  She is not granted a pardon because the Maquis are designated a terrorist group... even though they were all wiped out by the Dominion befor...

Sisko's forces begin freeing the Quadrant minds.  Along with Worf they make it to Lore's throne room and find Data's head.  Lore appears and with him he brings Jennifer and Jake.  Worf talks Sisko into completing their mission and Sisko calls forth the Orbs against Lore.  Worf uses an Orb and disintegrates Lore.  With that, Data restores the universe and the issue ends in a flash of light. There is a massive amount of ass-pull in this issue.  Sisko's forces easily manage to free the Quadrant minds.  They also manage to collect ten Orbs.  Did I sleep through this?  Were the Orbs ever mentioned?  You'd think someone like Lore would have erased the Orbs along with the Wormhole.  After all this, it just seems like the final stage of a video game that you beat on the simplest setting.  Worf kills Lore and that is it.  It is over just like that.  It feels so hollow.   five out of ten.

Helen sees her past as Ankh Es En Amun.  Her forbidden love with Imhotep and her eventual death due to a plague.  He tries to restore her to life using the Scroll of Thoth but is prevented and, for his crime, is buried alive.  Ankh Es En Amun speaks through Helen but the two wrestle for control of the body and Helen flees.  Ankh Es En Amun tells Helen if she does not surrender control she will take it herself.  Later, Helen wakes up... but it appears Ankh Es En Amun is finally in complete control. This is the best issue so far.  It is due to the more familiar elements one would associate with the Universal Mummy themes.  Imhotep and the curse, attempting to bring Ankh Es En Amun back to life.  This is what was missing from the first two issues.  and, I can see some logic in wanting to slowly reveal the mystery over the course of three issues.  But if you are a fan of Universal Monsters there is no mystery.  You know, more or less, w...

We learn that the four quadrants of the Milky Galaxy are powered by the minds of Scotty/Montgomery Scott, Geordi La Forge, B'Elanna Torres and Miles O'Brien.  Meanwhile, Kahless and Worf battle Shaxs, with Kahless dying in the process.  Later, Benjamin Sisko and his group meet up with Spock to discuss the situation.  Suddenly, Worf appears and embraces his son (Alexander Rozhenko).  Everyone is now dedicated to opposing Lore. It feels like everything and nothing happens in this issue.  It also feels jumbled.  Like parts are missing or it suddenly has to jump forward to get to the point.  Worf just kinda appears at the end with a hand wave explanation.  Data is able to undermine Lore because the story demands it.  Seemingly.  I have to say with this being part 4 of 5 I should be invested in the story and its outcome... but I'm not.   five out of ten.

Helen goes to the museum to see the unearthed princess.  She talks to the voice inside her head.  Someone reads from an ancient scroll and Helen feels the call.  The voice addresses her as Ankh-Es-En-Amun (Her Life Is of Amun).  Eventually Helen comes face to face with Ardeth Bay and we see a flash of them in ancient Egyptian garb.   Very little happens this issue.  And I do mean little.  Mostly Helen talks to the voice and has conversations that go nowhere or seem of little importance.  The comic just meanders along until Helen and Ardeth come face to face.  This is extremely disappointing.  I'm open to a new interpretation of The Mummy, but this lacks any thrilling moments, drama or intrigue.  We get one page of some mild horror.   four out of ten.

The Enterprise catches up with The Phoenix.  Benjamin Sisko, Beverly Crusher and Kahless escape in spacesuits as the ship collides with the Enterprise, which also provides them a way in.  They are immediately confronted by Tom Paris and Harry Kim.  Kim dies but Tom manages to wake up from his Lore manipulated reality and joins Sisko.  They eventually come face to face with Worf and Alexander.  Alexander wakes up as well and after a short battle joins Sisko and they make their escape in a shuttle.   This issue seems a bit messy.  The method of waking up from Lore's reality is almost too simple.  Kahless simply strikes them with his sword.  So why don't they just go around hitting everyone with it?  So far this event has not impressed me very much.  And at the risk of repeating myself, we have seen better and more interesting alternate reality stories across various episodes of Star Trek.   six out of ten.

At Bozeman Montana; Benjamin Sisko, Beverly Crusher and Kahless steal The Phoenix, Zefram Cochrane's experimental warp ship.  Sisko intends to travel to the Bajoran Wormhole but after consulting a star chart, discovers it does not exist in this reality.  In space the Maquis attack Worf's fleet as Spock details how the Vulcans managed to overcome being assimilated by the Borg.  Lore becomes unhinged at the Vulcans constantly being a problem in every universe he creates and detonates a star in an attempt to defeat them.  The Maquis fleet is destroyed and Lore gives Worf a new mission, track down Ben Sisko.   Meanwhile, Hoshi Sato discovers T'Lir. This was a very busy issue.  With The Phoenix being stolen and a fleet battle between Worf's Starfleet and Spock's Borg.  His explanation of how the Vulcans managed to overcome the assimilation process was quite clever I thought.  At this point a lot of our characters, like Worf, are simply a corrupted exag...

In a new reality created by Lore, Benjamin Sisko works a menial job and is plagued by dreams of the reality we all know.  He is attacked by Kahless.  As they struggle his memories fully return.  Meanwhile Worf and Alexander track down and battle rogue elements opposed to Lore.  Elsewhere, Lore directs Data on the creation and continued maintenance of his new universe.  As Borg forces gather in the Delta Quadrant, Sisko and Kahless approach the Phoenix Warp Ship in Bozeman Montana.   This is the big crossover event story the two Star Trek ongoing books have been driving towards for months.  And... honestly it is a mess.  You have the familiar faces of both books scattered across the galaxy.  Some in familiar places, others completely out of place and seemingly out of character.  I have to assume at some point the two crews will come together, realize Lore is the enemy, and defeat him.  But this reality under Lore holds no interest fo...

Over the course of several years we witness the life of Helen Grosvenor.  The British digging up Egyptian artifacts and how her former childhood friends view her privileged status.  Bringing a boy she has a crush on to the dig site, Helen falls unconscious and finds a man standing before her on the dunes, covered in wrappings.  Later, in a mirror, Hellen sees what may be different aspects of herself.  Possible past lives.   This is... disappointing.  We spend so much time with Helen but she comes across as a modern, privileged teenager.   It is so pedestrian and cliche.  There is so little of the actual Mummy and the mythos of the various Universal Monsters versions of the Mummy here.  It is just the first issue so hopefully this will improve.   six out of ten.

Berlinghoff Rasmussen and Nymira Vondect run a snake oil scam.  With the grift completed they move on to the next and we see how the two came together.  Rasmussen saved her during the parasite space station debacle.  They are out in space having an argument when Lore begins breaking down reality.  The planet they were just on vanishes due to a space/time rift.  They fly through the rift and emerge near the Defiant.  As they try to explain the situation the shockwave entangles both ships. I have to say I never really cared for Nymira much.  I get that Defiant was/is a ship of rogues and renegades on a secret mission.  And what we've seen of her past fits that.  But I just never formed any attachment to the character.  To be honest when I saw her on the first page it was only then that I realized that she had been gone for multiple issues.  Also happening as a little vignette is the ongoing mine standoff which concerns Miles O'Brien. ...