BotTalk Reviews

Transformed into the Wolf Man, Adam stands over his father.  But, holding the pentagram necklace, the Wolf Man backs off.  The detective forces Adam's father to chase after him.  They return home and the detective confronts him over the death of his wife.  The Wolf Man comes upon the detective as his father stands outside and shoots paint cans, which burst into flames.  The Wolf Man comes crashing through a window carrying the detective and is soon confronted by his father.  He holds up the pentagram, which startles Adam, then takes a shot.  After multiple shots Adam reverts to his human form.  He comforts his son and as police arrive, realizes that he was bitten in the confrontation and walks into the woods.   Little time to catch our breath in this issue.  We learn the werewolf heritage comes from the maternal side of Adam's family.  The pentagram does its job, but is Adam's downfall as his father uses it to take his life.  I...

Admiral Sato and James Kirk meet to discuss a course of action.  They will evacuate all remaining Starfleet ships and personnel through a singularity.  The Emerald Chain intercepts information about this plan.  After some preparation Kirk and Sato gather the remaining ships only to be met by the Emerald Chain.  Sato orders all ships to open fire. A lot going on here.  Kirk and Sato manage to exist together without getting into a fight, physical or verbal.  There is some mending of old wounds as members of the crew get a moment before the mass evacuation.  The scenes between Kirk and Agnes still feel a bit off.  I wish they had devoted a bit more time to developing them.   seven out of ten.

Adam is questioned about what happened.  He tells the detective he is a werewolf and he killed the people at the party.  He also shares what really happened to his older brother, that he killed himself.  As the detective takes Adam away he gets into an argument with his father.  He tears away the medallion from his neck and transforms into a werewolf in front of everyone.  The cops open fire but it has no effect.  He begins cutting down everyone in sight.  His father hides as the massacre continues and emerges from his hiding spot to find the Wolf Man standing over him. I feel like this is the first issue of this mini-series I have connected with.  No more beating around the bush.  Things are laid out clearly.  Adam is a werewolf.  His older brother killed himself and their father covered it up.  He then transforms in full view of everyone in the police station and goes on a rampage.  Will Adam, as a werewolf, kill his fat...

Having commandeered the Omega, Kirk receives a message from the Tellarite ambassador, asking him to liberate their planet from The Emerald Chain.  The Omega arrives and destroys the orbiting base.  Suddenly the Challenger, under command of Admiral Sato arrives and attacks the Omega.  Zed manages to disable the Challenger's systems and makes a proposal to Kirk and Sato.  Work together.  Kirk and Sato meet face to face. A lot happening here, and at the same time, little.  Decades have passed since Kirk took the Omega.  We see bits of Borg technology in his body.  Sato is now old and grey.  But their confrontation feels lacking.  Sato spent all this time tracking down Kirk, cleaning up his mess and trying to work through the repercussions only for Zed to steal the moment.  I hope next issue we see Sato and Kirk put their long conflict to bed with a satisfying conclusion.   six out of ten.

In therapy Adam relives a memory of being chased by wolves.  He gets angry and leaves the session.  Adam and his father argue but end up going to a supernatural bookstore.  There Adam learns about werewolves and sees a pentagram-wolf necklace.  He rushes home and finds one among his mother's things.  The police show up to talk to Adam.  His father tells them he's not home but Adam confesses and they take him away.   This all feels simple.  It is things we've seen in other movies or tv shows.  Repressed memories.  A rich family running out of money.  Troubled family.  Police investigation.  It is all... fine.  But I want more.  Maybe we'll get more next issue.  But I find it hard to be invested in any of these characters as they feel so cliché.   six out of ten.

Kirk attempts to take command from Sato.  Zed takes his patient to Main Engineering and lets the bomb explode.  The story skips ahead, we see Kirk in command.  Sato and Zed have been left on a Class M Planet.  But Sato is determined to find Kirk and stop him. Most of this issue is taken up by the conflict between Kirk and Sato.  It is one long speech as Kirk tries to talk Sato into giving up, into doing something, into standing down and letting him take command.  If this were a TV show it would work much better.  As a comic it feels wordy.  The confrontation has been building for some time now, but in the end it feels like a long and wordy speech.  T'Galatheon gives her life to destroy the station and seemingly cripple the Borg.  We saw this coming last issue.   six out of ten.

Adam is taken to a hospital and tells his dad he believes something bad happened.  He begins to recall what happened... We see a wolf man tearing people apart at a party.  Two detectives attempt to question him, only for his father to rush him home.  They begin to argue when Adam coughs up an eyeball. This is certainly a wolf man story... Though unlike most of the other minis I don't see a connection to the Universal Monster films.  The story is... OK.  It is nothing original.  The beginning could easily be from any slasher.  A group of teenagers gathered for a party, surely nothing bad could happen here.  The art, like many of these minis, is the feature worth highlighting.   six out of ten.

The Assimilation of the Omega crew begins.  Kirk beams over to confront Jurati.  He speaks directly to Jurati as she was before assimilation.  She tells of her plan, to resurrect the great James T. Kirk in an effort to save the Galaxy.  And how that plan involves the mass assimilation of everyone, with Kirk as the Borg 'King'.  He rejects this and asks her to join him.  Meanwhile, Zed discovers that the massive amounts of chemicals he has been taking to stimulate himself are keeping assimilation at bay, and uses this to help the crew.  Operating on a crewman Zed discovers a bomb inside the crewman.  The confrontation between Kirk and Jurati has been long coming, I feel.  Their romantic connection feels like something used to get the reader's attention, but it is so infrequently used it feels hollow here.  I would have liked a more solid rationale from Jurati, instead of the simplistic and vague notions of a masterplan that somehow involv...

A taxidermist meets a woman looking for an iguana.  They seemingly connect and share a perfect moment together.  Only for it to quickly unravel.  Slowly at first then bigger, more intense, building to an insane nightmare that doesn't make sense.  At the end we see this man is the lone survivor of an apocalypse, and the woman was just a figment of his imagination.  A perfect moment he conjured up as a distraction.   This starts out simple.  Man meets woman.  Has an unusual job and his mom is pressuring him to find someone.  But then it turns into a nightmare and you think you know where it is going... except it was only in his mind.  But then the final sting mentions Willoughby...  but there is no connection to the Twilight Zone episode 'A Stop at Willoughby'.  So... it is just an easter egg.  A reference.  No connection?  Either way the way things begin to unravel is interesting but then as it becomes surreal yo...

The Phantom takes Christine deep beneath the Opera House.  He tells her they can never again return to the surface, that he was the one behind everything.  He tries to calm her down by playing the violin when she has a revelation, the Phantom is her father.  She removes his mask and is astonished by his disfigured face.  The inspector arrives to save Christine.  The inspector pulls a gun on the Phantom, the Phantom saves Christine as the underground begins to collapse on the Phantom.  Christine picks up the mask of the Phantom and drops it into the water as they make their escape. At the risk of repeating myself with some of the adaptions I feel there is little new here.  It is the basic story we know, no real twists or turns... save one.  In this version the Phantom is Christine's father.  This is such a late development as to be almost baffling.  The art, which has been a highlight, at times feels muddled and confusing in several pages...

The Omega is summoned to Deep Space Hope with a message, a miracle breakthrough.  They arrive to find a Black Hole contained and the crew inflicted with madness.  Their lead scientist tries to meld with Sato.  On the bridge, Kirk is informed that the life signs of the away team have vanished.  Meanwhile, Agnes states that the outcome was always inevitable... assimilation.   We see the progression of time wearing on the crew, especially Captain Sato as he suffers yet another loss.  The Emerald Chain continues to grown as the Federation shrinks.  The space station scenes are spooky, with the art reinforcing it very effectively.  For several issues Agnes has sat back and did little.  Here, we see things seemingly fall into place for her.     eight out of ten. 

The Phantom comforts Christine as an arrest is made.  He makes a deal and has his play, an original composition, set to take over.  Encountering the previous prima donna, Christine begins to question why she wants the spotlight so badly.  The Inspector spots the Phantom observing his play and attempts to confront him.  The performance ends in a mass of dead bodies. Aside from the final pages this issue moves along fairly slowly.  Moments between the previous prima donna are interesting and give us some layers.  Why does Christine want the spotlight?  Why does she want to sing?  And will she be cast aside just as easily.  The final pages seem chaotic.  Perhaps on purpose, though it is a bit difficult to follow.  The Inspector confronts the Phantom.  There is some commotion and we see the audience seemingly dead.  The art, as with most of these Universal Monsters minis, is the highlight here.   five out of ten.   ...

A woman orders a product called Healthy Root.  Deciding not to eat it she puts it in a pot and takes care of it until a baby pops out.  As it continues to grow people become afraid of it, her landlord asks her to get rid of it.  She takes the plant baby out of the city and into a wooded area.  She attempts to leave it in the woods but can't bring herself to strand it alone.  The baby grows massive roots, becomes a tree and the two remain together. This is a nice little story... but not a Twilight Zone story.  The art is too cartoony for one.  I'm not saying it is bad at all.  You could expand on this and make it a children's book.  It just feels like its own thing with a Twilight Zone logo slapped on.  It also takes too much time to get going, which seems to have been a problem with several of these issues.  They spend too much time building to the 'thing'.  In a TV show it is necessary to establish characters.  In a comic...

Christine runs into Raoul Dubert, literally, and invites him to the play as the Phantom watches from above.  Later, Christine and the Phantom discuss her upcoming performance and he says the Inspector is but a distraction.  During her performance she collapses.  Megan, her understudy, receives a note that directs her to the roof.  She celebrates Christine's downfall, thinking it is her lover waiting... but it is the Phantom. Megan falls to her death.   As with many of these Universal Monsters minis the art is the prime attraction here.  Feeling like something from a 90s Vertigo book.  Even if you know little of the Phantom of the Opera I feel there is little of surprise as far as the story goes.  It moves from one thing to the next, rarely stopping.  But when it does offer a moment of reflection it is brilliantly rendered.   six out of ten.

As the Emerald Chain threatens the Council, Agnes charges in, only to be struck down.  Put before a vote, the Emerald Chain solidifies its place in the galaxy, while the Federation is stripped of its power.  Sato and Kirk disagree on a course of action.  While the doctor attempts to save Agnes, Kirk infiltrates the Emerald Chain ship in orbit.  Kirk attempts to sacrifice himself and take the ship with him but is beamed out.  Later, Sato confronts Kirk and together they sit on the bridge. As this mini series progressed it became less and less about Kirk.  Which was a bit disappointing.  Why bring him back just to put him on the sidelines, and not even as commander of a starship even.  This issue goes into what Kirk is thinking and feeling since being brought back.  It does much to put a band aid on the situation.  But where do we go from here?  We know how things will progress, somewhat, given what we know from Discovery.  Starf...

Dr. Emily Sorensen is brought in to consult on a meteorite that is emitting strange sound waves.  Once they arrive the men venture into the ocean depths to investigate.  Sorensen stays behind on the sub and detects an unusual sound.  The nearby fish begin to attack and the men return to the sub.  The decision is made to destroy the meteorite despite Sorensen's objections.  She begins to hear the strange sound again, seemingly talking to the meteorite.  She leaves the men to die as the fish attack them.  The meteorite attaches to the sub and it returns to base.  The military service members open it only to find a mutated Dr. Sorensen at the controls.   The art by Francesco Francavilla is great as always.  The story... at first it unfolds as a typical Twilight Zone episode.  Abbreviated of course, but it feels normal.  Sorensen is not taken seriously by the military or even her fellow scientist.  The sound that only she can ...

A diva is murdered mid performance.  The Police investigate and Christine, the understudy, struggles with her performance.  A mysterious voice begins to coach her, greatly improving on her abilities.  From the darkness, the Phantom observes her. There is little original here.  This is a story told and retold many times.  In movies, on the stage.  What sets this telling apart from the others is the art.  Beautifully painted by Martin Simmonds.  Full of emotion.  Sadness, frustration, rage, longing.  It remains to be seen how closely this version will follow others.  At this point, I am here for the art.   seven out of ten.