BotTalk Reviews

Trains, planes, and automobiles! 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! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona has returned to regular penciling duties after Ludo Lullabi filled in for a Megatron solo story last issue! So Megatron is back? He is and it’s time for him to put his house in order. And that means dealing with triplechanger Astrotrain, who wants revenge on him for some unspecified thing we… probably won’t get closure on! Also, Starscream’s about due for a whuppin’ too, right? If there’s one thing this issue does, it’s sell Megatron as the primary threat and mightiest Decepticon, able to basically no-sell Astrotrain even as wounded as he is. Megatron’s cruelty is on full display here as he doles out punishment t...

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. ...

Void Rivals Meet Again! They do and it continues here with issue # 18! 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. In this eighteenth issue, Darak and Solila’s separate paths are set to converge again as the truth about Unity is revealed to them both! But is it the same truth? Seems like they split up or reunite at the end of every arc. Yep, that seems like the pattern thus far! Solila’s been gifted insight and an upgrade from Zerta Trion and Vector Theta, while...

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...

Creators : Andrew Krahnke (writer), Francesco Segala (art) Story : Roadblock is on a mission to rescue a captured G.I. Joe team member from Cobra as they are traveling through an arctic environment.  The two of them then need to escape from additional Cobra assets trying to kill them and eventually try to contact the Joe team to get them out of there.  Writing :  Wow, without any words, this story really nails down the character of Roadblock.  Here's a big, tough guy willing to stick his neck out to help his fellow Joes.  On top of them, he gets to use his .50 caliber "Ma Deuce" machine gun and even pulls up a recipe to make!  Krahnke is able to incorporate all of these things, along with some nice action, into this issue.  Art :  Segala really nails the art in this.  To be able to hold Roadblock's signature gun, he needs to be a big, beefy guy and that's how he's drawn.  All the colors pop, nothing is too over shaded or saturated on the...

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.

Creators : Leonardo Romero  (writer), Cris Peter (art) Story :  Spirit is investigating some strange happenings in a forest - lots of injured animals with claw marks. He discovers an old research facility deep in the woods and discovers the metal monstrosity that is terrorizing the forest.  Spirit works with Freedom (his eagle) to stop it.   Writing : Continuing the Silent Issue month, Leonardo takes a fan-favorite classic character and dedicates a whole issue to him.  While Spirit has been featured pretty heavily in the on-going series through the year, many times he's regulated to being in charge of the defence of the Pitt.  Here we get to see Spirit being a tracker and warrior.  Spread throughout the issue are hints as to what's going on as well.  And, as a nice feature as well, it's a rare G.I. Joe comic where the Joes aren't fighting Cobra.  Art : Art is top notch.  From the beginning and laying hints as to what is happening to the ...

Creators : Dani, Dan Watters, Brad Simpson Story : Jinx has infiltrated a Cobra airbase and set a charge to blow up a Cobra Night Raven S3P, before it can carry out a mission.  In trying to escape, she runs afoul of Crimson Guardsmen and a Night Creeper.  Fighting her way out with a time bomb ticking, Jinx must make use of all her skills to get away before it blows up. Writing : Being the second in a month-long run of "Silent Issues", paying homage to the original silent issue (GI Joe #21), the Jinx issue can take place at any time after Jinx was introduced to the team (or maybe before?).  There are no named characters besides her in this and we then only see some Crimson Guards and a Night Creeper.  It's a pretty self-explanatory story; one we've seen in action movies countless times - the hero needs to escape before the time bomb they planted blows up.  As that, it's not anything too original.   Art : Overall, not a huge fan of the art in this issue. ...

Who do you belong to? Nobody! 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! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona has taken over regular penciling duties with a style all his own but this issue sees Ludo Lullabi fill in for a Megatron solo story! Sooo, we’re NOT following up on last issue’s cliffhanger? Nope! You’ll have to wait another month to see the fallout of the return of Megatron, because DWJ decides to give us some backstory on how Megatron became the mad, bad dude we’ve barely seen so far! He brings in the Quintessons here, who haven’t featured much in this book but play a big role over in Void Rivals, so it’s nice to see some cross-continuity ties to the larger Energon Universe. In an effort to perhaps provide some insight...

Creators : Phil Hester (Writer/Penciler), Travis Hymel (Inker), Lee Loughridge (Colorist) Story : In a war-torn city, a mother and her son see figures fall out of a crashing helicopter.  Beach Head is fighting off Cobra troops that tried to capture him.  He gets seriously injured when one trooper tries to use the mother as a shield but is able to defeat him.  The mother and son drag Beach Head to their home and try their best to fix him up.  The son goes out and retrieves some of the Cobra gear and the mom trades it for a GPS system.  The vendor sells her out to some Cobra troops and Alley Vipers come looking for Beach Head, as he's trying to use the GPS to send a signal out.  Beach Head engages in a cat and mouse game, trying to take out the Alley Vipers.  The mother and son provide assistance but when it seems like the Alley Vipers have them, a Joe Tomahawk arrives and Beach Head and the mom and son are saved. Writing :  So this is an interestin...

Creators : Larry Hama writer/breakdowns), George Roussos (colorist), Steven Leialohla (finishes). Story : Storm Shadow arrives at a Cobra castle with a captured Scarlett, much to the surprise of Cobra Commander. High above, Snake Eyes makes a parachute jump out of a Lockheed C-130 Hercules towards the castle.  Storm Shadow imprisons a defiant Scarlett while Destro sees that the computers have picked up an intruder.  Snake Eyes lands and begins to take out some Cobra troopers while Scarlett begins her escape and Destro looks over his "chess board" with custom chess pieces of various Joe and Cobra characters, pondering the Baroness' piece.  Scarlett is able to escape and quickly overpowers a surprised Storm Shadow while Destro leads some troopers to the roof to deal with Snake Eyes, who fools them into going in the wrong direction.  Storm Shadow gathers red ninjas while Scarlett steals a COBRA C.L.A.W. and makes her escape.  Snake Eyes finds Scarlett's oubliette p...