Bottalk Reviews

Jim Zub's The Age Unconquered part 1: Suffer Not the King of Wonders, starts here. Conan stabbed himself in the chest and died on the way back to his home planet? The End? Nope! Not the end. Conan gets The Terminator treatment and gets sent back in time by unknown mystical forces to the Thurian Age (The Age of Atlantis), the epoch of Atlantean King Kull of Valusia and his buddy Brule, the Spear-Slayer, a Pict of the Borni tribe. We see Brule once again piercing the loathsome Black Stone statue with his blessed spear from way back in issue #4. Lighting from heaven's grasp strikes the spear and the obelisk shatters. Time traveler Conan still alive with his clothes, horned helmet and Brule's sword, emerges from the destroyed Black Stone sculpture, you know, like in Ghostbusters with the charred Terror Dogs. Brule's Pictish warriors suggest killing the slime covered barbarian from the future. The Spear-Slayer stops them. A confused Conan does not remember Brule (from previo

The all-new PREQUEL to the original simian sci-fi classic from 1968 is almost over. Zira spies on the Hominidae empire, a city of gorilla soldiers. Cornelius (now with a completely healed shoulder) spots our favourite hippie chimpanzee Lucius. Zira wants to go to this new city to save her nephew, Nova doesn't want her to go.  Back to Hope's Point (the ruins of Yankee Stadium). Mutant leader Ivana tells Zira that they have been at peace with the Hominidae empire FOR GENERATIONS. Zira thinks that the Gorillas could be planning an invasion of her city (Ape City). Zira selfishly suggests to the mutants that they should attack the Hominidae empire first, before they too are raided. Sniper Kennard and Lyla like the idea of invading the empire. Clairvoyant Ivana reaches again telepathically into Nova's mind, this time using "The Wizard of Oz" as a template. Ivana mentions once more Mendez, the mutant leader living beneath the radioactive ruins of New York City from Benea

eBook by Violet Castro Cover by Jenny Frison Illustrations by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  A storm is battering Bêlit's ship the Tigress, crewmates are flying overboard. First mate Seneka, an expert tracker, is trying to protect Bêlit from the storm, They've been together for five years. The Tigress stops moving suddenly, they have hit land, an island. Hassan starts assessing the damage. Bêlit hits the beach, removes her boots and devours a fallen blood fruit from a nearby tree.  Hassan needs to work on the mast and to cut down trees to repair the Tigress's belly. Seneka, Mithras and Zeke will gather fruit, coconuts and make a fire. Nora will fish. They eat under the clouds that are obscuring the stars and preventing them from knowing their position. They start exploring the island in teams. Zeke and Mithras into the jungle. Nora and Homer to the left. Horus and Ajani to the right. The teen Mithras returns to tell Bêlit that N

This is not a black lotus induced dream. What you're seeing on the spinner rack is real! It's a brand new bimonthly Conan black-and-white magazine!  Yup! 80 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery printed on newsprint!  Inside this anthology you'll find plenty of treasures: A Personal Introduction by Roy Thomas Map of the Hyborian Age by Francesca Baerald A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Rob De La Torre A fresh new Pin-Up of Bêlit by Rebeca SubversiveGirl Puebla A fresh new Pin-Up of Solomon Kane by Howard Chaykin Pin-Up of the variant cover by Gerardo Zaffino with Robert E. Howard's poem: The Road of Kings  Pin-Up of the cover by Joe Jusko Solomon Kane, an essay by archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks Conan & The Dragon Horde by John Arcudi & Max Von Fafner Max is killing it on the art! Departing the Wahuan desert, now setting foot into the steppes of Hyrkania, General Conan is leading the 200 men - 1 woman army of exiled Prince Zaahid of Ul-Dalkhana, mostly gold lusting

Thrice Marked for Death! part four: Sacrifice!... Jim Zub's blood-soaked sequel to Queen of the Black Coast ends here. We get more "amazing" memories of Conan's time with his girlfriend aboard the Tigress.  Conan is sword fighting for fun with Lanre. Bêlit wants to spar with an ancient weapon (Brule/Brissa's Pictish blade) that she just stumbled upon, Conan refuses to indulge her because of his feelings for it. In a jealous fit of rage Bêlit tries to toss the half-sword overboard. Conan stops her. Back to the present, Conan, now a thrice possessed tool for Thulsa Doom is walking around the city of Shadizar. We get more flashbacks: Conan breaking the vessel from issue 4, the jungles of Kush, his fight with a shapechanger in the grasslands, the selling of the Pictish blade to Jaali the trader.  The nefarious spectres inside our Cimmerian want that blade... to corrupt it. Jason Voorhees...  I mean, Conan goes back to the pawnshop, kills Jaali's nephew and Thulsa

The all-new PREQUEL to the original simian sci-fi classic from 1968 continues. We start with more than 3 pages of badly reprinted and horribly coloured vintage pages by Doug Moench, Alfredo Alcala and George Roussos. Clairvoyant mutant Ivana wakes up from this Alcala dream, which is the future of Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). Ivana and Lyla telepathically feel that sniper Kennard is about to kill our heroes. Ivana stops him and recognizes Nova from her dream. Cornelius approaches the ruins of the Yankee Stadium, last seen in 1975 in the UK exclusive ApeSlayer comic (a redrawn Killraven comic: Amazing Adventures #21 in Marvel UK's Planet of the Apes #30) and gets shot in the shoulder. Ivana puts Zira to sleep. The mutants bring our three heroes to their colony, Hope's Point. Ivana and Nova converse telepathically. We get even more vintage art by the late, great, Filipino artist Alfredo Alcala. Ivana asks about Mendez, the mutant leader living beneath the radioactive rui

Thrice Marked for Death! part three: HAUNTED!... Jim Zub's vulgar sequel to Queen of the Black Coast continues. Conan is remembering "the good old times" with his bipolar girlfriend Bêlit. Back to the present, a bewitched Chaundra "The Chat" (It's somehow very important to constantly remind the reader that she's nicknamed "The Chat" but apparently Zub means a chatterbox not a songbird or a cat.) tries to assassinate our Cimmerian. "The Chat", now with deadite-like looks and enhanced strength, stabs Conan in the trapezius and slits a poor random dude's tongue. Conan kills her. Bleeding, haunted by the past, lost in his fevered mind, Conan garrottes Bêlit. Conan stumbles upon Kamal's secret gathering point. The barbarian finds his allies from the guild of thieves butchered by Kamal and locksmith Greff, both also possessed, just like "The Chat". Conan kills his two bandit buddies, dead Chaundra shows up, all 3 spectres

Thanks to Titan Books for giving us this opportunity to interview Simon! 1) How did the current trade paperback re-publications of your TF work come about? 1A) I'd always harboured the idea of getting my US TF run back in print in collected editions, but it wasn't really until 1997/1998 (when I attended two Botcons) that I realized that there may still be a market out there. Even so, it was another couple of years until the time seemed to be right. There was a lot of retro interest in all things 80s, TF included, and a new Gen 1 style toy line in the offing, so armed with enough potential sales information I felt confident enough to pitch the idea to Titan (without getting laughed out of the room). 2) I help run a chain of four comic book stores in America, and I just wanted to tell you that there is a great market here for collections of your U.K. stories. If these are on the horizon for the Titan collections, I think they would sell as many, if not more, than the recent Ameri

Are you breathing heavily? Are you hearing strange electronic sounds? Your gobsmacked eyes are not deceiving you! It's the first of three fabulous Rom-nibuses. Collecting Rom: Spaceknight #1-29 and Power Man and Iron Fist #73. Offered in 4 different slipcovers: two from Frank Miller, one from Sal Buscema and one from George Pérez. All four slipcover spines are different too. Extras include: Intro by Chris Ryall. You get all the Space Notes letter columns/pages. 2 unpublished Rom #1 covers by Ed Hannigan and Mike Netzer. Parker Brothers advert. 3 Marvel house ads. Comic Reader #169 back-cover. Sales pitch to Parker Brothers (now part of Hasbro) by John Romita Jr. and Marie Severin. Original Comic Art pages from Sal Buscema (5) and Greg LaRocque/Steve Mitchell (only 1). Rom #8 cover art by Micronauts artist Michael Golden. George Pérez commission from 2013. Isn't "Read-Only Memory" just a ripoff of Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still? No! Rom is much more than that.

eBook by Scott Oden Cover once again by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Oden? The dude who wrote the introduction to "Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures" AND THE IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND CONAN UNCONQUERED Deluxe Edition exclusive 9000-word ebook set during the events of Black Colossus using the Yaralet fragment? Yes, the one and the same. Spoilers! Spoilers!  A sequel to Robert E. Howard's The Devil in Iron. While awaiting his new city lord from Aghrapur, the reticent new regent of Khawarizm, old Ghaznavi is enjoying expensive wine from Kyros in his study. Karash Khan, the shapeshifting leader of The Nine (The dude has 8 Sicari "brothers". Get it?) appears. The former counsellor of Turan desires to avenge his fallen lord, Jehungir Agha (killed by Conan in Devil in Iron on Xapur, an island on the Vilayet Sea).  To get his payback, Ghaznavi promises to turn over The temple of Erlik to the Sicari, a splinter cult of Erlik. Our Cimmerian comman

Is this a banana daiquiri recipe book? No, it's a comic book. Is this a Planet of the Aches adaptation? Be serious, No. Is this an adaptation of Pierre Boulle's screenplay La Planète des Hommes by Dana Gould? Sadly, No. An all-new PREQUEL to the original simian sci-fi classic from 1968? Yes. Far from Ape City, we find our favourite hippie chimpanzee Lucius connecting with nature next to a giant tree. He saves Nova from a Gorilla patrol helmed by the helmeted General Ursus (Played excellently by James Gregory in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)). Suddenly, a giant someone looms over Lucius. The next day, Lucius's aunt Zira is worried about her nephew's disappearance. Her fiancé Cornelius goes looking for Lucius, but finds Nova instead. Nova "tells him" that Lucius was taken into the Forbidden Zone aka The radioactive ruins of New York City. A vexed and remorseful Dr. Zaius forbids Cornelius from venturing into the Zone... because it's Forbidden. As we

Don't cover my six, Iceman! So much nudity in issue 6, so much nakedness. Maybe the most "au naturel" Conan comic ever printed? Bêlit in the buff. Chaundra in the buff. Conan in the buff. Even the winged monster is in the buff. Everybody get naked! Should I follow suit and review this "Not suggested for immature readers" issue in my birthday suit? My Mezco Toyz Solomon Kane action figure (with its inaccurate red sash. It should be green!) next to me is shaking its Puritan head "NO". Thrice Marked for Death! part deux: The CURSED!... the adaptation of the Steven Seagal movie that never was continues or maybe it is still just the continuation of a gory Queen of the Black Coast sequel by Jim Zub. Seeing his she-devil of the sea as a Force ghost made Conan a believer in the afterlife. Preferring to partake in violent heists instead of trying to seek psychiatric assistance in Shadizar the Wicked our tormented Cimmerian from the Hyborian age is still hanging