Bottalk Reviews

Void Rivals has better things to do tonight than die! It does and it continues here with issue # 11! 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 eleventh issue, Darak, Solila, and their new best buddy Triple Changer Springer have to fend off an Zertonian battalion intent on capturing or killing them! The Quintessons, Hot Rod, and even our good buddy the Skuxxoid continue along their paths, which will undoubtedly soon intersect again! So lots of Transfor

Prepare for battle! That’s right! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s new Energon Universe, noted writer/artist rolled-into-one Daniel Warren Johnson takes the reins on the linchpin of this new initiative, a brand-new Transformers comic series! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona takes over regular penciling duties with a style that barely misses a step from DWJ’s previous efforts. In this tenth issue, we learn what Beachcomber has been doing on Earth this whole time and Shockwave’s horrifying plans for the planet’s resources come to light. I remember Beachcomber! You sure do, he made a cameo appearance in the first arc and we find out here that he’s been on Earth for a long time! It’s a good and familiar take on the hippie dune buggy and fans of his will be happy to see he’s getting this spotlight. Beachcomber’s interactions with Spike and Astrotrain are quite engaging and I hope he’s

Who is Rivalling the Void this month?? Void Rivals continues here with issue # 10! It’s Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici new 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 new 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 tenth issue, Springer’s battle with Proximus comes to an end, and Darak and Solila learn more about how their planets and Cybertron are connected. So we learn more about what makes the Energon Universe, the Energon Universe? Yup! The nature of Energon itself and how it interacts with Darak and Solila’s people is explored. Springer ha

Prepare for battle! That’s right! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s new Energon Universe, noted writer/artist rolled-into-one Daniel Warren Johnson takes the reins on the linchpin of this new initiative, a brand-new Transformers comic series! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona takes over regular penciling duties with a style that barely misses a step from DWJ’s previous efforts. In this ninth issue, the Autobots take the fight to the Decepticons and drive them off Earth and everyone lives happily ever after! ...Right? No, of course not. Things go horribly, horribly awry. Wry, huh? Sounds funny. I said “A-wry”! Optimus and crew venture forth in Bizarro Action Master Jetfire to take down the Decepticons, but the Decepticons now have an operational space bridge and access to Cybertron. New characters enter the battle for Earth, and the Autobots find themselves on the back foot again! I

Who is Rivalling the Void this month?? Void Rivals continues here with issue # 9! It’s Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici new 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 new 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 ninth issue, our protagonist duo Darak and Solila are still on the run from the deadly hunter Proximus, when they stumble upon a new ally who has better things to do this night than die! Also, we look in on our pal, the Skuxxoid! Forget all the rest then, how’s Skuxxy doing?? Sad. Sad and alone. Oh. What about the rest then? Proximus

The war continues! That’s right! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s new Energon Universe, noted writer/artist rolled-into-one Daniel Warren Johnson takes the reins on the linchpin of this new initiative, a brand-new Transformers comic series! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona takes over regular penciling duties with a style that barely misses a step from DWJ’s previous efforts. In this eighth issue, the Autobots and Decepticons reunite with old comrades on both Earth and Cybertron as Carly and Spike still struggle with their place in the conflict. How’s this “new” creative team doing? Plugging along, although Jorge Corona’s humans are a lot more exaggerated than DWJ’s were. His robots too for that matter, but it kinda works better for them than it does for the humans. As far as writing goes, DWJ does well with character moments, although if you actually like the direction these char

This is free, right? Oh totes! The FCBD Energon Universe Special contains three FREE stories- one for Transformers, one for Void Rivals, and one for G.I.Joe! The Transformers tale, written by Daniel Warren Johnson with pencils by Ryan Ottley, focuses on Megatron and how he ended up in Cobra-La custody. The Void Rivals tale, written by Robert Kirkman with pencils by Lorenzo De Felici, catches us up with our pal the Skuxxoid after his run-in with the Quintessons and introduces another classic Transformers character into the mix. Finally, the G.I. Joe tale, written by Joshua Williamson with pencils by Jason Howard, has Duke on a recruitment mission for his new team. All three tales seem rather important to their respective titles and hint towards where the story of the larger Energon Universe is headed and the closer intersection of these three properties. So should I pick it up? Did you not hear me? This is a completely free comic, so of course you should pick it up if you see it! If you