BotTalk Reviews

The Free Comic Book Day prelude to this Fall's epic event: Conan: Tides of the Tyrant-King! Jim Zub's Grim Tidings The Hyborian Age of Conan. The borderlands between Zingara and Argos, CONAN OF CIMMERIA and some sell-swords are fighting raiders. Next to the "CRAZED BIRD" tavern, Conan cripples one of the sell-swords for disrespecting a woman. Disgusted by the way the mercenaries are behaving, the chivalrous barbarian leaves Captain Keegan (an homage to The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob)'s unit. A servant of Thulsa Doom is seeking Conan, his mission: to slay the Cimmerian who slayed his master (way back in Conan the Barbarian (2023) #12). Looking at the ocean (Kathulos is know as "The Son of the Ocean"), Conan senses a forthcoming conflict. Montfaucon-d'Argonne, France in 1918 (from Robert E. Howard's Skull Face). American, World War I soldier Stephen Costigan (the cousin of Sailor Steve Costigan from Savage Sword of Conan (2024) #10) survives the Meu...

eBook by Adam Rose Cover by Alex Horley (aka Alessandro Orlandelli) Chapter illustration by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  In Althunia, young Kull of Atlantis is a slave of Eldor (clearly NOT the heroic guardian of the book of living spells) the Game Warden. The Althunian Skull Forest. A hunting party of FOUR men goes missing, sheep are being mutilated. Kull must find and terminate the culprit: the Beast of Skull Mountain, if he is successful in his mission, he'll be released from slavery. An elk points Kull to a hidden trail, Althunian runes on a tree indicate that the Skull Beast's den is above the clouds, so up the mountain Kull goes. Crows attack from above, Kull finds three decapitated wolves, Kull knows one of them: Tiber the Grey, Kull buries the three canines. Kull meets Orgon the Bounty Hunter who is also looking for the Skull Beast. FOUR decaying disciples/slaves of the immortal Beast: Gar (a diminutive of Garou?) and his...

eBook by Shaun Hamill  Dedicated to Shaun's father, Rick Hamill Cover by Guillem H. Pongiluppi  Chapter illustration by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  Solomon Kane is tracking "something" dark and evil from England. The "something" wounds Solomon in the leg and leaves him to die in the woods outside of the village known as Tywyllwch/Darkness in Wales. It's Yuletide, Christmas eve.  Four children are missing: Tacy (Rees' platonic girlfriend), Matilde, Howell and Philipe. Rees (an homage to Martin Rees, the fifteenth Astronomer Royal?) finds Solomon in the snow and drags him to his home. Rees' father, Hughe (a physician who also has a wife (Elys) and a daughter (Judithe)) thinks that Kane is the culprit behind the kidnappings, he threatens to poison the Puritan. Kane mentions that Puritans do not celebrate Christmas. Someone masquerading as the Mari Lwyd (the Grey Mare from the South Wales wassailing folk c...

Novel by Shaun Hamill Dedicated to Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) Cover by Nick Marinkovich Chapter illustration by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Cabinet Licensing LLC Also available unabridged on audiobook from Blackstone Publishing, read by James Fouhey  Spoilers! Spoilers!  Kane, the Puritan wanderer/adventurer, is now in his fifties, with the help of N'Longa the African shaman/sorcerer, he concentrates his efforts on hunting vampires wherever they may be. Solomon takes a break from relentlessly battling bloodsuckers, he goes to the village of Baumstadt in the Black Forest of Germany (Shaun Hamill adapts Solomon Kane: Death's Black Riders) and kills a beast with great skeletal wings (like the Eremite from Hellraiser (1987)) and its supernatural rider. Kane receives a letter from a childhood friend, Catherine Archer, who is now married to Enoch (an homage to the biblical figure), has 4 children and is living in the English Puritan village of Windsend in England....

eBook by Robbie MacNiven Cover by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books, Heroic Signatures & Conan Properties International LLC Spoilers! Spoilers!  Conan of Cimmeria is aware that a former cabin boy of Captain Zaporavo (killed by Conan in The Pool of the Black One) of the Wastrel is aboard the Heir of Argus.  Conan is also aware that the cabin boy is actually runaway Princess Elyka (the youngest daughter of King Codrin Saldius of Nemedia who fled Belverus (capital city of the kingdom of Nemedia)).  Conan joins the Zingaran and Argossean crew of the Heir of Argus in Messantia (capital port city of Argos). The captain of the Heir of Argus learns that Conan is wanted by Strom (who will die in The Black Stranger) of the Red Hand/King of the Barachans/Lord of the pirate city of Tortage. Brought in chains to Tortage, Conan makes sure that everyone hears that his cabin boy buddy is Princess Elyka.  Captain Gavrali (of Corinthia) kidnaps Conan (to sell him on Sark's Isle) a...

eBook by Cavan Scott Cover by Guillem H. Pongiluppi  Illustrations by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  Solomon Kane is returning home to Devonshire, the Puritan hears laughter upon the moor. Green Hart tavern in Challaton Worthy (near Brambleheath). Solomon meets Henry Worle (a local woodcutter) who is wearing a charm made of rowan (a Faerie tree and a protection against pixy magic). Marcus Brampton and Gerald stumble into the tavern, victims of a sprite (fairies) attack. Little Masie Wilkins was left behind. Kane and Worle enter Whist Wood, they rescue Masie from a swarm of laughing pixies/Strikkan. Kane and Worle find the Fairyland gateway (a Whitethorn/Hawthorn and a Blackthorn/Sloe with their thorns tangled together). Solomon starts cutting down the Whitethorn, the Strikkan assail Kane and strip him of his axe and weapons and take Worle away.  Kane is pulled into the portal. In the realm of the Strikkan, Solomon sees a ...

eBook by Tim Waggoner Cover by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books, Heroic Signatures & Conan Properties International LLC Spoilers! Spoilers!  The eastern desert of Shem. Conan and some sellswords are guarding a Turanian trading caravan, a decoy to lure Zuagir raiders into a trap. Almost all of the mercenaries perish at the hands of the Zuagirs.  Conan, Solfrid (a female Vanir from Vanaheim), Endrigo (a Kothian) and Danor (a Shemite-Stygian) are the only four who survive the raid.  Conan wants to go back to Ashaka (caravan city of the Turanians) to claim the rest of his remuneration for guarding the bogus caravan. Conan's camel detects the scent of an oasis with doum palm trees. Near the water hole, Conan and Co. find a possible hidden treasure cache... marked by a vulture's head (the sigil of the demon: "The Lord of Silence"). Later, vulture headed eyeless mist creatures attack. Conan, Solfrid and Endrigo get scratched, but Danor swallows one of scavenger things and d...

eBook by Brendan Deneen Cover by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books, Heroic Signatures & Conan Properties International LLC Spoilers! Spoilers!  The City of Thieves aka Arenjun, Zamora. Fabian, the leader of the Thieves' Guild gives an eighteen-year-old Conan of Cimmeria a down payment of jewels to meet with the Duchess Amelia (third cousin of King Hadranor of Zamora) and her bodyguard Tomas.  The Duchess wants her stolen family heirloom, the crimson amulet of the demon Nakamar, a gift from the King, back in her possession. Conan is told to go to a walled mansion surrounded by abysses near the Skarpash Mountains. Conan surmounts the estate's stone barricade, enters the residence via a servants' door, makes his way to the basement and finds the amulet. Conan notices that the heirloom is giving off hellish heat, Conan hears the voice of the demon Nakamar asking to be released. Two older thieves, also sent by Amelia to retrieve the amulet, enter the basement, the barbarian bu...

eBook by Francesco Dimitri Cover by Alex Horley (aka Alessandro Orlandelli) Illustrations by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books, Heroic Signatures &  Conan Properties International LLC Spoilers! Spoilers!  The hills of Zalgara, cloud river, a small riparian village appears out of thin air. King Kull the Conqueror and Brule the Spear-Slayer meet with village chief Elspeth Thrace. They spend the night exploring the novel village.  The stars in the firmament start swirling. Kull and Brule spot a future, possible version/reflection of Kull as an elderly man with a woman. The old couple explodes into water, showering Kull. Kull and Brule see an older Kull stuffing his face... obese, angry, sad and alone. The vision turns into mist. Kull and Brule witness an alternate rendition of Kull's past, they see a young Kull and his girlfriend Elpis, dead, murdered by five thieves.  Kull vividly recalls that, as a youth, he had killed all five of the robbers and that Elpis h...

A Scourge of the Serpent Novel by Tim Waggoner Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love  From Titan Books and Conan Properties International Also available unabridged on audiobook from Blackstone Publishing, read by Bradford Hastings  Spoilers! Spoilers!  The Deities of Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age are rallying against the sinister snake-god Set (the great serpent Jörmungandr) who is busy preparing for the arrival of the even more wicked Woeful Eye (Shuma-Gorath?) who is planning a conquest of Conan's planet. Set recruits Stygian sorcerer Uzzeran (Master of the Revenants (corpses steered by Set shadow-snakes)), Shengis (Uzzeran's Stygian servant who wears the Snare amulet that ensnares Serpent-Men) and Rynthia (a Zamorian woman who was raised by sorceress Nabishut). Ishtar (fertility goddess of the Shemites) recruits Conan and Valja (a Zamorian woman). Mitra (god of the Hyborians symbolized by The Phoenix) recruits Naerys (an Ophirian priestess of Mitra & a former test subject o...

eBook by Brian D. Anderson Cover by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  Central Kush. Conan and others are protecting their employer Marisova Mella, Mella's caravan full of silks and linens, Mella's wife Shayistra and young Joni (Shayistra's secret lover). Kushite mercenaries attack the convoy! Titus Havarius (also a Kushite) saves his Cimmerian friend's skin once again. Mella gets murdered. The attackers retreat. Titus suspects that Mella's wife hired the killers to kill her husband. Shayistra refuses to pay Conan and company, Conan threatens her gigolo and to make her mariticide known to the magistrate... they get paid in gold. Conan, Titus, and the Hyrkanian cousins: Asher & Cabil leave the caravan for the small village of Albon.  Titus has to leave Conan, he is wanted back home. Kush. Conan and twenty soldiers of fortune are now working for Lord Gulan Adria to end a siege. Lord Adria had seized nearly all the harvest of hi...

eBook by James Lovegrove   Cover by Jim & Ruth Keegan Illustrations by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers! Pamir Mountains (Tajikistan, Central Asia). The Texan adventurer, gunslinger know as El Borak ("The Swift") aka Francis Xavier Gordon saves an English rug merchant and his guide, Aarav Choudhury (a Pundit explorer) from carnivorous snow leopards. The soldier of fortune from El Paso, knows that they are actually Crown servants... clearly British military spies.  British Lieutenant John Stock comes clean that they are on an intelligence mission. Stock, just like Gordon, wants to know more about the ruler of the remote city of Lamakan who stands against the Russian invaders... Queen Zohra. Gordon, a self-appointed "keeper of the peace", feeds the starving Stock and Choudhury. Major Andrei Razin (not the singer, not the hockey coach) and a military unit have been sent by Tsar Nicholas II to stamp out Zohra's rebellio...

Scourge of the Serpent part 1 (of 4): Stealing Faces & Finery. The epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics continues. The Thurian Age of Kull (from Robert E. Howard's The Shadow Kingdom). Pictish warrior, Brule the Spear-Slayer is chilling with Gonar the Seeker (from Kings of the Night). Brule wants to know if Kull the Conqueror is a camouflaged Serpent-Man. Gonar reassures Brule that if he utters the unfamiliar words: "Ka nama kaa lajerama!", it will melt away Kull's human disguise, exposing him as a Serpent-Man.  Gonar glimpses three heroes from the Howardverse: Kull of Atlantis, Conan the Barbarian and Professor John Kirowan in separate time periods... all are prepared to take on Set's servants. Brule the Spear-Slayer is wearing the gleaming, mystic armlet of the dragon; he scales the walls of the royal palace, reaches Kull's window and verifies the King's humanity. Brule shows King Kull of Valusia that his palace is jam-packed ...

Novel by Tim Lebbon Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love  Illustrations by Juan Alberto Hernández From Titan Books and Conan Properties International Also available unabridged on audiobook from Blackstone Publishing, read by Bradford Hastings  Spoilers! Spoilers!  Conan in now the bored, inactive, pampered, sexagenarian King of Aquilonia. A barely alive and desperate Baht Tann arrives at the royal palace to call in a favour. 40 years ago, Baht Tann saved the life of a 20 year old Conan. They both escaped the Zamoran run salt mines of Tangara, together. Today, Baht Tann is no longer a mercenary, he has a family, they are heartgem prospectors/hunters/sellers.  Grake, a barbarian 6 inches taller than King Conan, and his brigands kill half of Baht Tann's companions, they force the rest and Baht Tann's family to slave for them. Conan picks up his dusty broadsword and Zelata's knife (from The Hour of the Dragon), leaves his wife (Queen Zenobia) and young son (Conn) and departs for t...

Chekov's Challenge by Walter Koenig and Chris Mcauley In the aftermath of The Wrath of Khan the Enterprise is attacked by Orion Pirates.  During the space battle the Enterprise is boarded and the Orions intend to raid the ship and then destroy it by placing explosives on the Warp Core.  Chekov and his security team manage to defeat the invaders while Sulu performs a daring maneuver that overcomes and destroys the Orion Pirates.    As a story this is... fine.  It adds very little in my opinion.  We get the sense Chekov is in a state of shock, not only from the death of Spock but from his experiences with Khan.  Placing the story between Star Trek II and III is interesting.  There is a very small amount of time one could just about wedge a small story.  There are a few references sprinkled in the story but as a story written by Chekov himself I expected something more substantial.  I think I would have liked it better if you removed the sp...

A Black Stone Novel by James Lovegrove Dedicated to the memory of Robert Ervin Howard who dreamed up whole worlds and peopled them with heroes Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  500 years ago. The earth quakes, ruptures and destroys the city of Ghuht, most citizens perish in the cataclysm. Lovecraftian lilac/pink light bleeds out of the earth fissure and transforms the survivors's second generation into flying monsters. The flora and fauna surrounding the city also gets warped and rechristened The Rotlands. The Rotlands are constantly expanding, taking over the planet.  After centuries of inbreeding, the monsters become infertile, they decide to kidnap women from adjacent regions, it doesn't work. Their Leader Khotan-Kha gets a brilliant idea: to further his dying race he'll send emissaries to capture "mutant" children and let the light mutate the youngsters into a new generation of immunized winged creatures. H...