BotTalk Reviews

War of the Void Rivals! War continues, here in issue # 22 of Void Rivals! Void Rivals is Robert Kirkman’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. New ongoing artist Conor Hughes has joined Kirkman and colorist Patricio Delpeche as Agorria and Zertonia go to war in this issue! Hot Rod and Springer are caught in the middle as the Agorrians and Zertonians clash in earnest. Is Unity forever lost, or is it closer than ever? So, big fight. YUP! This is a big fight scene issue as the Zertonians attack Agorria and all...

An ambitious scientist experiments with a serum on a lab rat.  His rival annoys him at best, but he continues with various tests until finally the rat completely turns invisible.  Later, he returns from an evening meal to find his rat has killed the others in its cage.  Dr. Jack Griffin continues his experiments... and waits. James Tynion IV has taken the familiar story of The Invisible Man and given it a more psychological edge.  The Invisible Man is often reimagined as one man's descent into madness and we get some of that here.  Griffin is a quiet, unassuming man who ignores the remarks of those around him.  He sees himself as someone who has plans and lies in wait... almost invisible you could say.  We get brief flashes of horror, his lab rival murdered.  So the descent begins.  There is little horror here, but typically this story has never been one of overt horror.  The art fits the story perfectly, providing dark shadows for the m...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Andrea Milana (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story : Cover Girl and The Baroness continue to fight for Major Bludd so that Raptor doesn't kill the Baroness' parents.  Clutch is trying to figure out Cobra's weapons with Autobot Hound but realizes they have to return to the M.A.R.S. headquarters to see if they can find more.  Destro is unsettled that he doesn't know more about Cobra Commander's past and confronts him in a secret lab of the Commander's. The tide finally turns for the lady Joes and Risk confronts Clutch, wondering what's up with him, at the M.A.R.S. base as Mercer shows up.   Writing : A good fast-paced issue that mixes a bit of action with a lot of intrigue, both from the Joes and from Cobra.  Williamson also has a nice touch of adding in bits and pieces of classic character lore into the mix, such as Major Bludd deciding to share some of his poetry.   Art : Milana continues to ...

Jim Zub's A Nest of Serpents part 3: Power and Influence Zula from Conan the Barbarian #20 frees the Cimmerian from his chains! Conan suggests that they should kill Thoth-Amon. Zula wants to know all about Thoth-Amon's big plan. Since Conan is in Zula's debt, he will help the shapeshifter of the Black Kingdoms and then free Livia from slavery.  Zula plunges the enchantress Athyr-Bast into a deep mystic sleep and transforms into her doppelgänger. The impersonation spell will dissipate at daybreak. The Cimmerian masquerades as Athyr-Bast/Zula's armoured bodyguard. They depart to meet Thoth-Amon at his inner sanctum, Kheshatta's Dark Temple of Set. A whining wizard, a blood pact connaissance of Athyr-Bast detects that something is wrong with Zula's aura. Conan kills the escorts of the acquaintance, but gets hurt and Zula silences the sorcerer forever. Zula and Conan dump all three bodies in wine barrels.  Thoth-Amon offers Zula some Stygian wine, he refuses, Thoth-...

Transform and Take A Stand! 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, with Jorge Corona on pencils and Mike Spicer on colors! At least for now, because this is this creative team’s penultimate issue! In this twenty-third issue, the Autobots make their last stand against a relentless Decepticon assault. Meanwhile, an unconscious Optimus Prime travels through the inside of the Matrix and meets up with an old friend. Penultimate? That’s when all the good stuff happens, right? Uh sure. The heroes are brought to their lowest point and set up for a grand climax when Optimus Prime finally returns! I mean, c’mon, you knew he was gonna eventually! I feel like most of the “penultimate” action happens off-panel, with the Decepticons running roughshod over the remaining Autobots while we’re focusing on Optimus doi...

Continuing from last month, D'Vana Tendi is essentially placed into indentured servitude until she figures out a solution to the Ferengi DaiMon’s energy problem: turns out it’s Gormagander poop. 5 pages in I was hoping this whole story had turned out to be some weird fantasy caused by space drugs, Trelane, or it was a Ferengi holodeck experience the lower deck crew was running with a ferengi ship, all of which would have made more sense than this story. This two issue story was written by an intern who has never watched any Star Trek much less Lower Decks because Tendi is out of character which I covered in my last review, Captain Jack Ransom would never forget to hydrate, Beckett Mariner apparently decided to regress from all the character growth she’s had by the time this story takes place in, Carol Freeman wouldn’t just randomly wave any of her crew off to some Ferengi, and once again the Ferengi are just written as cartoony business villains. So this had to have been written by...

Creators : Larry Hama (Writer), Paul Pelletier (Penciller), Tony Kordos (Inker), Francesco Segala (Colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (Flatter), Pat Brosseau (Letterer) Story : Things come to a head in Scotland, Springfield and Cobra Island.  The Springfield team needs to make a quick escape as does the Cobra Island team.  Meanwhile, in Scotland, Cobra Commander is trying to escape.   Writing :  Wow...this was not Hama's best work.  Part of it is all three narratives of this tale are the same.  Both G.I. Joe teams are made and need to escape while Cobra Commander is trying to escape Scotland.  On top of that, the Joes at the Pit are tapped into the Cobra feeds at various locations and know all of this is happening, which begs the question, why risk soldiers' lives when you already know what is happening.  Then the "we just happened to tap into a feed at a Scottish airport" at the right time to see a Cobra Hurricane VTOL Vertical Takeoff and Landing Jet...