BotTalk Reviews

Jim Zub's A Nest of Serpents part 4: The Nest Beneath Athyr-Bast (sorceress of the Outer Circle) is infuriated, she's been betrayed by a barbarian who was born on a battlefield!   Conan the Cimmerian and Zula the Darfarian are now wanted men looking for Set's subterranean brood. Zula surmises that Thoth-Amon must be breeding giant snakes somewhere and that he will be sending them out in bowls as "gifts" to his enemies (as seen in The God in the Bowl). Zula explains that the exorcised evil snake spirit twin of Conan (Conan the Barbarian #20) now lives in his magical amulet, masking his true aura from Set sorcerers. Conan and Zula kill three guards. Zula uses the power of his amulet to open a gigantic sealed H.R. Giger themed door. What could be lurking within? Conan and Zula find dozens and dozens of snake eggs. Man-Serpent younglings attack our heroes. Conan at last recalls the traumatizing events of The God in the Bowl. Zula's amulet is making the younglings ...

The USS Cerritos has to travel back in time to 1985 to rescue more humpback whales to bring them forward in time because the whales from the last time didn’t repopulate as well as everyone hoped. So instead of a new, original idea they... are doing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. I mean they could have done some kind of story where they track down that probe thing if they really wanted to do Star Trek IV. Otherwise this is HEY REMEMBER STAR TREK IV THE ONE WITH WHALES? REMEMBER KIRK AND SPOCK IN 1986? REMEMBER WHALES! REMEMBER THE WEIRD TIME TRAVEL SEQUENCE? Remember? They even have Shaxs dressed like Spock from that movie and Brad Boimler dressed like Marty McFly. Also I get Jack Ransom is supposed to be a meathead or something, but you don’t get into Starfleet and work your way to first officer by being an idiot. Anyways the story in itself isn’t terrible, and while it absolutely wastes time trying to be a sequel to a much better movie, at least it takes the time to exposition dump wi...

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciller), Tony Kordos (inker), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer). Plot :  This is a parallel plot, with both teams of Joes (in Springfield and on Cobra Island) attempting to escape and get back to headquarters while being pursued.  The Springfield team is attempting to get to the airfield while the Cobra Island team is trying to get to the docks to flee.  Thankfully, Duke and the command crew at the Pit are aware of the situations and send in air support.   Writing : Hama is bringing the action in this issue. The on-going chases while being attacked and trying to get away and both teams having to improvise against more heavily armed and armoured foes.  I did enjoy that he acknowledges sometimes toys and reality don't mix (as it's pointed out they can't fire the Stinger missiles with people riding on the back).  The only downside of such an action-filled issue ...

Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, your local spinner rack is once again showcasing another new issue of SSOC!  64 pulsating pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint! Inside this magazine you will find the following: THE COILS TIGHTEN an intro by Jim Zub Awe-inspiring art pin-ups: Conan the Barbarian by Max Von Fafner Spear & Fang by Ivan Gil Sailor Steve Costigan and Mike the bulldog by Gerardo Zaffino CONAN: TWICE PAID DEBTS part 1: The Traitor Returns by Jim Zub and Doug Braithwaite Shem. Conan is drinking with the Kozaki (mercenaries known as the "Free Companions").  10 years have passed since the events of Conan the Barbarian #18. Conan sees the traitorous thief, Tarnasha traversing the tavern. Conan follows Tarnasha outside, she stabs him in the back, they fight. Another Tarnasha sedates Conan with a tranq arrow. CONAN: TWICE PAID DEBTS part 2: Sacrifices by Jim Zub and Doug Braithwaite Conan awakens from a nightmare (featuring the slithery dei...

Voyager returns to Earth after its long journey.  A group of four Admirals arrive but strange things are already about.  Tuvok begins having headaches and one of the Admirals locks the computer controls.  Eventually The Doctor determines Admiral Kittum and his team are members of Species 8472.  As they confront Kittum, Admiral Paris is also exposed as a fake.  8472 open a doorway to fluidic space. The story of Voyager's return home has been told a couple times.  Once as a fake out episode on the series and in a series of novels that continued the story of the Voyager crew past the series finale.  The great majority of that continuity was rendered non-canon with the Picard series.  I always felt it was a mistake removing the threat of Species 8472.  They spent so much time establishing them as the next big bad, able to easily defeat the Borg... only to make friends with em and move on.  I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out h...

The team wait for someone to show up and spring their trap.  They anxiously await someone to take the bait... and to fill the time we get some character backstories and characterization.  Eventually one of the officers is killed by the Romulan spies and a jungle monster attacks several of the others.  The monster manages to kill two of the squad but they are able to jam transmissions so the Romulan spies can't beam away.  The Romulan Bird of Prey fires from low orbit as the remaining security team members try to survive.   This feels very jumbled.  We get a little time with the team as they wait for the Romulans to show up, but it all feels very surface level.  Like trying to care for a victim in a Friday the 13th movie.  The more interesting characters have mostly been killed off.  The jungle monster attack feels almost random and the Romulan threat feels far away, even when they show up and kill one of the security officers.  Other tha...

You know the sword-and-sorcery heist story by heart: From 1933, The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard. A strange, blood-freezing story of an idol that wept on its throne, and a valiant barbarian from the fringes of an elder civilization. What I did like: 25 impassioned paintings by French comic book artist and illustrator Valentin Sécher starring David Boistault as Conan. 1) The Maul neighbourhood, the City of Thieves, Zamora, street level. 2) In a tavern, a Kothian, a professional kidnapper schools a young Conan about the Elephant Tower that houses the great jewel called the Elephant's Heart (the secret of Yara's magic). 3) The lacerated corpse of the kidnapper. 4) Conan the Cimmerian hits the streets. 5) The temples of the City of Thieves (Arenjun) and Yara's impenetrable tower. 6) Yara, the high priest. 7) Yara's mysterious gardens. A Zamorian royal guard lies strangled. Conan encounters Taurus.  8) Conan converses with Taurus of Nemedia aka the Prince of all...

Nurse Chapel is bored by the current slate of missions Enterprise has been on.  She makes arrangements to meet an old friend.  When Enterprise arrives they find no life signs and the base completely empty. Eventually they encounter a robot who shows them to a submersible craft.  The landing party descends into the awaiting arms of an octopus like creature. The set up feels like an episode of the series.  Some of the characters feel like they should, others... a bit off.  These Strange New Worlds minis are very hit or miss with me.  This one, so far, is intriguing.  Star Trek comics should add a little something and not be bound by constraints of budget.  Doing something on an ice planet or underwater, or with robots is a nice change of pace.  I'm curious to see where this is going.   six out of ten.

Christine Chapel is bored. Una Chin-Riley is bored, Erica Ortegas is not bored, and Spock is fascinated by a microbe they discovered from a previous planet. The starship Enterprise has been on a planet survey mission for weeks, having found nothing but microbes. Chapel calls a friend who’s doing an expedition on an ice planet that happens to also be a far off star base that Pike is sending the ship to. When they arrive they find the science team have disappeared, so off into the abyss they go! See now this is the kind of story that could fit in with the current season of Strange New Worlds. The story has what we want: planets being explored, a mystery to solve, and a reason to come back next issue.  The art, I’d say is at least up there with the now ended Star Trek/Star Trek defiant run. And it does leave with a reason to come back and see what happens. I’m not sure why Chapel suddenly is a thrill seeker, but then original Chapel was a glorified background character. And for some r...

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 ...