Bottalk Reviews

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Andrea Milana (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : Ripper and Buzzer are torturing a couple of men for information about their gun-running meet-up and after they get the information they want; they take off in the Thunder Machine.  Elsewhere in the Florida Everglades, Cobra Commander and his protector sneak away from a gator boat ride further into the Everglades, looking for the energon source.  We also see Cobra Commander is resentful of having a guard as he feels Cobra-La still doesn't trust him (with a bit of backstory on his guard and hints as to Cobra Commander's origins).  A police officer tries to stop them but is killed and, in the scuffle, Cobra Commander sneaks off and finds the cabin of Ripper and Buzzer and discovers evidence of energon being experimented on.  The two Dreadnoks return and have a shoot-out with Cobra Commander in which the Thunder Machine is blown up.  Cobra Commander gets away and

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Chris Mooneyham (artist), Francesco Segala (colourist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story : Picking up from last issue, Serpentor, Dr. Mindbender and Alpha-001 are viewing the results of the assault on Snake-Eyes' cabin with both him and Scarlett presumed dead.  After a few minutes, back at the cabin now, Snake-Eyes and Scarlett get back up, hoping they gauged the time right so that they are assumed dead.  Lift-Ticket, Black Hat, Mainframe and Airtight arrive in a Tomahawk to take the blue ninja remains away and study them.  In Springfield, Dawn sneaks out of her house to spy on Cobra's operation, coming across some of Serpentor's modified Vipers. She follows them, told not to engage.  Back at the Pit, Spirit is told the same thing by Duke, to keep an eye on the Pit infiltrators (from last issue) but not to engage them.  Those modified Vipers explore the above-ground base, seeing made-up but abandoned barracks.  On C

Captain Sisko and Admiral Sato argue over the current situation. Sisko refuses to give up but learns Harry Kim is a failsafe if the situation gets out of hand, which it has. On the planet's surface Harry activates explosives, destroying the Tzenkethi shipyard and fleet. Sisko beams down and confronts the Tzenkethi and Romulans but is soon faced with Harry and Ensign Sato held hostage. They beam back to the ship where Sisko learns Data is out of commission while the Cardassian fleet confronts the Romulans. Harry being a back up in case peace talks fail is an interesting twist here. Even more so having Ensign Sato act as accomplice. I can imagine how Tom will react. The Crusher/Scotty portion of this story continues to be the least developed aspect of the story. It feels disconnected from everything, though I assume will be brought to the forefront next issue. Sisko arguing with the Admiral at the beginning of the issue feels like something he would do on the series. You ca

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

Is there more than meets my eye? Of course! 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! In this fifth issue, the Autobots and their human allies go on the offensive, trying to recover the Ark from the Decepticons. However, Starscream’s got an ace-in-the-hole, one that will undoubtedly swing things back in his favor. So Prime ganked Megatron’s bit last issue. Yup, Prime’s got Megatron’s arm and the attached fusion cannon grafted to him now, and he makes good use of it this issue! DWJ and Mike Spicer’s art completely sells the power of Prime’s new weapon and doesn’t hold back on its destructive potential. I enjoyed the emphasis on the “punch” of the fusion cannon, which can sometimes be overlooked. More Autobots and Decepticons become active this issue, which is very action-heavy and has some great

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.

Nymira loses two thousands strips of Latinum in a gambit designed to draw Benny out from hiding. She must also face a Gorn and for this, Worf attempts to train her in combat. Worf faces the Gorn and wins. They assault his compound and capture him. Back on the bridge, the crew revolt. They refuse to follow Worf any longer. Worf announces the crew of the Defiant is disbanded. While there is a lot going on in this issue it feels... unfocused. The mob aspect should be fun, but it comes off as stuff we've seen before and done better in other episodes. Worf fighting a Gorn should be the centrepiece, IMO, of the issue but it feels like a throwaway idea. I do enjoy the crew refusing to follow Worf. This feels like a natural result of their missions and everything they have experienced since issue one. six out of ten.

Story : At a junkyard, Duke meets up with an old childhood friend of his, Lance "Clutch" Steinberg and Duke explains the events from last issue to him. Clutch helps Duke by cleaning up and bandaging his wounds and then looks at the device Dr. Adele Burkhart had left him and is able to activate, which shows a map with a glowing dot. After that happens, Destro, sitting in his office, is notified of something. Before Duke and Clutch can leave, they are fired upon by Craig "Rock 'N Roll" McConnel, who uses drones to lead them to Lonzo "Stalker" Wilkinson (which Duke is aware of both men). Duke and Clutch are captured and held in "The Pit", an old decommissioned base, where another prisoner (with a female with glasses and long, black hair) mentions that maybe the three of them can work together. Writing : I like how this story is going. Duke knows, by reputation, who some of these (assumed to be future) G.I. Joe members are. After all, the G

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

Confronted with the Romulans, Picard and Resh bicker about the proper course of action and who is in charge.  The crew refuse to listen to Picard and he is aggravated with the breakdown in command and their lack of faith in him.  Later, Picard saves Resh from an exploding console and this forces him to realize he was wrong.  The crew put their hands together for a 'Go team!' moment. I've tried to give this mini a chance but it increasingly gets on my nerves.  The cutesy pie, low stakes, and inane dialogue just grates on my nerves.  Resh is one of those characters you encounter from time to time in media that exists to cause a problem for the protagonist.  He has little other characterization.  The one thing that made me laugh was the Romulans trapped in a modern grocery store, wishing for death.  That got a chuckle.  Again, I feel this mini is best for young readers.  Even the old Star Trek: The Next Generation - Starfleet Academy books from thirty years ago were better wri

Renfield relates his experiences at Castle Dracula. Mina refuses any of the safety measures Van Helsing has developed. She is under Dracula's thrall. Renfield enters Carfax Abbey to find Dracula and Mina there... but as Van Helsing and the others approach Dracula thinks Renfield has betrayed him and kills Renfield. Van Helsing finds the vampire in his coffin and drives a steak into his chest. Renfield's story at the beginning of this issue is, from the novel, the experiences of Jonathan Harker. In the end this, the final issue of this mini, ends up being more about Renfield than Dracula or Mina. I find this interesting. Especially how they have given him Jonathan's backstory. As usual, the art here is beautiful. Especially the pages splashed and slashed with red. eight out of ten.

Sela takes possession of Time Travel technology and ends up in the past... face to face with her mother. They go through a mine field and save each other from attack. Tasha is eventually returned to her ship and has little memory of the encounter. Sela sets course for the Defiant. Picard in command of the April? This comes out of the blue. Most novels and comics do not place Picard in command of a ship between Stargazer and Enterprise D. Honestly, I prefer the events of the novel The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett to fill that gap. This was an ok issue. I would have liked more interaction between Tasha and Sela. If Tasha is going to forget everything, why not let them have a deeper conversation and let Sela learn something. I did enjoy the Romulan intrigue at the beginning of this comic. Could have used more of that to be honest. I guess I expected more from an annual but I guess the trend for the past ten years or so seems to be a throw away story for an annual. Or