Bottalk Reviews

eBook by Violet Castro Cover by Jenny Frison Illustrations by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  A storm is battering Bêlit's ship the Tigress, crewmates are flying overboard. First mate Seneka, an expert tracker, is trying to protect Bêlit from the storm, They've been together for five years. The Tigress stops moving suddenly, they have hit land, an island. Hassan starts assessing the damage. Bêlit hits the beach, removes her boots and devours a fallen blood fruit from a nearby tree.  Hassan needs to work on the mast and to cut down trees to repair the Tigress's belly. Seneka, Mithras and Zeke will gather fruit, coconuts and make a fire. Nora will fish. They eat under the clouds that are obscuring the stars and preventing them from knowing their position. They start exploring the island in teams. Zeke and Mithras into the jungle. Nora and Homer to the left. Horus and Ajani to the right. The teen Mithras returns to tell Bêlit that N

This is not a black lotus induced dream. What you're seeing on the spinner rack is real! It's a brand new bimonthly Conan black-and-white magazine!  Yup! 80 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery printed on newsprint!  Inside this anthology you'll find plenty of treasures: A Personal Introduction by Roy Thomas Map of the Hyborian Age by Francesca Baerald A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Rob De La Torre A fresh new Pin-Up of Bêlit by Rebeca SubversiveGirl Puebla A fresh new Pin-Up of Solomon Kane by Howard Chaykin Pin-Up of the variant cover by Gerardo Zaffino with Robert E. Howard's poem: The Road of Kings  Pin-Up of the cover by Joe Jusko Solomon Kane, an essay by archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks Conan & The Dragon Horde by John Arcudi & Max Von Fafner Max is killing it on the art! Departing the Wahuan desert, now setting foot into the steppes of Hyrkania, General Conan is leading the 200 men - 1 woman army of exiled Prince Zaahid of Ul-Dalkhana, mostly gold lusting

Thrice Marked for Death! part four: Sacrifice!... Jim Zub's blood-soaked sequel to Queen of the Black Coast ends here. We get more "amazing" memories of Conan's time with his girlfriend aboard the Tigress.  Conan is sword fighting for fun with Lanre. Bêlit wants to spar with an ancient weapon (Brule/Brissa's Pictish blade) that she just stumbled upon, Conan refuses to indulge her because of his feelings for it. In a jealous fit of rage Bêlit tries to toss the half-sword overboard. Conan stops her. Back to the present, Conan, now a thrice possessed tool for Thulsa Doom is walking around the city of Shadizar. We get more flashbacks: Conan breaking the vessel from issue 4, the jungles of Kush, his fight with a shapechanger in the grasslands, the selling of the Pictish blade to Jaali the trader.  The nefarious spectres inside our Cimmerian want that blade... to corrupt it. Jason Voorhees...  I mean, Conan goes back to the pawnshop, kills Jaali's nephew and Thulsa

Creators : Joshua Williamson (Writer), Tom Reilly (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colourist) Story : At M.A.R.S. (Military Armament Research Syndicate) headquarters, employees are moving locations because Destro assumed Duke would have been killed and not just imprisoned (and implying he had Dr. Adele Burkhart killed as well) and is worried about the device that can track her technology back to him so Destro hires Major Bludd to take Duke out.  At the Pit, Rock 'N Roll and Stalker give their impressions of Duke and can tell something else it up with him.  Down in the prison, the Baroness tries to make a deal with Duke but isn't getting a response from him and Clutch tells her to stop.  Duke surprises her when he reveals he knows who she is with a bit of her background (wealthy European socialite who joined Eastern European secret services and eventually became a terrorist). Duke also tells her he hasn't given up and speaking to Colonel Hawk will help clear his name.  Outside, St

Picard finally says, 'Make it so!' as he orders the other cadets to execute his plan.  But, it turns out the whole thing was a test.  Picard and the other cadets were on a Holodeck and the test was actually to see how well they worked together as a team.  They fail.  Later, at a party we learn that Cadet Doq is actually Q in disguise.   Little of surprise here.  The cadets fail but learn a valuable, Saturday morning cartoon, lesson about team work and such.  Picard's close friend is actually Q, which feels like the laziest thing I've read in a very long time.   five out of ten.

Defiant arrives at Starbase 99.  The process of turning over the prisoners is tense and Worf continues to grow bitter over his current situation.  Later, while discussing Borg assimilation the Starfleet security officer dies suddenly. They confront Benny who has a large parasite in his chest.  Worf attempts to inform the Starbase crew only to discover they have been taken over by the parasites also. Spock and Hugh's conversation about the Romulan star is a nice little nod.  This is not the first reference to its impending explosion.  Makes me wonder if it will be a future 'event' for IDW.  The parasites from 'Conspiracy' make an appearance here.  They have been featured in several TNG/DS9 expanded universe novels and I've always felt there was more to mine storywise.  With the Defiant crew fractured I have to expect the parasites will further create dissent and distrust in future issues.   seven out of ten.

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