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Conan the Barbarian #11 (2023) review

Jim Zub's The Age Unconquered part 3: Call from the Depths continues. We are still knee-deep in the Thurian Age aka the Pre-Cataclysmic Age.  Brule has been burning to know, since issue 9, what was said during the secret meeting between Yag-Kosha and Conan. Conan spills the beans via a flashback: The elephant man made the barbarian aware that he is indeed in the past, that spirits can roam free, but mortals are stuck in specific times, impeded by their own memories. Yag-Kosha knows that Conan has been strategically sent back in time by unknown divine forces. Conan thinks that perhaps he's being used by these godlike forces. Yag-Kosha, limited by his current physical form, cannot foretell Conan's future beyond his own death (at the hands of Conan in The Tower of the Elephant).  Yag-Kosha can see Conan only because they previously encountered each other in the future. He actually sees the Cimmerian as a floating chest hole, a phantasm without physical limitations. The friendl...

Void Rivals #9 review

Who is Rivalling the Void this month?? Void Rivals continues here with issue # 9! It’s Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici new 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 new 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. In this ninth issue, our protagonist duo Darak and Solila are still on the run from the deadly hunter Proximus, when they stumble upon a new ally who has better things to do this night than die! Also, we look in on our pal, the Skuxxoid! Forget all the rest then, how’s Skuxxy doing?? Sad. Sad and alone. Oh. What about the rest then? Proximus ...

Conan: Terror from the Abyss review

eBook by Henry Herz Cover once again by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  Our favourite freebooters: Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast and Conan are on board The Tigress, the bireme oared warship is known by its painted menacing eyes and feared red long narrow flag.    Conan, wearing his horned helmet, an Hauberk from Nemedia and a cuirass, gorget and pauldrons all from Koth, spots a cog sailing by its lonesome. Bêlit really wants to ram the merchantman. Conan and his ebony reavers board the ship. Conan cuts a dude in half with his broadsword from Aquilonia. All the sailors still crossing swords on the trading vessel get killed. This carnage gets our pirates some grain, rum and amphorae of olive oil. Bêlit wants to go home to her haven. The Tigress, now damaged, is taking on water. Conan tells the boatswain to slow the ship down, they start removing water from the vessel. They arrive at Bêlit's magically concealed island retre...

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #306 review

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Tony Kordos (inks), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story : In the Bayou, Zartan is being hounded by a heat seeking missile, able to personally avoid it while sacrificing his Chameleon [Swamp Skier] and realizing, from the debris, it was from M.A.R.S. Industries but suspects Destro was not behind it.  On Cobra Island, Serpentor-Khan and Dr. Mindbender watch the footage from the missile but are unsure if Zartan survived or not.  Elsewhere on the island, they inspect how the new Cobra cyborg troops are coming and then check-in with their Zartan imposter meeting with Destro.  At the meeting, Destro and the Baroness get word that the Zartan they are talking to is an imposter but Destro decides to play along.  We then cut and see Snake Eyes go through an urban training simulation and, afterwards, Scarlett commends him on it and talks about his different weapons. ...

Conan the Barbarian: The Official Story of the Film review

Also available in Spanish: ISBN-13: 9788467964325 Conan el Bárbaro: La Historia Oficial de la Película Also available in German: ISBN-13: 9783986663438 Conan der Barbar: Die Entstehungsgeschichte des Kultfilms Also available in French: ISBN-13: 9782364809482 Conan le Barbare: L'histoire d'un Film Culte Also available in Portuguese: ISBN-13: 9788550822174  Conan o Bárbaro: a História Oficial do Filme John Milius's magnum opus gets an official hefty coffee-table book on its 41st anniversary. You know the sword-and-sorcery story: Warrior. Thief. Gladiator. Conqueror. Conan. It takes a little from "The Tower of the Elephant", "Queen of the Black Coast", "The Devil in Iron", "Shadows in Zamboula", "A Witch Shall Be Born", "Worms of the Earth", "The Shadow Kingdom", "The Cat and the Skull", "The Thing in the Crypt" and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). Young Conan learns of the Ridd...

Star Trek: Defiant #15 review

The Defiant crew, armed with swords, fight off Parasite infected station crew.  During the battle Sela arrives.  They fight the entire way to the reactor core and encounter Spock, still suffering from his mind meld.  Sela punches him.  A massive mother creature rises and Wolf attempts to kill her on his own.  Worf and Ro stand together against the mother creature. This is a very fight heavy issue.  The crew work together, with Sela joining them, against the parasites.  A welcome change from the constant bickering we've seen the past several issues.  I would have liked more of Spock, as he does nothing except get punched.   seven out of ten.

Star Trek #20 review

Sisko arrives at Utopia Planitia and is greeted by Commander Shaw.  Shaw is reluctant to help but eventually the Theseus undergoes a refit.  Sisko, Scotty and Shaw work together to get the ship ready to confront Gods.  With the modifications complete the ship activates its new drive and goes through the dimensional barriers.  At the Conference of the Gods we see some familiar... faces for lack of a better term.  They are hailed by Kore Soong, an agent with Aegis, who tells them they will be unmade.   Beverly Crusher having a moment with her picture of Wes was a nice touch.  At the Conference we see the Guardian of Forever, The Caretaker's Array, a Greek Temple (reminding us of Apollo) and several others I can't immediately identify.  Kore is an unexpected surprise, as we last saw her in the season two finale of Picard.  So perhaps Dr. Crusher will meet Wes.  This issue is maybe a bit too cameo/easter egg heavy.  But I'll allow it. ...

Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Black Stone #0 review

A Free Comic Book Day prelude to Battle of the Black Stone: The Staring Sigil. Author avatar, James Allison (The Valley of the Worm, last seen in Zub's Conan: Serpent War), a 1930s pulp writer from Lost Knob aka Cross Plains, Texas who can recall the lives of his heroic past incarnations is startled by an unseen, unwelcome visitor, a phantom monster... possibly the vile Stygian sorcerer Koth-Serapis. Back to the Hyborian Age. We are Beyond the Black River. The new Aquilonian province of Conajohara, Fort Tuscelan on the edge of the Pictish wilderness. Conan and friends are fighting incredibly crazed, almost suicidal Picts. Conan decapitates their giant, he notices that the man mountain is wearing a bone necklace with a pendant fabricated from a fragment of the BLACK STONE incised with a familiar eye symbol. Conan's soul is instantly assaulted by a flashback consisting of the events from past issues (Conan the Barbarian #1-8). Solomon Kane, Dark Agnes de Chastillon, El Borak aka ...

Another Energon Universe 2024 Special #1 review

Creators : Tranformers: Daniel Warren Johnson (Writer), Ryan Ottley (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist).  Void Rivals: Robert Kirkman (Writer), Lorenzo De Felici (Artist), Matheus Lopes (Colorist).  G.I. Joe: Joshua Williamson (Writer), Jason Howard (Artist), Mike Spicer (Colorist). Skybound's Free Comic Book Day entry this year is a nice treat, featuring three stories from their Energon Universe line - Transformers, Void Rivals, and G.I. Joe.  All three stories fit nicely into the on-going narrative, adding a bit more to the overall stories without being "critical" stories to read to get what's going on.  At the same time, you can easily read the stories in this issue without being lost.  The Transformer story deals with how Megatron ended up in Cobra-La and his awakening there.  Void Rivals deals with Hot Rod trying to track down the Quintessons while over in G.I. Joe, Duke is trying to recruit the Baroness to the Joe team.   The art in this issue, w...

Conan: Lethal Consignment review

eBook by Shaun Hamill Cover once again by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  A prequel to Robert E. Howard's The Tower of the Elephant. Kordava, the capital city of Zingara. Barkeep, Mugido is watching a young Conan who is wearing trousers and a shirt. A bored, cash-strapped Conan is observing the ships floating in the harbour. Zingaran sailor, first mate, Flavio de Palma the Bold from the Fortune’s Dawn enters the watering hole, he offers the barbarian youth a fresh ale, employment and adventure. Sailing ships and the sea are still a mystery to Conan. Flavio is seeking mercenaries to safeguard a valuable cargo that needs to go to Aquilonia (one day Conan will sits upon the throne of Aquilonia). Apparently, the Shirkri River is squirming with pirates Flavio and Conan find the Fortune’s Dawn, a carrack with three masts.  It is Conan's very first time on a ship. Conan meets the crew: Lookout: Marco of the wooden leg Helmsman: Anen of th...

Transformers #8 (2023) review

The war continues! That’s right! 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! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona takes over regular penciling duties with a style that barely misses a step from DWJ’s previous efforts. In this eighth issue, the Autobots and Decepticons reunite with old comrades on both Earth and Cybertron as Carly and Spike still struggle with their place in the conflict. How’s this “new” creative team doing? Plugging along, although Jorge Corona’s humans are a lot more exaggerated than DWJ’s were. His robots too for that matter, but it kinda works better for them than it does for the humans. As far as writing goes, DWJ does well with character moments, although if you actually like the direction these char...

Energon Universe 2024 Special #1 review

This is free, right? Oh totes! The FCBD Energon Universe Special contains three FREE stories- one for Transformers, one for Void Rivals, and one for G.I.Joe! The Transformers tale, written by Daniel Warren Johnson with pencils by Ryan Ottley, focuses on Megatron and how he ended up in Cobra-La custody. The Void Rivals tale, written by Robert Kirkman with pencils by Lorenzo De Felici, catches us up with our pal the Skuxxoid after his run-in with the Quintessons and introduces another classic Transformers character into the mix. Finally, the G.I. Joe tale, written by Joshua Williamson with pencils by Jason Howard, has Duke on a recruitment mission for his new team. All three tales seem rather important to their respective titles and hint towards where the story of the larger Energon Universe is headed and the closer intersection of these three properties. So should I pick it up? Did you not hear me? This is a completely free comic, so of course you should pick it up if you see it! If you...

Savage Sword of Conan #2 (2024) review

It is time to go back to the spinner rack to get the 2nd issue of the brand new Conan black-and-white mag!  60 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery printed on newsprint!  Inside this anthology you'll find the following treasures: A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Rafael Kayanan A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Gerardo Zaffino A fresh new Pin-Up of Solomon Kane by Nick Marinkovich Conan the Barbarian: Leaving the Garden by Jim Zub and Richard Pace Pesach the Plenty's wagons are brimming with goods, including his family, Conan is tagging along. We are in Shem en route to Argos. Pesach's young son mentions giants from The Frost-Giant's Daughter. Conan promises him more tales of his adventures in the future. Conan wants to leave the convoy behind, for the simple reason that he has debts to pay in Argos. Pesach offers Conan Corinthian spirits as an incentive to stay by his side. Pesach wants to sell his rare combustible (pitch derived from plants) in the port city of Messantia....

Godzilla: War for Humanity #5 review