BotTalk Reviews

CONAN & DRAGONERO part 3 (of 7): The Gems of Aquilonia (chapter two) The Margondàr mountains. Conan's dragon sends a flock of wild wyverns to attack the dirigible of Dragonero's sister! Conan of Cimmeria, Ian Aranill Génhu Varliedarto Romevarlo (Dragonero the Erondarian imperial officer) and Myrva Aranille engage the wyverns.  A wyvern tears the balloon of the Technocrat airship, the skyship goes down and crashes into a village. Conan's dragon has found an Undine (a water elemental) to heal its lacerated wing. Conan's dragon mentions Ian Aranill, Herion Eukenill (Ian and Myrva's grandfather, of the Order of the Varliedarto/Dragon Conquerors, who slew the renegade dragons who wanted to rule over everything and everyone) and the bastard sword called Saevasectha/Cruel-Cutter. Since it was elsewhere in another dimension (stealing gems in Tarantia (capital of Aquilonia)), Conan's dragon lived on. The Undine (who is linked to the dragon spiritual network known as ...

How do you propose I get to the comic store this week? On My ROLLER SKATES??? The bold new era for the Autobots and this book continues! Robert Kirkman, chief architect of the Energon Universe, writes the flagship Transformers title and Jason Howard takes over as regular penciler for this new story arc with Mike Spicer on colors. Howard had previously drawn issues #13 and #14 of this book, along with many covers. In this thirty-fourth issue, we meet Doctor Henri Arkeville, Thundercracker and the Aerialbots set out on a quest, and Shredhead and Cliffjumper bite off more than they can chew! Doctor Arkeville? Really? Yep! Kirkman’s appreciation for the Sunbow cartoon continues as he formally introduces Doctor Arkeville into the story, and much like Miles Mayhem, he just has to take a swing at General Flagg! Flagg’s in an ornery mood after learning that Optimus gave up the Matrix and is a less powerful ally now, so he doesn’t take kindly to being attacked. He still offers Arkeville Mayhem’...

Skuxxoid takes lead! That’s right, in issue # 31 of Skuxxo- I mean, 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. In this thirty-first issue, Conor Hughes returns on pencils as Kirkman brings us another chapter in the life (or lives) of everyone’s favorite ancillary character Skuxxoid! Oh yeah, I memba that guy! Right?! Kirkman seems to have a real fondness for Skuxxoid, developing a whole subplot focused on him yet seemingly unconnected so far to the main goings-on of thi...

Kulgith the Devourer (a Thri-kreen homage?) has kidnaped some kids from an Obrall settlement. ROM the Space Knight decides to rescue the children. ROM leaves his handgun (The Neutralizer) with Grakum and Jorvud (the distressed parents of the tykes). Thinking that ROM is a robot, Kulgith throws the SpaceKnight in his cell for inorganic prisoners, ROM meets his cellmate... "Transformers Studio Series Deluxe Class" Kranix (the scientist from planet Lithone, the Lithonian who was captured by the Quintessons in The Transformers: The Movie (1986)). Carpet (a sentient alien jellyfish and ROM's "Man with No Name" poncho/companion) opens the pen for them. Kranix points ROM in the direction of the cell for organic prisoners. Kulgith fights with ROM, ROM points out that he is a cyborg, ROM beheads Kulgith. ROM borrows one of Kulgith's arms and attaches it to his body. ROM takes the kids back to their kin.  ROM, the wandering guardian of the spaceways, continues his une...

Adam is taken to a hospital and tells his dad he believes something bad happened.  He begins to recall what happened... We see a wolf man tearing people apart at a party.  Two detectives attempt to question him, only for his father to rush him home.  They begin to argue when Adam coughs up an eyeball. This is certainly a wolf man story... Though unlike most of the other minis I don't see a connection to the Universal Monster films.  The story is... OK.  It is nothing original.  The beginning could easily be from any slasher.  A group of teenagers gathered for a party, surely nothing bad could happen here.  The art, like many of these minis, is the feature worth highlighting.   six out of ten.

Commander Kelrec has crashed, and unconscious, he is taken by the alien race that still inhabits the planet ruined by the Burn. Meanwhile our three cadets settle for sign language until Caleb reveals he hacked their systems to allow them to communicate in text because this is the 32nd century not some ancient savage era. Our cadets are off while Genesis continues to narrate what still alludes to this mission getting worse.  One the ship Nahla just gets to wait with her crew and the EMH, while Kelrec is unconscious and leaned against a device while the alien dance around both in some ritual. The cadets show up to rescue Kelrec which ends in the device being damaged.  Turns out it is the shield generator keeping the area habitable. Oops! Three issues in and you want this to start wrapping up. Once again this is the issue I have with modern comics: truncated story to make room for ads, especially when it’s one story spread through multiple issues. And it’s a good story, it’s inte...

Jim Zub's A Sacred Task We are still in Khoraja (southeast of Koth). Emida (the Laurie Strode/final girl homage) is taking care of a wounded CONAN OF CIMMERIA, Conan is staying at an inn for free as compensation for liquidating SON OF THE TOOTH (an assassin serving The Woeful Eye). A veiled woman (Roya) carrying a funerary urn is seeking a Cimmerian bodyguard to help her reach her village (close to the edge of the easter desert). Hyenas kill Roya's horse, Conan's mount flees, the barbarian kills some of the Hyenas, the remaining beasts retreat. Conan wonders how Roya can handle the harshness of the desert so well. A strange fog (another John Carpenter homage?) appears close to the ground, Conan & Roya have made it to the cursed Plains of Mardeh (a former battlefield, now a haunted graveyard). The sun disappears, the dead rise and attack our heroes, Conan destroys all the skeletons (a Ray Harryhausen homage?). Roya brings Conan to the shrine of her ancestors. Roya thanks...

The Assimilation of the Omega crew begins.  Kirk beams over to confront Jurati.  He speaks directly to Jurati as she was before assimilation.  She tells of her plan, to resurrect the great James T. Kirk in an effort to save the Galaxy.  And how that plan involves the mass assimilation of everyone, with Kirk as the Borg 'King'.  He rejects this and asks her to join him.  Meanwhile, Zed discovers that the massive amounts of chemicals he has been taking to stimulate himself are keeping assimilation at bay, and uses this to help the crew.  Operating on a crewman Zed discovers a bomb inside the crewman.  The confrontation between Kirk and Jurati has been long coming, I feel.  Their romantic connection feels like something used to get the reader's attention, but it is so infrequently used it feels hollow here.  I would have liked a more solid rationale from Jurati, instead of the simplistic and vague notions of a masterplan that somehow involv...

eBook by Gavin G. Smith Cover by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books, Heroic Signatures & Conan Properties International LLC Spoilers! Spoilers!  Ileetha (not Ilyth'la) and Conan flee Shadizar (city in Zamora), Ileetha leaves Conan. The Haft (in Zamora, an homage to Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft Davis and "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft). Conan who is wanted in Zamora wakes up kidnapped, shackled and caged in a wagon. We meet the abductors: Xaxix (an alchemist/sorcerer who wears a yellow silken mask aka the High-Priest Not To Be Described from "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and "Celephaïs" by H. P. Lovecraft) Nassas (a moneyed Zamoran with a quarterstaff, vizier to King Hadranor of Zamora) Vulf (a Vanir with a war hammer, Nassas' bodyguard, a Thorgrim/Sven-Ole Thorsen homage) Danai of Shem (an archer from Kush, Nassas' girlfriend) Conan steals the key to his prison from a sleeping Vulf, escapes and grabs Nassas, Nassas explains tha...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Andrea Milana (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story : Picking up where last issue left off, Risk is fighting the ghosts of his pasts as Crystal Ball (the Cobra hypnotist and paranormal scientist) tries to torture him but he fights them off.  Crystal Ball then ups the ante.  Meanwhile, after a brief skirmish, Destro and Baroness decided to a temporary alliance in order to get out.  Risk encounters more ghosts of his past and ends up in a fist fight with Mercer.  The two come to terms and also decide to work together.  Destro and Baroness find more energon and Stalker and Chameleon hooked up to some machines.  Mercer is then taken out and Crystal Ball decides to face Risk himself.  Writing : Williamson keeps this story moving, rarely with any downtime. The Baroness and Risk get a bit more of their backgrounds explained and we start to see a classic Baroness/Destro relationship emerge (thou...

This volume collects the Nancy daily newspaper comic strips from 1951-1952.  We actually get 616 timeless, charming and very clever black-and-white Nancy strips by American cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller (1905-1982) in one collection! Don't worry Sluggo aficionados, Nancy's pal is once again very much present in this tome. What is on the agenda for Sluggo this time around? Let's see: Fixing a fence, dealing with snowballs, protecting Nancy's piggybank, refusing to shovel snow, begging for treats, sweeping, refusing a homemade valentine, flirting with girls, appeasing a bully, using a palindrome, tap dancing, enjoying gum, ice cream, watermelon, pop corn & spaghetti, getting hypnotized, riding bicycles and pogo sticks, branching out, getting a cold, pining for winter, walking on air, settling a grudge, encountering "one-punch" Duffy, getting dimples and stung by a bee, dealing with spring fever, not receiving first aid, having a picnic with Nancy, keeping a co...