BotTalk Reviews

Creators : Jorge Fornés, Dave Stewart Story : Firefly infiltrates a Soviet Union military base in the Sayan Mountains and while searching their computers for POWs, is almost captured by the Oktober Guard but is able to get away.  Later, he comes across an Afghan woman in a prison. Writing : This issue, another "Sssilent" issue, does a great job showcasing how dangerous Firefly has always been in the comics.  He has physical skills on par with the ninjas, is able to take down, silently, many of the soldiers in the base, plant explosives, and access computer systems.  The nice thing about this issue is we're not too sure who Firefly is actually working for in this issue.  Art : Some great art here.  First off, the Cobra Ice Snake (a high-speed, arctic attack vehicle with jaw snapping roll cage) makes an appearance, which is pretty cool when these vehicles from the end of the original ARAH toy run show up.  We also get some "video game" side-scrolling views as...

Anyway Gang is Canada's coolest Alternative/Indie Rock supergroup quartet ever assembled:  Chris Murphy (Sloan), Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club), Menno Versteeg (Hollerado) and Sam Roberts (Sam Roberts Band)! Additional guitars by Nixon Boyd (Hollerado). Trevor James Anderson and Gus van Go played some keys and guitars also.  Additional vocals by Alyson McNamara. Produced by Anyway Gang, Trevor James Anderson and Nixon Boyd. Additional production and mixed by Gus van Go and Werner F. Engineered by Nixon Boyd and Trevor James Anderson; Assistant Engineer: Zach Pepe. Additional Engineering by Mike Gnocato. Mastered by João Carvalho. Recorded at Noble Street Studios (Toronto) and at Banquet Sound recording studio (run by Nixon Boyd in Toronto). Cover art by Ben Marra. Band Picture by Calm Elliott-Armstrong.  Layout by Christina Zalec. A project funded in part by the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR), the Government of Canada and Canada's private radi...

48 restored and fully colored pages of barbaric savagery! Inside this magnificent full-color magazine you will find the following: Classic remastered art pin-ups in stunning color: Conan the Barbarian by Jeffrey Catherine Jones from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #5 Conan the Barbarian by Tim Conrad from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #13 Conan, Bêlit & Red Sonja ad by Pablo Marcos from Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #23 BLACK COLOSSUS by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala. (New Colors by GFB Group/GFB.it) The mysterious ruins of Kuthchemes. Shevatas (a Zamorian master-thief) finds a treasure. Thugra Khotan, the dark sorcerer who had reigned in Kuthchemes three thousand years ago, wakes up and kills Shevatas.  Khotan, who wants to rule the world, renames himself Natohk, the Veiled One; for his features were always masked.  Natohk amasses an army of nomads and teams-up with a rebellious Stygian prince (Katuman/Kutamun). Natohk lusts for princess Yasmela...

The Phantom comforts Christine as an arrest is made.  He makes a deal and has his play, an original composition, set to take over.  Encountering the previous prima donna, Christine begins to question why she wants the spotlight so badly.  The Inspector spots the Phantom observing his play and attempts to confront him.  The performance ends in a mass of dead bodies. Aside from the final pages this issue moves along fairly slowly.  Moments between the previous prima donna are interesting and give us some layers.  Why does Christine want the spotlight?  Why does she want to sing?  And will she be cast aside just as easily.  The final pages seem chaotic.  Perhaps on purpose, though it is a bit difficult to follow.  The Inspector confronts the Phantom.  There is some commotion and we see the audience seemingly dead.  The art, as with most of these Universal Monsters minis, is the highlight here.   five out of ten.   ...

Creators :  Howard Porter, Romulo Fajardo Jr. Story :  After retrieving something from some G.I. Joe divers in the ocean for Cobra, Copperhead heads to a penthouse and looks depressed eyeballing a picture of simpler times.  He joins in a street dirt bike race and that leads him to the bayou and a poker game with the Dreadnok pirate, Zanzibar.  They fight over the game and this leads to an airboat race.  Copperhead is brutal during the race and eventually wins.  However, his victory is short-lived as he has another job from Cobra. Writing :  Part of the "Sssilent" issues this month, Copperhead focuses on the driver of the Cobra Water Moccasin toy, though we actually never see it in the issue.  Honestly, it is a bit tough to figure out what's going on in the issue.  Is Copperhead doing this for revenge?  To prove he's the best?  Is the penthouse his home or is he just raiding it?  Does he have a conflict with Zanzibar or are they...

War continues, next on Void Rivals! The Quintesson War continues in issue # 29 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. Penciler Andrei Bressan and colorist Patricio Delpeche join Robert Kirkman for the fifth and penultimate part of “Quintesson War”. In this instalment, Darak and the Agorrians are being pushed back by the massive Quintesson Tribunal, while the war continues to be fought on other fronts by Solila, Pythona, Proximus and many others. Wait, what’s the ...

Doctor Doom wants General Ursus to be the new ruler of the Planet of the Apes. Doom gifts Ursus with a suit of armor. Zaius loses his cool, he fights with Cornelius and Dr. Zira. Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman), Cornelius, Zira and Zaius fish George Taylor's submerged spacecraft (The Icarus/Liberty 1) out of the water. Two Super-Apes (Peotor (orangutan) and Igor (baboon)) attack our heroes! Zaius calms and befriends the Super-Apes.  Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) deduces that they are on Earth... in the future. Ape City. Soldier Apes begin to shoot at the wrathful farmers who have seized the city. President Gaius (supreme leader of Ape City) decides not to flee from the angry mob. Ursus incinerates the guards of Gaius. The Red Ghost (Russian scientist Ivan Kragoff, the brain behind the farmer uprising/rebellion) knocks out Gaius. The reign of puppet President Ursus has commenced. What I did like: A letters page (Parcels of the Apes)! Marvellous covers by Greg Land/Rachelle Rosenb...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story : Cover Girl, Snow Job and Frostbite are set to retrieve Scarlett from her undercover mission at the Arashikage (from her own limited series).  While there, Cobra attacks and Scarlett, Jinx, and Storm Shadow do their best to fight off the Cobra troops but heavy causalities are taken and Cobra leaves the place destroyed.  Scarlett gets extracted.   Writing :  In homage to the original issue #21 of G.I. Joe, this is mostly a silent issue.  There is just a bit of mission journal at the beginning and end of it, but the rest is free of words.  This is a good follow-up from the Scarlett miniseries though it does give enough background so those who missed it won't be too lost.  We get to see just how ruthless Cobra can be as well.   Art : This issue, being a silent issue, hinges a lot on its art.  The art is really good.  We get a ...

Creators : Patrick Olliffe, Tom DeFalco, John Kalisz Story :  Zartan is spying on the Joes,  who are watching a new weapon, while he is being spied upon by Major Bludd.  Zartan infiltrates the Joes and is able to steal the weapon. However, he is then captured by Bludd and some Cobra forces.  Heading to ship, Zartan uses his guile and skills to escape before Cobra Commander shows up, followed by a contingent of Joes. Writing :  The third Cobra "Sssilent" issue this month, this one follows fan-favorite Zartan.  This story can easily fit into most Joe continuities.  We get to see a lot of Zartan's skills - his disguises, his fighting skills and, most importantly, his intelligence as he outmaneuvers everyone.   Art :  The art is pretty good in this one.  There are focuses on things you might not think are important but they come back to later.  And I enjoyed seeing a few late-series toys pop up - like the Shark 9000 (which the Joe team ...

And now with the latest hit paramount plus tv show Starfleet Academy (cancelled) comes the latest in tie in properties in the form of an all new comic series Starfleet Academy. And thus we begin with Genesis Lythe narrating, they disembark on a training exercise that combines both academy and war college on a mission to survive in different environments on a planet we learn was devastated by the burn. Everything seems like it would be fairly straightforward where both academy and war college would learn to work together as a team as they did in the days before the burn. But that would be boring so they find a random alien of unknown origin, a storm of some kind is coming in that disrupts all electronic signals, and the cadets are really unprepared because this is freshman year. But I’m sure they’ll figure something out. Okay let’s start with what I did like : I like that we’re going to get more stories in the 32nd century so automatically I hope IDW continues on in this timeframe and ...

What you'll find inside McSweeney's issue no. sixty-nine: The New Toe by Zach Williams (A two-year-old grows an extra toe.) Asymptote by Siqi Liu (A widow and her daughter wait for the world to end.) 18 or 34 Miles from Perennial Square by Max Delsohn (A feral frank appears in the forest.) A Fable by John Lee Clark (Blind men and an elephant, reimagined.) Stuffed Cabbage Man by Julie Hecht (A writer remembers her neighbours.) This is Not Miami by Fernanda Melchor/Translated by Sophie Hughes (Dockworkers in Veracruz assist stowaways.) Scraps by Leila Renee (A heartbroken girl licks her wounds in a KFC.) True, False, Floating by Mel Kassel (Rib reading is the new palmistry.) An Audacious Man by Evan James (Daring to be bold.) The Reanimator by Mikkel Rosengaard (DMs from the dead.) The New Maite by Yohanca Delgado (A woman comes across a clone of herself.) The Starlight by Lydi Conklin (A pterodactyl crashes into a Pegasus and surmounting selfishness.) The Nominal Sca...

What you'll actually find inside this "parody of a grief manual" by Jason Roeder (a former senior editor and senior writer at The Onion): INTRODUCTION: Devastation Perfected Five Grieving Visualization Power Postures  A Short History of Grief CHAPTER I: Hospitals: Pregaming for Grief  A Hospital Who's Who Health Care Directives (treatments that may be used) Know Your Hospital Televisions Hospice Care Last Words That Wow Using a Last Word Service CHAPTER II: Fun with Aftermath  A List of Funerals, Caskets and Headstones Surefire Eulogy Starters Experiencing Grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) A Short History of The Never-Released Sixth Stage of Grief How Much Am I Allowed To Blame God? A State-By-State Breakdown Grief Speed Run Dealing with Regrets Visiting The Grave Rating Grief with The Chili Pepper System Dealing with Belongings (Keep, Sell, Donate, etc.) Grief and Toxic Relationships Grieving for Pets A Pupa Press "Books by Insects for Th...

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Andrew Krahnke (artist), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatterer), Pat Brosseau (letterer) Story :  A Joe team comprised of Snake Eyes (Dawn Moreno), Cover Girl, Jinx, Down Range and Sherlock is on a mission in Sierra Gordo to check out a joint Cobra/Revanche operation.  While almost captured, they escape and infiltrate the pyramid, where control (Duke, Mainframe and Stalker are monitoring them) lose them due to inference.  They discover a Terror Drome built into an ancient pyramid and debate blowing it up as troops close in around them.  Writing :  We've circled back to teams of Joe's tracking down Terror Dromes in various environments.  This one is more of an infiltration issue.  The past couple of issues took a little break from this overarching story.  One thing that was done here was include an all-female cast for the main story.  Art :  Art is pretty good here though not quite up t...