Bottalk Reviews

eBook by Laird Barron Cover once again by E. M. Gist  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  In Stygia, Conan, now a former place guard, puts the head of his previous employer, a southern Prince on a pike. Conan flees North. He enjoys the loneliness of the desert and survives on water and lizards. Conan dreams of Valeria, gets bitten by an Egyptian cobra and slowly starts dying. At the point of death, unable to speak, an old tall hooded woman (the Lady of the Desert) and her gigantic pet tarantula with a humanoid skull appear. The tarantula starts sucking the venom out of Conan, Conan stabs it with his bone dagger. Conan wakes cured in the care of merchant Khal. Khal is going to Corinthia, Conan leaves his new friend when they arrive in Koth. Conan wants to spend his Stygian coins in Korveka. Conan gets harassed by a Hyrkanian. Conan spends his money in a hostel. After a week of partying the money is gone. Conan saves from muggers the khopesh swinging white-haired

Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, it is time to pay the venerable spinner rack another visit!  76 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint!  Inside this magnificent magazine you'll find the following treasures: Jim Zub's introduction to his inescapable Battle of the Black Stone saga.  New Pin-Ups: Conan by Nick Marinkovich Conan by Fernando Dagnino Guerra Solomon Kane by Patrick Zircher Brissa by Dean Kotz  Conrad & Kirowan by Eryk Donovan Dark Agnes by “The Animal” Bob Anger El Borak by Mike Perkins  The Heroes of Man by Rob De La Torre CONAN THE BARBARIAN: BIRTHRIGHT IN BLACK by Jim Zub and Fernando Dagnino An homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 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 done fighting incredibly crazed, almost suicidal Picts. Conan decapitates their giant, he notices that the man mountain is wearing a bone neckla

Creators : Dan Watters (Writer), Andrea Milana (Artist), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Rus Wooton (Letterer) Story : At Destro's ancestral shrine, he is attacked by the assassin sent to kill him and his arrogance quickly diminishes as his assailant proves to be resourceful.  She is able to disable his weapons and comms and call in drones that end up shooting down his Despoiler craft.  Back at M.A.R.S. HQ, Mercer and Scrap-Iron discuss how advanced the weapons they retrieved from the attack are and how Tomax and Xamot probably don't have the technology to produce something that advanced, hinting at a third party.  We get a flashback to the first Destro to wear a mask, during the reign of Oliver Cromwell (as this Destro provided weapons to all parties involved).  Meanwhile, Destro survives his crash and makes his way to a U.S. Air Force base in Scotland where he ends up speaking with General Flagg.  Writing : While the overall story didn't move too far along, with the bulk of the

Dr. Henry Frankenstein and Fritz search a graveyard, looking for body parts.  Unknown to them, they are observed by a small boy who hides in their wagon and is inadvertently taken back to the castle.  He makes his way through the lab to a body.  A body which he believes to be that of his recently deceased father.  The experiment begins and with a dazzling light show the body moves.  Later, in the darkness of the castle, the boy searches and finds the monster.  At first he is scared but the monster does not harm him.  He realizes the only thing the monster has of his father are his hands.  The boy decides Henry Frankenstein is a devil and with a knife prepares to stab him but is restrained by Fritz.   It has been ages since I read Mary Shelley's book 'Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus' but this comic does seem to follow it more or less.  Included here is the infamous 'It's alive!' from the James Whale film (1931).  I felt that the arrival of Elizabeth Lave

Void Rivals has better things to do tonight than die! It does and it continues here with issue # 12! Void Rivals is Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici’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 twelfth issue, Darak and Solila reach a crossroads as they find their paths must now diverge. Who gets the giant green sword-wielding robot in the separation? We also check in with all our other players, including Skuxxoid and Proximus as the second arc comes to a close. We’ve reached the second trade cut-off po

In a Romulan prison Spock is held by Sela and given the task of discovering why her father overthrew the Praetor.  Meanwhile, O'Brien leaves Keiko and sets out to find Worf.  Worf, Ro Laren and B'Elanna Torres work to fortify their position and protect the indigenous population from the oncoming Romulan attack.  They discover a couple of hundred year old Hirogen ships.  In space, O'Brien finds the Defiant but is currently occupied by Kzinti scavengers.  After a short scuffle Miles forces the Kzinti to depart and assumes command of the Defiant. I have to say I'm a bit more interested in Miles than Worf and his crew playing Seven Samurai... or three samurai I suppose.  The Romulan coup continues to be the central driving force.  Once again we get some veiled reference to the oncoming supernova that will eventually destroy Romulus.  This was never fully explained and it seems we may finally get an explanation in a future issue.  Said it before but it feels as though Spock&

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Tony Kordos (inks), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (Flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer). Story : Serpentor's mutated, cyborg forces are attacking Cobra forces in Springfield, with Cobra Commander in his battle armor taking the lead and doing very well, inspiring his troops.  The G.I. Joe Ninja team (Snake Eyes, Dawn, Storm Shadow, Jinx, and Scarlett) encounter a police officer who is injured but was involved with the death of Dawn's parents.  The Baroness, along with Zartan and his Dreadnoks, fight off Cobra troops as well with the Thunder Machine.  Back at Cobra Island, the Infiltration team escapes with Dr. Mindbender as their captive and his frozen specimen to their zodiac craft.  Serpentor is not happy with how things are going in Springfield and when the stealth bombers return, he joins the fray.  In Springfield, it ends up Cobra Commander is not in his battle armor, it's just a Crimson Guardsman

The disappointing prequel to The Frost-Giant's Daughter aka The Gods of the North continues. Jim Zub's Frozen Faith part II: The Daughter's Gaze. Conan beats up the three Aesirmen. Hiding in the trees above, Atali (the gossamer G-string wearing, golden-locked daughter of Ymir, the frost-giant) remembers her father's words, that the affairs of men are unworthy of her attention. Niord, the leader of the 3 surly Æsir warriors, appears and offers Conan a deal, the bear's carcass and a week of work to get safe passage to Asgard's border. Conan mentions Venarium where he became a warrior in Conan the Barbarian FCBD 2023. Niord is dispirited that Ymir does not listen to prayers, Conan replies that it's the same for Crom, their mighty mountain god. An Æsir war-horn is heard. It is a cry for help! The Aesirmen and Conan rush to the rescue. Conan saves one Æsir from a raided and burning fort. The Aesirmen and Conan douse the flames. Niord, fearing for the young Cimmer

Lore confronts the Pleroma and in the process kills Charles Evans.  He has a bomb that can tear the Pleroma, and the rest of the universe, apart and he wants only one thing... for Sisko to give Lore his position as Emissary.  As Lore and Sisko verbally fight one another T'Lir and Sato infiltrate Lore's Bird of Prey.  They manage to escape with Data's head.  Back in the Pleroma, after making no progress with the higher beings nor Sisko, Lore activates the bomb and the universe begins to tear itself apart as the Theseus speeds away.   There is a lot going on in this issue.  The verbal confrontations between Sisko and Lore, and Sisko and his mother are the big scenes here.  Though with all the super powered, 'higher' beings you'd think there would be more of a confrontation.  But other than Charlie attempting to confront Lore, there are no fireworks here.  It gives the higher beings the sense of being above even this situation, but the double edged sword here is it

Who is this Benjamin Marra? What is he known for? His great illustrations for MLB.com and NYTimes.com The GRAMMY nominated Warfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares album from The Numero Group His contribution to Cryptozoo (2021) He is Jake Rhodes aka Space Cowboy (Channel Frederator) His cameo in The Education of Fredrick Fitzell (2020) The Indie Rock Universe special foldout in Rolling Stone magazine #1039 The title sequence for Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (2018) When the King Held Court (30 for 30 Shorts) Masters of the Powerskull Sword in Adventure Time Comics #21 Robot Overlord Land in Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream Hellcloud Awaits in Bloodshot Reborn Annual 2016 U.S. Agent vs. the Terror-Saur!! in Strange Tales II #3 Space-Werewolf Biker Gang Zealots Gone Wild!! in Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies Beachhead in Heavy Metal Magazine #280-281 Teen Swamp Monster Love in I Feel Love   Casino Squat in Lethal Comics Presents: Psycho Goreman Album cover art for Peter Peter (Bien R​é

Prepare for battle? Uh sure! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s Energon Universe, noted writer/artist rolled-into-one Daniel Warren Johnson takes the reins on the linchpin of this initiative, the flagship Transformers comic series! Well, he maintains the reins on the writing of this series at least, as does Mike Spicer on colors. Jorge Corona has taken over regular penciling duties with a style that barely misses a step from DWJ’s previous efforts. In this eleventh issue, the Autobots mount a rescue mission to save Jazz and Cliffjumper from Shockwave’s torture, but not everyone’s on the same page when it comes to engaging the enemy! Why, who’s got a problem with slagging ‘Cons?? Jeez, where do I start? Optimus wants to take the “high road”, Elita One wants to take out their enemies once and for all, Carly just wants to be useful, and Beachcomber doesn’t want to do anything at all! The good guys are all over the map in this issue about agreeing what is necessa