BotTalk Reviews

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story :  The Joe team sent to retrieve Doctor Monev/Doctor Venom try to outrun the Crimson Twins in the Stinger but Duke eventually surrenders in order to keep civilians from getting hurt or killed.  Meanwhile, Stalker and Cover Girl try to retrieve the brainwave scanner but they too are unsuccessful and captured.  In Springfield, Destro and Mercer are examining the body of the Cobra-La assassin Cobra Commander killed and are curious about it and its weapons, though they wish to keep it a secret that they have the body.  Clutch, meanwhile, looks on.  The city is evacuated to Destro's compound (with Clutch leaving also) and Destro is upset about it.  Cobra Commander reassures him that his plans are progressing, with Dr. Monev and his Brainwave Scanner, they can make a "brainwave bomb" to make people obey Cobra and the test subjects will be the G.I. J...

Jim Zub's Twisting Loyalties part 2: Fangs & Foolish Thieves concludes. The Shemite coastal city of Kyros. The sneak thieves lead by Tarnasha have been brutally dispatched by Conan of Cimmeria and girlfriend Bêlit. To save her life, Tarnasha, proposes a heist to steal a relic.  We get a nice The God in the Bowl flashback. Conan encounters "The Serpent God" in Kallian Publico's Temple, a museum in Numalia (city in Nemedia). Conan is still shell-shocked from his clash with the enormous snake with the human visage. Bêlit, Conan and Tarnasha decide to team up. They make a pact. They will remain partners for the duration of the robbery. The trio of thieves start planning. The famous antiquarian, Libradicio, has in his possession a Stygian artifact, "The Fangs of The Serpent".  Bêlit will create a disturbance (as Libradicio's troubadour paramour) in front of the antiquarian's manor house and Conan & Tarnasha will filch "The Fangs" and wha...

Through the ages Sisko attempts to find a way back.  He shifts the entire society of Bajor into orbit, into the caste system, into trying to reconstruct the Wormhole.  He sees Jake... or does he.  Finally, in a small ship he enters the Wormhole and confronts his Mother.  He has past their final test and can remain... but, in their roundabout logic, they tell him they can not bring back that which does not exist.  The reality he once knew does not exist.  Will not exist.  Refusing to accept this he breaks the Celestial Temple and leaves it to Kahless to continue his work... I don't know exactly what I was expecting... but it wasn't this.  Sisko's single minded determination to bring back his crew bends the entire planet of Bajor to his will.  We've seen him refuse to give up before but even with reality on the line this seems a bit much.  The confrontation with his mother has been long expected and we get a bit of it here.  But then...

Time to meet a new toy? Yup! 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 all his own. In this seventeenth issue, Arcee’s team tracks down Ultra Magnus, the Autobots protect innocents caught in the crossfire on Earth, and on Cybertron a new Autobot is born thanks to Cliffjumper! So yes, a new toy. Probably! Eventually! Elita One’s team on Cybertron aid Cliffjumper in reaching the Well of All Sparks, which turns out to be this big contraption with a really easy user interface! Cliffjumper’s plan is to use the spark remains of his dead clan to create a new Autobot, and by the last page we meet them! Skybound has been promising the introduction ...

And now the conclusion! In order to keep the USS Cerritos in one piece engineering concocts a way to use the engines to use a warp bubble to survive inside the proto universe. Unfortunately that universe is home to an energy being called koj, which inhabits Sam Rutherford and D'Vana Tendi and talks like some kind of influencer and Rutherford and Tendi are placed inside the ships computer which has a slight 4th wall break of them being floating digital heads in the computer interface. Eventually they all solve the crisis and stop the proto universe from expanding. This works, this entire story works, it shouldn’t but because this is Lower Decks it works, the influencer energy being, the talking heads in the computer, even the ending works in a very Star Trek way that shouldn’t. Yet here we are. The energy being decides on a solution that saves the universe even while our Starfleet heroes keep trying to find a Star Trek like answer that makes everyone happy and sometimes that just ca...