BotTalk Reviews

Lyna Taval and Harry Deubert make their escape off planet, meanwhile Captain Miller makes his own plans to stop them! This issue keeps up the pace of the previous issue, where after checking in with Lyna’s handler and learning there’s a second witness to Captain Miller’s... villainy, they then fight their way out of an ambush. All in all the 2090s redshirts is off to a good start, leaving enough here to make the reader come back for more next month. 8/10

In a slight variant from the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode where a nebula has the enterprise play out a fantasy story for Joseph M'Benga's daughter in that show’s season one, this is what if the fantasy was tales by Edgar Allan Poe. Wherein the doctor now has to work through the fantasy and still ends up letting his daughter go to become a nebula entity. If you love Poe, you may like this issue. I think the story has a target audience and Edgar Allan Poe fans are it. This is a 19th century gothic story instead of the fantasy knights and princesses and monsters story of the streaming episode, but they both essentially end the same way. And the art work tries to play along as a visual representation of a Poe work and in that it does its job, if a bit too clean. But in the end it’s a 5/10

1. Escape from the planet of Mudd (Story by David Gerrold, Art by JP Buzio, Colors by Christine Franzen) For the first story we are treated to a sequel of classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode I, Mudd, wherein we pick up after the enterprise had left Harry on a planet of about 500 Stellas constantly nagging. Harry Mudd devises a way to distract the Stellas and get off planet.  This wasn’t too bad of a story in its own right. You almost feel bad for Harry, and they got his character down well enough you can hear Roger C. Carmel’s (Cyclonus from Transformers season 3!) voice as Harry whines and plans his way out. It’s not that it’s a necessary sequel, but it’s still a welcome short story if you’re a fan of Harry Mudd episodes. 2. The Engineer's Dilemma (Story by Dana Gould, Art by Megan Levens, Colors by Charlie Kirchoff) After the events of TOS episode The Lights of Zetar Scotty stands in his quarters going over the decision to let Mira go as she moved on to her new post at...

And now the conclusion to the first arc that begins Academy’s life as a comic even as paramount foolishly has cancelled the show on streaming! And having learned that the team works better when they communicate clearly with each other, they make contact with the aliens and all work together to help bring the shield generators back online.  And our cadets learn the importance of first contact and interpersonal working relationships.  And Starfleet of the 31st century takes important steps towards a positive restoration for the future. So the art is the weakest part of the story, but it’s a kind of classic comic style as well which I think fits the tone of this arc’s conclusion, where the beginning was a darker more chaotic style and here in 5 it’s more lighter and orderly while we see the cadets get it together and help these aliens. But I’m probably just nitpicking at this point, reading all five together would absolutely make this whole story make better visual sense. But it’...

Having commandeered the Omega, Kirk receives a message from the Tellarite ambassador, asking him to liberate their planet from The Emerald Chain.  The Omega arrives and destroys the orbiting base.  Suddenly the Challenger, under command of Admiral Sato arrives and attacks the Omega.  Zed manages to disable the Challenger's systems and makes a proposal to Kirk and Sato.  Work together.  Kirk and Sato meet face to face. A lot happening here, and at the same time, little.  Decades have passed since Kirk took the Omega.  We see bits of Borg technology in his body.  Sato is now old and grey.  But their confrontation feels lacking.  Sato spent all this time tracking down Kirk, cleaning up his mess and trying to work through the repercussions only for Zed to steal the moment.  I hope next issue we see Sato and Kirk put their long conflict to bed with a satisfying conclusion.   six out of ten.

The Romulans open the story by plotting and right at the outset we learn Captain Chip Miller (last seen in Star Trek: Red Shirts #5) is an asset. A group of redshirts walk into a bar, one says he's gonna ask out this Andorian science officer, another laughs at him. He's run off after her but the other redshirts are called off to do a mission. That same mission goes sideways nightmarishly, our lone redshirt, Harry Deubert, survived but ends up having to clean the shuttle. And he's sick of how redshirts are treated so he tries to contact Starfleet but Miller intercepts him! Dun dun dun! but hey at least redshirt got his date. Too bad she's Andorian security. To be continued! First of all I like that it takes place during the latter decades of the 23rd century, I don't think Star Trek really touches on that era outside the novels and even then... anyways the comic... So sounds like Captain Miller is our big bad for how ever many issues... and it's a good set up, ab...

"The power transfer beam! I can travel on it" And so Cadet Reymi sends the photonic Sam to the planet to save the day. He successfully sends her to the planet but is immediately busted by Chancellor Ake. Meanwhile on the planet! With the shield down the cadets can talk to each other again, which immediately makes the aliens hostile so Sam comes up with a distraction to buy the others time to escape. And while Genesis is feeling sorry for herself Sam figures out a way to communicate with the aliens. To be concluded next issue when they Starfleet a solution! It's a decent story that would've made a decent episode in the short and soon to be lamented Academy series on streaming. We finally have the whole cast working on a solution that honestly was the whole point of the exercise.  And Genesis Lythe learns a lesson. She needs to chill. 7.5/10

CHAOS AT COMIC CON Story & Art by Stan Sakai  Colors by Emi Fujii  Letters by Simon Bowland GODZILLA GOES TO COMIC CON Story, Art, & Letters by Greg & Fake TOY TIME Story by Dan Jurgens  Art by Margeaux Pepoy  Colors By Jason Millet  Letters by Steve Wands ARTISTS’ ALLEY PINUPS Nicole Goux Carla Wyzgala Dave Baker  Jared Cullum  Gavin Smith & Milena Deneno  Sean Galloway  Patrick Horvath  Travis Mercer  Gabby Ramirez  Alfredo Cardona

Kirk attempts to take command from Sato.  Zed takes his patient to Main Engineering and lets the bomb explode.  The story skips ahead, we see Kirk in command.  Sato and Zed have been left on a Class M Planet.  But Sato is determined to find Kirk and stop him. Most of this issue is taken up by the conflict between Kirk and Sato.  It is one long speech as Kirk tries to talk Sato into giving up, into doing something, into standing down and letting him take command.  If this were a TV show it would work much better.  As a comic it feels wordy.  The confrontation has been building for some time now, but in the end it feels like a long and wordy speech.  T'Galatheon gives her life to destroy the station and seemingly cripple the Borg.  We saw this coming last issue.   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...

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...