BotTalk Reviews

Battle of the Black Stone part 4: The Future yet Unwritten, the epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics reaches its conclusion. St. Elmo's fire surrounds Brissa, Solomon Kane, John Kirowan and murdered author James Allison... they are fading away. Conan's soul was the anchor holding our HEROES OF MAN in the Hyborian Age.  James Allison confirms that Brissa died many years ago. Like Odin, Kirowan gives one of his eyes in return for wisdom. With this new knowledge he is able to access hidden paths of energy/power to resurrect Conan. Phantom Picts of the past appear only to Kirowan, the phantasms will guide him towards the source of the BLACK STONE curse. They reach the source of corruption! A cracked onyx BLACK STONE altar (clearly the empty BLACK STONE coffin of Thulsa Doom) is protected by crazed living Picts, spectres and the BLACK STONE BEAST. James Allison's ghost becomes whole again, Kane dies, James imagines a world where the BLACK STONE BEAST can ...

A Black Stone Novel by James Lovegrove Dedicated to the memory of Robert Ervin Howard who dreamed up whole worlds and peopled them with heroes Cover by Jeffrey Alan Love  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  500 years ago. The earth quakes, ruptures and destroys the city of Ghuht, most citizens perish in the cataclysm. Lovecraftian lilac/pink light bleeds out of the earth fissure and transforms the survivors's second generation into flying monsters. The flora and fauna surrounding the city also gets warped and rechristened The Rotlands. The Rotlands are constantly expanding, taking over the planet.  After centuries of inbreeding, the monsters become infertile, they decide to kidnap women from adjacent regions, it doesn't work. Their Leader Khotan-Kha gets a brilliant idea: to further his dying race he'll send emissaries to capture "mutant" children and let the light mutate the youngsters into a new generation of immunized winged creatures. H...

SOLOMON KANE RETURNS! Solomon Kane: The Serpent Ring From creator Patrick Zircher Cover by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola Issue #1 On Sale March 2025 #SolomonKaneReturns

Battle of the Black Stone part 3: Quest into Darkness, the epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics is almost over. Only six Heroes remain, the Pict gate is behind them, the HEROES OF MAN are now deep into the Pictland jungles west of Conajohara. Brissa tells her tale from Savage Sword of Conan #4.  Our heroes are looking for the BLACK STONE BEAST's "source of corruption". Conan talks about his grandfather and past adventures. Brissa compliments multiple times the Cimmerian with the minuscule ego. Brissa reveals a tiny piece of the cursed BLACK STONE.  Slain scribe James Allison appears once again as an apparition, he's not only drawn to mighty, courageous souls, his spirit also can guide our heroes towards the source of corruption Solomon Kane is sure that he is on a mission from God, Dark Agnès de Chastillon is not so sure. Kane and Agnès converse in French, he mentions that he traveled along the Isère river in southeastern France... in 1574. Agn...

Battle of the Black Stone part 2: Bond of the Black, the epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics continues. The tortured writer James Allison appears as an apparition. He mentions that he's deceased, a former story maker, drawn to mighty, courageous spirits.  Solomon Kane is sure that Allison is suffering eternal punishment in hell. The old gunslinger El Borak wants answers. Allison confirms that not only is El Borak marked by the BLACK STONE, he's also HUNTED. A portal that looks exactly like the mysterious BLACK STONE eye symbol pops up to disgorge The Dark One aka the Master of the Monolith into our plane of existence! The Dark One starts massacring the members of the Wanderer's Club. El Borak decides to attack The Dark One with a sword and John Conrad tries to gun it down. They both fail miserably. Out of nowhere, Brissa, the time displaced Pict scout of the Gurian tribe, stabs The Dark One. She encourages El Borak, Kirowan and Conrad to fight on. ...

Battle of the Black Stone part 1: Eyes Upon Us, the epic new Conan event from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics continues. Chicago, 1936. Professor Kirowan and John Conrad arrive late for their meeting at the Wanderer's Club. Clemants (from The Children of the Night) has organized a secret soirée and it's populated by scholars of the uncanny who are showcasing their rare relics. Francis Xavier Gordon (El Borak, now a shadow of his former self, close to madness, grizzled and drunk) is waiting for Kirowan and Conrad, they want to know more about the mysterious BLACK STONE eye SIGIL that Gordon witnessed in Savage Sword of Conan #4. Gordon nervously denies seeing the sigil in the Arabian Desert...but finally confesses that he is subconsciously marked by the BLACK STONE eye glyph... that something is watching him. Grenoble, France, 1522. Since encountering the BLACK STONE sigil, random spouts of rage have been drowning the mind of Agnès de Chastillon. The breeches wearing Sword W...

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 weari...

Sword-brothers, sword-sisters, it is time once again to pay the venerable spinner rack a visit!  60 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery in black-and-white printed on newsprint!  Inside this magnificent magazine you'll find the following treasures: John C. Hocking, an autobiographical essay Conan: City of the Dead, Omnibus Preview A fresh new Pin-Up of Kull the Conqueror and Thulsa Doom by Alex Horley CONAN: WOLVES OF THE TUNDRA by Frank Tieri and Cary Nord  A Werewolf grabs a snack in the snow. It spies on a family. The family members are revealed to be Werewolves too! A fight ensues. The only lycanthrope that survives the scuffle is... Conan the Werewolf. Flashback: A famished Cimmerian enters "the Hungry Claw" inn, taxidermy wolves adorn the place, Werewolves in human form start harassing Conan, the lights go out, Conan gets bitten during the bar brawl. Conan wakes in a barn where he's decimated every single animal inside. The owner of the animals recommends elim...

eBook by Steven Savile Cover by Guillem H. Pongiluppi  Illustrations by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  A storm approaches, since there is no way around it, the captain of the ship decides to go right through it. Solomon Kane is sporting his slouch hat, rapier, and heavy pistols, he starts praying. Solomon tells the Captain that this is a mistake. Young Weasel goes overboard. Kane binds himself to the mainmast with his belt. The ship is torn apart by the raging sea. Kane wakes on a beach, his belt broken, a Japanese girl picks his pockets, Kane grabs her and asks where he's landed. Her brother tells Kane that he is in Odawara (on the island of Honshū. South of Tokyo), the Hotu clan's lands, next to Hideyoshi territory. Kane is brought to the Hotu settlement and fortress. He eats, sleeps and cleans himself. Kane walks through the town around the fort, he spies a marketplace, workshops, people practicing Karate and Kenjutsu. Kane...

A Free Comic Book Day prelude to Battle of the Black Stone: The Staring Sigil. Author avatar, James Allison (The Valley of the Worm, last seen in Zub's Conan: Serpent War), a 1930s pulp writer from Lost Knob aka Cross Plains, Texas who can recall the lives of his heroic past incarnations is startled by an unseen, unwelcome visitor, a phantom monster... possibly the vile Stygian sorcerer Koth-Serapis. Back to the Hyborian Age. 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 fighting incredibly crazed, almost suicidal Picts. Conan decapitates their giant, he notices that the man mountain is wearing a bone necklace with a pendant fabricated from a fragment of the BLACK STONE incised with a familiar eye symbol. Conan's soul is instantly assaulted by a flashback consisting of the events from past issues (Conan the Barbarian #1-8). Solomon Kane, Dark Agnes de Chastillon, El Borak aka ...

It is time to go back to the spinner rack to get the 2nd issue of the brand new Conan black-and-white mag!  60 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery printed on newsprint!  Inside this anthology you'll find the following treasures: A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Rafael Kayanan A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Gerardo Zaffino A fresh new Pin-Up of Solomon Kane by Nick Marinkovich Conan the Barbarian: Leaving the Garden by Jim Zub and Richard Pace Pesach the Plenty's wagons are brimming with goods, including his family, Conan is tagging along. We are in Shem en route to Argos. Pesach's young son mentions giants from The Frost-Giant's Daughter. Conan promises him more tales of his adventures in the future. Conan wants to leave the convoy behind, for the simple reason that he has debts to pay in Argos. Pesach offers Conan Corinthian spirits as an incentive to stay by his side. Pesach wants to sell his rare combustible (pitch derived from plants) in the port city of Messantia....

This is not a black lotus induced dream. What you're seeing on the spinner rack is real! It's a brand new bimonthly Conan black-and-white magazine!  Yup! 80 spectacular pages of barbaric savagery printed on newsprint!  Inside this anthology you'll find plenty of treasures: A Personal Introduction by Roy Thomas Map of the Hyborian Age by Francesca Baerald A fresh new Pin-Up of Conan by Rob De La Torre A fresh new Pin-Up of Bêlit by Rebeca SubversiveGirl Puebla A fresh new Pin-Up of Solomon Kane by Howard Chaykin Pin-Up of the variant cover by Gerardo Zaffino with Robert E. Howard's poem: The Road of Kings  Pin-Up of the cover by Joe Jusko Solomon Kane, an essay by archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks Conan & The Dragon Horde by John Arcudi & Max Von Fafner Max is killing it on the art! Departing the Wahuan desert, now setting foot into the steppes of Hyrkania, General Conan is leading the 200 men - 1 woman army of exiled Prince Zaahid of Ul-Dalkhana, mostly gold lusting ...