BotTalk Reviews

Void Rivals has The Touch! It does and it continues here with issue # 14! 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 fourteenth issue, Darak and Solila continue their separate journeys and come closer to learning the secrets behind the conspiracy that keeps their peoples apart. Also, the Skuxxoid continues being depressed and Hot Rod shows up on the trail of his buddy Springer! Depressed Skuxxoid, eh? Yeah, what’s the deal with that? What is Kirkman doi...

Void Rivals has better things to do tonight than die! It does and it continues here with issue # 13! 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. It’s the start of a new arc in this thirteenth issue, as our titular characters take separate paths again. Solila ventures deeper into the depths of Zertonia while Darak returns home to Agorria with Springer. Oh and Pythona and the Skuxxoid poke their heads into the plot. Pythona? So Cobra-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!!! is invol...

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...

Void Rivals has better things to do tonight than die! It does and it continues here with issue # 11! 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 eleventh issue, Darak, Solila, and their new best buddy Triple Changer Springer have to fend off an Zertonian battalion intent on capturing or killing them! The Quintessons, Hot Rod, and even our good buddy the Skuxxoid continue along their paths, which will undoubtedly soon intersect again! So lots of Transfor...

Who is Rivalling the Void this month?? Void Rivals continues here with issue # 10! It’s Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici new 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 new 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 tenth issue, Springer’s battle with Proximus comes to an end, and Darak and Solila learn more about how their planets and Cybertron are connected. So we learn more about what makes the Energon Universe, the Energon Universe? Yup! The nature of Energon itself and how it interacts with Darak and Solila’s people is explored. Springer ha...

Who is Rivalling the Void this month?? Void Rivals continues here with issue # 9! It’s Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici new 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 new 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 ninth issue, our protagonist duo Darak and Solila are still on the run from the deadly hunter Proximus, when they stumble upon a new ally who has better things to do this night than die! Also, we look in on our pal, the Skuxxoid! Forget all the rest then, how’s Skuxxy doing?? Sad. Sad and alone. Oh. What about the rest then? Proximus ...

Creators : Tranformers: Daniel Warren Johnson (Writer), Ryan Ottley (Artist), Annalisa Leoni (Colorist).  Void Rivals: Robert Kirkman (Writer), Lorenzo De Felici (Artist), Matheus Lopes (Colorist).  G.I. Joe: Joshua Williamson (Writer), Jason Howard (Artist), Mike Spicer (Colorist). Skybound's Free Comic Book Day entry this year is a nice treat, featuring three stories from their Energon Universe line - Transformers, Void Rivals, and G.I. Joe.  All three stories fit nicely into the on-going narrative, adding a bit more to the overall stories without being "critical" stories to read to get what's going on.  At the same time, you can easily read the stories in this issue without being lost.  The Transformer story deals with how Megatron ended up in Cobra-La and his awakening there.  Void Rivals deals with Hot Rod trying to track down the Quintessons while over in G.I. Joe, Duke is trying to recruit the Baroness to the Joe team.   The art in this issue, w...

This is free, right? Oh totes! The FCBD Energon Universe Special contains three FREE stories- one for Transformers, one for Void Rivals, and one for G.I.Joe! The Transformers tale, written by Daniel Warren Johnson with pencils by Ryan Ottley, focuses on Megatron and how he ended up in Cobra-La custody. The Void Rivals tale, written by Robert Kirkman with pencils by Lorenzo De Felici, catches us up with our pal the Skuxxoid after his run-in with the Quintessons and introduces another classic Transformers character into the mix. Finally, the G.I. Joe tale, written by Joshua Williamson with pencils by Jason Howard, has Duke on a recruitment mission for his new team. All three tales seem rather important to their respective titles and hint towards where the story of the larger Energon Universe is headed and the closer intersection of these three properties. So should I pick it up? Did you not hear me? This is a completely free comic, so of course you should pick it up if you see it! If you...