BotTalk Reviews

SOLOMON KANE: THE SERPENT RING part 1: Dead Man's Promise.  Abramo Bensaid is writing to his wayfaring brother Paolo Laurenti, whom he has not heard from in 1.5 years. Abramo mentions Paolo's employer, Rolando Zarza (thorny shrub in Spanish), a Knight of Malta. Kingdom of Ndongo, Africa. Paolo is attacked by the owners of the artifact that he has stolen. Eight of Paolo's helpers and one marinheiro (Portuguese sailor) are murdered. Paolo shoots at his aggressors with his flintlock and flees to the safety of a Portuguese caravel sailing ship. The Barbary Coast. Solomon Kane (aka The Sword of Vengeance), the wandering Puritan from Devonshire is now a "Sea Dog", a privateer on an English galleon (Captain Wheeler's ship: The Reprisal) in the service of Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth I). Wheeler, who has a license to attack and capture vessels belonging to "enemies" of England, decides to attack the Gaviota (seagull in Portuguese)... a Portuguese caravel. Alwa...

Creators : Larry Hama (writer), Chris Mooneyham (artist), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (flatter), Pat Brosseau (letter) Story : At Castle Destro, Cobra Commander is being held prisoner by Destro who warns him of the consequences if the Baroness doesn't survive the surgery, with Destro flying the best out to his castle to save her.  In Springfield, the Iron Grenadiers are in control, rounding up Cobra Troops and the mutant cyborgs, though they are worried what the cyborgs might do.  On Cobra Island, Revanche and Alpha-001 land and are able to restore the mutated people to normal but the cyborg mutants they kill by detonating an explosive in their head, including the ones in Springfield.  In Pensacola, Muskrat and his team, along with the Serpentor coffin and Dr. Mindbender, arrive on shore and are arrested while Dr. Mindbender is taken away in an ambulance.  The Joes are eventually set free and Dr. Mindbender escapes and steals the ambulance.  ...

Over the course of several years we witness the life of Helen Grosvenor.  The British digging up Egyptian artifacts and how her former childhood friends view her privileged status.  Bringing a boy she has a crush on to the dig site, Helen falls unconscious and finds a man standing before her on the dunes, covered in wrappings.  Later, in a mirror, Hellen sees what may be different aspects of herself.  Possible past lives.   This is... disappointing.  We spend so much time with Helen but she comes across as a modern, privileged teenager.   It is so pedestrian and cliche.  There is so little of the actual Mummy and the mythos of the various Universal Monsters versions of the Mummy here.  It is just the first issue so hopefully this will improve.   six out of ten.

Berlinghoff Rasmussen and Nymira Vondect run a snake oil scam.  With the grift completed they move on to the next and we see how the two came together.  Rasmussen saved her during the parasite space station debacle.  They are out in space having an argument when Lore begins breaking down reality.  The planet they were just on vanishes due to a space/time rift.  They fly through the rift and emerge near the Defiant.  As they try to explain the situation the shockwave entangles both ships. I have to say I never really cared for Nymira much.  I get that Defiant was/is a ship of rogues and renegades on a secret mission.  And what we've seen of her past fits that.  But I just never formed any attachment to the character.  To be honest when I saw her on the first page it was only then that I realized that she had been gone for multiple issues.  Also happening as a little vignette is the ongoing mine standoff which concerns Miles O'Brien. ...

Jim Zub's Twisting Loyalties part 3: Hunted The waters of Zarkheba. Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast has been murdered and avenged. Conan of Cimmeria is leaning on his great sword upon the white beach, watching the Tigress swinging out on her last voyage. A grieving Conan decides to immediately plunge into the mysterious jungles of the Southern/Black Kingdoms.  Conan kills a lizard and devours it raw. The barbarian is maltreated by a swamp, rain, pollen and hornets. Conan falls into a body of water (just like in Predator (1987)), he kills a crocodile, but he does not eat it. Exhausted, Conan collapses. A sound interrupts the Cimmerian's slumber, he spots a hunter using the trees, spying on him (just like in Predator (1987)). The next day, Conan finds no trace of the hunter (just like in Predator (1987)). Conan finds a village (just like in Predator (1987)). Not fond of his foul smell, the Kushites ask Conan to leave. Remember now: Conan was infected with vile Set magic by N...

Creators : Joshua Williamson (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer) Story : The Joe team is now captured and suffering under the hands of Destro and Cobra.  However, some quick thinking and their inside man helps them escape.  Meanwhile, the Brainwave Scanner is completed as Destro gives chase to the escaping Joe team. Writing :  A fairly straightforward issue, with the bulk of it being the Joe's fight with Cobra and Destro.  However, Williamson is able to lay down hints at what's going to happen to finish off this first arc of the series as well as leaving us on a cliffhanger.  The only downside is that Cover Girl and Stalker don't really get a lot of time to shine and no dialogue as well.  Mercer continues to be a favorite character as he's explored more and we realize he's more than just a hired gun for Destro.   Artwork : Reilly continues to do a great job with the art.  He does some fine details when ...

Is Shredhead totally in my face? 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 eighteenth issue, Shredhead kills some guys you may have liked, Ultra Magnus boxes a helicopter, and the Decepticon civil war comes to an end with the return of… well, c’mon, you know. Does Shredhead arrive at the fireworks factory? There’s actually relatively little to do with Shredhead here, aside from an opening fight scene where he showcases how badazz he is by killing some name characters. One of the victims in particular I was kind of annoyed by, considering he just got his first new toy in decades and has always been a fan favorite f...

Void Rivals Has Secrets To Reveal! It does and it continues here with issue # 17! 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 seventeenth issue, the secret of Zerta Trion is revealed, Darak has a “friendly” chat with his father, and Proximus is on the rampage! Proximus? He was cool. He was! And that continues here as him and his new kid sidekick go on a quest together. It’s unclear exactly what Proximus wishes to get out of it, but he’s clearly no longer...

So a time rift has opened up and Starfleet’s DTI (Department of Temporal Investigations) has to go and save the day which means the bridge crew has to go off on a separate ship to help save the universe. Meanwhile the lower decks crew remains on The USS Cerritos and deals with waves of changes to the timeline all culminating in a cliffhanger that, well seems like it will be impossible to get out of. Who doesn’t love a good Star Trek time travel story!? And this issue is a good time travel story that has most everything you could want, changes to the present because of things done in the past, altered states, lower decks sticking to the idea of following the lower decks cast while the bridge crew goes off to deal with a major time rift, Brad Boimler having a freak out because of said timeline changes only to be given a technological solution. And a cliffhanger that makes you want to come back! Vendorians and the USS Protostar from Star Trek: Prodigy get a reference! 9/10

Before Lore detonates the reality bomb, Kahless travels to Boreth, guided by a mysterious voice.  The monks refuse his request to restore his honor and soon, reality begins to unravel.  Kahless finds himself in the past, on the day he slew the traitor Molor.  He soon comes face to face with... himself.  The two battle.  In the end the clone defeats the original and after 'creating' the Sword of Kahless he speaks with The Sisko.  Sisko is the voice that guided him to Boreth, that spoke of restoring honor.  He tells Kahless that together they can kill a god... Lore. This issue plays with the idea of myth and legend vs reality.  Print the legend.  Kahless confronts his past self, or real self, and defeats him in battle.  The narrative has shifted from Sisko to Kahless, who was the driving force behind Day of Blood.  With this issue it seems one part of the story has ended, only for the next part to begin.  Lore War.  Given t...

One second I have to review a one shot issue of section 31 that starts with a present day-ish meeting with former emperor and time traveler as well as dimension hopper Philippa Georgiou as she decides to regale someone and thus the reader of her time in the winnowing. And so young Philippa is sent off to essentially learn what it takes to be the Terran emperor, which means essentially everyone fights and strategizes against each other until the 15 kids there are… winnowed to one. Which she will obviously walk away from and into her future as a genocidal and tyrannical emperor that we will all meet (have met) in Star Trek: Discovery. This story adds to her backstory that we already saw in the Section 31 movie, and it’s kind of unnecessary, I mean it doesn’t tell anything new about her or even the Terran Empire. This is like a footnote if that because the movie already explained that she was part of the hunger games... I mean the winnowing and we already know she won, and we already kno...

Kahless struggles with his current lot in life after his defeat.  He eats rats and can not even get a simple job.  Begging for food, willing to barter his sword away, he comes face to face with Worf and Alexander.  After some words he begins to battle Alexander, who eventually gets the upper hand.  But he can not kill Kahless and he forces him to admit the truth, that he does not know who he truly is and that he is afraid.  With this Worf and Alexander leave.  He has completed the Errand of Vengeance and with his honor restored Worf embraces him.  Meanwhile, Kahless is left to contemplate his future while eating his charred rat. I have to say I really enjoyed this arc and its conclusion here.  Neither Alexander nor Kahless die during the Errand of Vengeance, and as Alexander himself points out there was no actual vengeance to be had.  This was a good blend of established Klingon lore from across the multiple series and also doing something ne...