Void Rivals #14 Review

This is Jason Marsden, voice of Duke from G .I.

Joe Renegades. You're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. Yo, Joe. Hey, it's Jesse Rass

here, and you've made the great escape into comics

by jumping inside the pull bag today. All right,

folks, this is episode 572 of The Pull Bag. This

is a Void Rivals number 14 syndicated content

from another comic review, which is Jesse Early's

podcast. He and I do that over there with...

with what we're doing with the Energon universe

and all that good stuff. I am only syndicating

the episodes that are everything except the Transformers

because I have plans to do the Transformers comics

with other people here inside the pull bag at

some point. So there's that. But for now, enjoy

Void Rivals number 14 right after this. This

is another comic review episode 37 recorded December

1st. 2024. And welcome to another comic review.

My name is Jesse. And as always, I'm joined by

TFG1 Mike of GeekCastRadio .com. That's right.

We are here. We are no longer waiting. We're

no longer waiting. No. And we're nearing the

end of the year. How are your 31 podcasts and

31 days going? Okay. So as of this recording,

I've got the first four done as far as fully

edited and ready to go. The first two are online

as of right now and the episode 106 to 11514

are recorded. I just have to edit all of that.

Sweet. To make a progress. In progress, that's

right. All right. We're here to talk about Void

Rivals number 14 today by Kirkman, Dave Felici,

Del Pesce, and Wooten. Quick synopsis from ImageComics

.com, Derek is back to Agoria for one day before

they send him back out into space to get shot

at. Derek's loyalty to Agoria is put to the test

as he's forced to prove himself. Whoa, I have

a problem with the ImageComics run because that's

not what happens. That's true. I mean, just listening

to you read that rundown from ImageComics .com.

Yes, he is there for a day. But they don't send

him out. He chooses to go. Right. He volunteers.

The promotion for that. I don't know who writes

solicits at any comic company. I don't know if

it's the writer of the comic of each of the comics

or if it's some, you know, copy boy in the back

room somewhere. I don't know who writes them,

but man, go ahead with your rundown, sir. Sorry.

I just had to cut. I'm sorry. I had to cut because

that's wrong. Even the second sentence is wrong,

like who's he proving himself to? His father,

maybe? Yeah, technically he's probably proving

himself to his dad, so that I can forgive, but

the fact that it says they send him right back

out, that's not what happened. You're not wrong.

My quick rundown, we open with Premier Zilek

choosing to walk the path of light. We cut to

Agoria where Derek continues to argue with his

father when they are interrupted and informed

of an incoming alien craft. In deep space, Skeksoid

contemplates life while thinking about his wife

and kids, who are maybe still alive? I thought

they were dead. Maybe. I don't know. In uncharted

space, some cosmic debris runs into Pythona's

ship. Bola and Gracula venture out to retrieve

it, and Gracula is hit with a bright green light

emitting from a crystal lodge into their ship.

This triggers something to start growing on their

spacesuits. Back in the center of the sacred

ring, Selila continues her journey with Handroid.

Acadagoria, Derek volunteers to intercept the

incoming alien ship and picks up a new handroid

of his own for the mission. As he launches into

space, Derek blacks out momentarily and carries

on a quote unquote force ghost conversation with

Selila. He informs her that the highest ranking

officials are aware that they are the same and

have been colluding to keep the secret. Derek

comes to just in time as he nearly misses the

alien ship he was sent to intercept. After some

initial miscommunications and firing of guns,

we learn that the alien ship is being piloted

by Autobot Hot Rod and that he is looking for

a friend. So Lila continues her journey, but

a trap door opens and she plummets into the darkness.

We close with the quintessence arriving at the

sacred ring exclaiming that a long last they

will have their revenge. So thoughts in a review

of issue number 14. Next year is the 40th anniversary

of the Breakfast Club. I have to get an interview

with Judd Nelson and I have to have this one.

This lunatic trying to kill me. Not the kind

of welcome I prefer, but okay, I can repay the

favor jerk. Two seconds in one one page one panel.

I'm like, oh Skybound hot rod. I'm absolutely

loving already. I love the way is I love his

ship because his ship reminds me of the the It's

in Justice League at the end in justice. No,

it's in Justice League of Savage Time A couple

of the ships that Vandal Savage brings back from

the future kind of reminds me of that. Actually,

that and World's Finest reminds me of the Joker's

wing. So in World's Finest, the three Potter

and Superman the animated series. Side track,

folks. There is a ship that Lex Luthor has had

built and it's this giant wing thing. Well, the

Joker paints it smile. And Hot Rod's ship, the

way it looks, very wing -like. Reminds me of

that as far as the shape of it goes. But anyway,

I love this Great. The only thing I need to do

before before I read issue 14 was I had to go

back because I did not routine So I went back

and I reread 13 because I'm like, wait a minute.

Why is this guy kneeling? What? Why is he putting

his hat on? What is going on here? Completely

forgot what that was all about completely Uh,

but the Derek stuff with his dad. I absolutely

love that the scuxoid stuff It's weird to me

to see the scuxoid in profile Not just straight

up, you know with his face looking at us because

I don't know it's just weird But at first I thought

for half a second then I realized oh, no, that's

not this I thought I thought hot rod was gonna

commandeer the the rockeroid That's what I thought

was gonna happen then I realized Part of this

coaxoid story the green glowing blast rock thing.

I'm like, oh god What are they trying to do give

them kryptonite? Because that's what it kind

of looks like it's kryptonite. Why did good?

I don't know if it's kryptonite or not. But uh,

so so the shuttle that he's got Mm -hmm look

reminiscent of that the moon base shuttle from

transformers the movie. Yeah, that's who I can

see. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah So I just sent you

a picture of that and that's comparing with what's

here in the comic and it looks just like that.

Yeah. So I think that's what it is. Or at least

that's where they took the design from. Oh, I

don't I don't doubt that. I just went on a side

tangent with the superhero stuff. Look, it is

what it is. But yeah, no, I can I can see that.

Oh, yeah. Yes. Is that 3d printed? I don't know

what that is. I just googled transformers the

movie space ships and this came up And I'm like,

I'm looking at the front. I'm like, yep, that's

that's what this is. So did you enjoy the issue?

Oh, yeah, absolutely Yeah, it's one of my favorites

so far other than having to go back and Like

the last three pages of 13 to understand the

beginning of this the rest of great. So what

did you think? So I really like this issue I'm

trying to recall what I thought of issue 13.

I recall saying that I think it was it felt different

than the rest, right? I was saying that I feel

like Image Comics was having an issue with their

13th issue. Yeah, I didn't think it was bad,

but I felt like it was sort of a misstep or it

felt different than the other comics. The other

issues, I should say. I feel like 13 was like

an anomaly. I think we're way back to where we

were with, you know, one through 12. That way

i can say it that way yeah there you go and i

think the thing with thirteen is because it was

it was it was starting a new arc it was what

you were supposed to do as much. Does it up for

it's from ryan's awesome great dude but no you

don't need to especially anyway but. I think

going from the end of 12 into the beginning of

13, there isn't that carryover. There's more

of a, hey, this is a jumping on point. If you

missed the first 12 issues, you can go back and

buy the hard card to collect all 12 issues. Then

you can read this thoroughly for now until we

collect it again. But yeah, that's again, that's

why I had to go back to, um, for 14, that's why

I had to go back to 13 to read what the hell

was going on. gone but you know overall i love

14 14 was great yeah so there's a lot of things

i liked about this particular issue like i like

the uh what's what's his name here premier zilelek

like i like the fact that oh right someone someone

that's higher up in the echelon of the sacred

ring here is is finally Gonna come around to

the fact that whatever everything he's been told

has been bullshit up to this point, right? Hopefully

she's not like bully, you know, it's not gonna

bullshit him and like actually tell him what

is going on Hopefully she does have an agenda

of her own. She seems to be at least based on

what we've seen in the comics so far She seems

to be pretty straightforward So I'm hoping that's

the case. But so I think that's wherever we go

with that. That's going to be interesting I'm

very curious to know what this shard of stuff

was because we so far we've seen energon be purple

Yeah, but the like the any in any any place has

been in the energon universe comics so far. It's

all been purple So I don't know what this green

shard is Like you said, maybe it's kryptonite.

I don't know. We could have a Superman cameo

So yeah, like I said, I'm interested to see where

that goes this whole thing with scucks away.

I Don't know like I where he arrived home. He

talked about his this is like going way back

now he arrived home after remission and it was

it's like oh he's like thinking about his wife

and his kids he's like oh right my assumption

was like oh they had died at some point he was

excited to get back home he's probably suffering

ptsd and they died at some point but he makes

it sound like here like they're alive because

he's like what am i doing i've got a wife and

kids to provide for so it's like they're alive

somewhere maybe but they obviously weren't at

home so uh prisoners somewhere That's that's

also what i'm wondering but where is the other

screen chart is don't know but it's it's if you

look at page we're on page nine nine and i guess

is nine bottom page nine once. Once I touch that

shard and the green light comes out, something

starts growing on the suit. It's like, well,

what is this? I don't know. Uh, I immediately

started thinking, is this the hate plague? What

the hell is this? It was, it's either the hate

plague or it's cosmic rust. Well, yeah, I started

thinking about that too. I'm like, is that, could

that be it? Whatever the, the force ghost conversation

is between Derek and Selila. Very curious to

know more about that. It happened once before,

but now they're like in totally different places.

Yeah. And I don't know. That just seems to have

triggered when Derek went through the event horizon.

Yep. And I don't know. Like, I want to learn

more about that. Like, why do they have this

connection and why does this keep happening to

them? Second time now. And I think the biggest

thing that I liked, which is kind of what you

alluded to, is the inclusion of hot rod here,

because I think the the characterization of him

in this is fantastic. Yep. And so I was telling

you a while back, like my daughter and I were

watching the original G1 Transformers cartoon.

And we watched all of season one, we got through

season two, we watched the movie. And as it happens,

as it happened this time, as it does every time

when I try to sit down and watch the series,

I cannot get through season three. I just cannot

do it. So when Rodimus becomes hot rod again,

because he does in a few episodes in season three,

The voice that he's got in that, like the voice

actor, the voice, I just do not associate that

with the character at all. It's always Judd Nelson

for me. So when I'm reading this, I'm like, yes,

I got Judd Nelson's voice in my head. Yeah, I

get Judd in my head as well, but it depends on

what how Kirkman is going to write him since

they are specifically writing him as Hot Rod.

It's definitely Judd Nelson. Now, if later down

the line, if he continues to be in the series,

whether it's hearing what rivals, whether he,

it's over and transformers, who knows what's

going to happen, depending on what he says, I

will hear in my, he's been gone a couple of years

now. It might be more than a couple of years,

folks. I don't remember off the top of my head,

but do I wish we had Judd Nelson for season?

Absolutely. But what, uh, Jaime, the robot from

get smart did Because that's who did go to a

play to get smart television series What he did

with Drought of this I thought was really rich

and I think the way that he's drawn in this comic

It's like the first the first page that he's

on which is like the bottom of 19 It's like you

look at that and it's like I don't see any difference

between this and our first Introduction to him

and transformers the movie like it's the art

art on this character here yeah absolutely a

little less so as we get to page uh 21 but he

just sort of got like a goofy look on his face

there he almost looks more like prowl to me in

his head design no but uh yeah so i'm very curious

to see where this goes and now that the quintessence

have showed up it seems like everyone is is diverging

here into uh the the sacred ring And I'm curious

to know what Python knows, right? Because at

the beginning of what issue? 13. Yeah, I think

it was 13. She says no. Is it? I got to go back

now. So at the beginning of issue 13, right?

We based on what we see here that has taken place

at some point in the future. Yep. Because she's

already back from her mission. Yep. And then

what we're reading in the rest of 13 and now

in 14 has taken place at some point in the past

prior to the events of the beginning of 13. I'm

wondering if she's had any encounters with the

Quintessons and if they're going to now be involved

at some point in the future going forward with

Cobra Commander, Cobra in general, and or G .I.

Joe. I'm curious to see how any of that's going

to play out. Well, strap in because it's probably

going to happen. Hey look, I don't care what

they do so far. I mean I've had we've all of

us me have all had our little Nagging things

about the skybound comic so far, but to my memory

which is very at this point We've not Really

said anything like oh crap. I'm a even with the

whole Transformers 13 14 mini story with Starscream

because he likes to scream at the stars we didn't

Say at the end of that. Okay, we're done with

we said we don't like these two issues, but we're

still gonna move I mean if we can get through

freaking Destro folks five issues of that crap

we can get through anything skybound throws at

us, but we're overall I would say that we are

in playing for the most part and I'm looking

forward to whatever they throw at us. For as

much as I love the Transformers series, I don't

think the Void Rivals series has headed any big

misses at all. Yes, I said that I think 13 was

a misstep, but even still, I don't think it was

a bad issue. No, it wasn't a bad issue. It was

more of a false start. It was more of a kind

of tripping, but it's Kirkman. It shouldn't have

been a false start. Maybe he was having a bad

week the week that he worked on this or whenever

he wrote it. Again, I don't know the guy. Oh,

whatever. But it was more of a whoops, false

start like trip and whatever. But here in 14,

it's gravy. Yeah. And I mean, looking at the

other series, right? I know I've complained about

Transformers 13, 14. I liked better, but it still

seemed a little off to me. We just got into GIGO,

so I can't really complain about that one. But

looking at the miniseries, right? I think all

of them have had missteps along the way. I don't

think that's the case here with Void Rivals.

No, Void Rivals has been on point for practically

the entire run so far. And that's amazing. Yeah,

absolutely. I think Transformers is gonna, I

don't know, once we get to it, we'll figure it

out. But like once Johnson leaves after issue

24, whomever they bring in next, be interesting

quote unquote second season yeah uh so i don't

know like if at some point kirkman's gonna no

longer write for this or if this is just i hope

not continue right for her so i i hope he writes

this for as long as he wants to or as long as

whatever because this is great stuff like and

this is the first stuff i've read from him ever

i'm not a i'm not a walking dead person i'm not

a this i'm not bad But like this is. I've said

this in other episodes to me personally hands

down the best sci -fi comic that we've had at

least five years. Yeah, it's fantastic. My closing

thoughts are pick this up, pick up the trades

and jump in on this story if you haven't done

so. Absolutely. I agree. All right. Well, that

if we can make it through. So do you want to

do the previews or do you want me to do the previews?

Yeah, I can I can try or you can just whatever

but we'll uh We'll try here. We'll uh, we'll

try. All right folks So I need to reach out to

skybound on multiple uh social media platforms

and ask them because I would hope that every

single comic book shop is closed December 25th,

but void rivals number 15 in shops, December

25th 2024 kirkman Uh, Felit De Felici, uh, Del

Pesce, Russ Wooten, and the tagline for this

is, everyone's favorite Autobot, Hot Rock, finds

his way to the Sacred Ring. What news of Cybertron

does he bring to Springer? How dire are things

and how much trouble can two Autobots cause in

Agoria? Tons. So that's coming December 25th

on Christmas Day. Again, I do not think that

the comic book shops are going to be open that

day. I would hope comic book shops are not open

on Christmas day. They deserve at least, you

know, a couple of days off, at least that day

specifically. I can understand if a comic book

shop is open for like three or four hours on

Christmas Eve or something, but I don't think

shops should be open on Christmas day. I will

read it on Christmas. Well, it'll come out. I'm

just saying like the digital thing probably on

Christmas and that's fine, but I'm just saying,

I personally don't think comic book shops should

be open on Christmas because they deserve to

have some time. Alright, coming in January. January

22nd, 2025. Void Rivals number 16, January 22nd,

2025. Same creative team as always. Skarxoid

versus Pythona, the battle you didn't know you

wanted. Exclamation point. Alright, let's try

to get through this really quickly, Void Rivals.

number 17 cover a minister dulan demands loyalty

of his son derek's time in zertonia has uh called

in has been called into question where his allegiances

lie and his war brewing in agoria will it pit

father against son retail 399 in store date february

26 2025 okay well let's see here transformers

number 17 cover a blah blah As the titanic clash

from last issue rages on, a group of Autobots

continues their search for the ally during the

tide on Earth. Ultra Magnus, dun dun dun. Alright,

anything else? I think we're done, dude. I ain't

got nothing to plug. All right. Well, I got a

few things to plug. You can find me on YouTube

at youtube .com slash matrix underscore prime.

Find me on blue sky at Jesse early. We have a

discord now. Please join us. Come talk with us.

You can find the link to the discord in the show

I got. Oh, so until next time, this is Jesse.

You've just heard the latest episode of The Pull

Bag, the GCRN's first comic review and discussion

podcast. There are several ways to get in touch

with us and leave feedback for the show. You

can visit the website geekcastradio .com where

you can comment on the episode and all of our

different podcasts. You can rate and leave a

review for the show on iTunes. Be sure to leave

us feedback. Become a fan of us on Facebook,

facebook .com slash The Pull Bag. Send us an

email, feedback at geekcastradio .com, follow

us on Twitter at ThePullBack and at GeekCastRadio.

So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you.