Just another family reunion.
Isaac Asimov’s I-Bots Vol. 2 #9
FINAL ISSUE
Big Entertainment (February, 1997)
“Rebirth” finale: “Bot To Front” WRITERS: Cliff Biggers & Brett Brooks ARTISTS: Pat Broderick, Mark Heike, & David Jacob Beckett COLORING: Prismacolor LETTERER: Michael A. Palmer EDITOR: James Chambers CONCEPT: Isaac Asimov DEVELOPER: Howard Chaykin
Apparently the I-Bots’ survival wasn’t completely secret. Kevin knew they were hiding out at one of Greg Silver’s places, and so did Annabelle. She sends her I-Bots in after taking back control of Worldtech to retrieve Bot-I. However, there appears to be something odd about the folks. The raid they made last issue they didn’t even know about but one of the team woke up in costume even though he went to sleep without it. When the new I-Bots confront the originals Annabelle takes control of them remotely via implants and has them attack the I-Bots and retrieve Bot-I, until Radiant is able to block the signal, except to Gremlin who escapes with the robot. Psy-4 attempts to deal with the implant but the new bots end up going brain-dead in the process. They swat the new I-Bots (or as she calls them, Corp-Bots) for Bot-I and leave, Annabelle firing the workers who controlled the other I-Bots, while Gremlin appears to still be on her side and Psy-4 can feel emotion from Bot-I.
What they got right: The I-Bots make a good return, and there are some good story possibilities with them as secret superheroes and whatever would happen to Bot-I.
What they got wrong: I would rather see Kevin in control of Worldtech, as allies to the I-Bots rather than bringing back the evil organization angle with Annabelle back in charge. I don’t now how “her” new I-/Corp-Bots keeps her out of jail, much less allowing her to regain control of the company and regain her assets to overthrow Kevin. And what happened to the art? Broderick’s pages look rushed and the replacement art team had terrible character positioning, the occasional lack of backgrounds, and subpar facial expressions. It’s like the 90s finally saw this comic and tried to attack it.
Recommendation: This was a good series I wanted to see what Biggers and Brooks had planned next. Otherwise it could have ended fine on the previous story arc if they were planning to cancel it. Still, I recommend the entire series, both the Tekno Comics volume and the Big Entertainment volume.
BW Media Spotlight 