Warning: Spoilers abound for both “The Last Of Us: American Dreams,” and “The Last Of Us” video game.

“The Last Of Us” was the only video game I’ve ever played that inspired such extreme feelings of both love and hate. The world was so fully realized, and the game knew what it wanted to say from the very first scene. It turned all of your expectations upside down, and had an ending that was so realistic and true to the characters that even though I felt incredibly disappointed in their choices, I will always look back on the game with fond memories. So needless to say, I was very much looking forward to a comic book that inspired those same feelings.

I didn’t get that. “The Last Of Us: American Dreams” is a serviceable tie-in to a wonderful game. The four-issue story lays out a portion of Ellie’s life before she met Joel, and how she came to know her best friend Riley and the rebel group known as the Fireflies. Most of the comic doesn’t live up to the world it takes place in, though it’s very good at scratching the surface: there are soldiers, a destroyed city, brief mentions of life in the quarantine, and an infected or two, but they all happen so fast that the feelings of hopelessness and despair so often brought out in the game aren’t present, and as a result all the moments of normal everyday banter, like when Ellie and Riley discover a run-down arcade in a mall, don’t have any weight to them. They don’t feel earned.

Everything up until Issue #4 feels like the writers were just going down a large checklist of everything Ellie mentions to Joel during the game. Riley? Check. Arcade game? Check. Horse? Check. The entire story as a whole feels very much like a prequel, and if it seems like I’m bringing up the game a lot it’s because this story absolutely could not have stood on its own. When the last page comes up it might be expected because it’s just a tie-in, but the ending obviously a placeholder until Ellie appears in the video game. Which is a shame, because they could have done so much more. This comic had a perfect way it could have ended. An ending that would have captured the spirit of this world beautifully, showed readers what it’s like for the characters that inhabit it, and really have a lasting impact. How do I know this? Because Ellie talks about it in the game. She recounts the story of how she got bitten, and what happened between her and Riley at the end of their relationship. It’s absolutely haunting, and I would have loved to see it captured in the comic book. But for whatever reason, a more lackluster ending was chosen, although the few character insights you come across are built up in just the right way, with enough teasing over the course of four issues to make the reveals worthwhile, so there are a few good things to come out of the book. Fans of the game will enjoy jumping back into the world for a couple hours, even if the trip is a little bumpy.

The trade paperback for “The Last Of Us: American Dreams” is published by Dark Horse comics, written by Faith Erin Hicks and Neil Druckmann, and releases October 30^th for $16.99. 

We start with Chris Samnee ‘s cover to issue 32 of Daredevil because I have loved this run and because MONSTERS! Take those pencils in and enjoy the issue because Samnee tweeted earlier this week that issue 36 will be the end to what has turned out to be an historic run for Mark Waid on Daredevil.

If the cover to Justice League 24 looks familiar it’s because it should be. It’s Ivan Reis’s homage to Jim Lee’s cover to the New 52 reboot Justice League #1. This cover stars the Crime Syndicate from Earth 3. Jump in now and pick up the Forever Evil issues. If you think you’re missing out, you are.

Pretty Deadly’s cover wasn’t the only thing that stopped and made me think. The book is terrific. It also sold out of its 57k print run. If you can get your hands on one, you should. If not, there is a second printing on the way soon.

I love Samurai. I love Samurai Jack because it’s a tip-o-the hat to Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub. Trivia time, the entire run of Lone Wolf and Cub is my favorite series of all time.

Deadpool, the “merc with the mouth” and the man with the permanent pizza face is eating pizza while his compatriots do all the fighting. The coloring is what caught my eye though, so there ya go!

In panels this week I picked my favorite for last. Here is some Rat Queens #2 goodness to start us off. Do not mess with a smidgen after you’ve thrown her companion to the ground like a rag doll. She’ll stab your ogre eyes out!

Kiss Me Satan! has been a wild ride. I love Ferreyra’s style so much. I talk about it more in my Colder review here. What struck me about this panel is that staked vampire French maids start very hot but end up very not.

I’m not sure if Ultimate Spiderman Miles Morales is going away. There isn’t a solicit for an issue 29 but I’m grateful for the 28 plus the 5 “Spider-Men” books we got. Please don’t kill of my Marvel 1610 Bendis! I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see during the next big Marvel Ultimate Universe event, Cataclysm.

That’s it for this week true Bot-lievers. If you want more, there’s always last weeks 5 and 3. Be sure to come back next week, same bot channel, any bot time. I’d love to hear from you, so post in the comments about the picks this week and then send me some tweets @MarkAvo. 

Fading Fairytales is a great beginners game for people who have never played a strategy game Better yet it’s free to play. For those who are familer with the genre from games like “Final Fantasy” or “Pokemon” the game as a whole will seem rather dull. The premise is simple, the world is in chaos and it’s all the heroes fault. Well the darkness that has infected them all is responsible but luckily Geppetto has created a machine to fix the heroes one by one. 

The game starts off with you controlling a team of three made up of a warrior, mage and thief. The easy learning curve is handled by starting you at a low difficultly and steadily increasing as you progress through the game. Keep in mind though that even the “intense” levels are not very grueling for the veterans of the genre. 

Although the game is free like most tablet games you have the option to purchase items in the game if needed. however this is not needed if you’re willing to do a little level grinding.This is a necessity if you want to get better characters anyway There are a handful available from the start to buy but as you recue each hero you then get the option to recruit them into your 3 man team. After a little level grinding I was able to save and recruit “Robin Hood” and the levels began flying by.

The gameplay as a whole is rather boring to watch because of the stiff animation dull dialogue.There is no sense of chemistry between the characters and I found myself skipping past a lot of the dialogue. What works well is the different take on the Fairytales we all heard as kids. It was fun to see the good guys as bad guys and even fight against them. For the average tablet gamer who likes to play time waster games this is a great option for them. If you’re more of a hard core gamer who likes to see a different take on fairytales you’re better off with telltales “The Wolf Among Us.” 

This issue has a little bit more of everything: story, character development, nudity, crude humor, crime…Pretty much anything you could possibly want from a comic called “Sex Criminals.”

Jon, the male character in our dynamic duo, gets the spotlight this time around. We learn about his past through flashbacks which are themselves part of further flashbacks of when Jon first told Suzie about his childhood. It’s not as confusing as it sounds when you’re reading, but this comic has a funny way of playing with time, and I’m not convinced that it has a handle on how to do it very well yet. Their methods are occasionally jarring. For example, in the first issue, our main character Suzie told her life story by guiding us through her past. Present day Suzie was always there somewhere to let us know that we were in her memory, so we could jump around in time pretty easily. But this time…well, present day Suzie still pops up in flashbacks once or twice. Which is very strange, because it serves no practical purpose. It’s as if the comic is reminding us that it has a gimmick it still wants to play with. The thing is though, having present day Suzie pop into a flashback that her past self is a part of while Jon is telling her about his childhood through another flashback, all of which is told through an all-encompassing flashback as they try to escape the site of their latest crime together just adds to the complexity in a bad way. It seems like the creators of the comic didn’t want us to forget we were actually reading Suzie’s story, because she’s the main character. I can’t help but think it might have served the comic better if they’d done a repeat of the way they did their first issue, and switched out Suzie for Jon. And speaking of the character’s present situation, I don’t think switching back to it throughout the series is a great tactic. It slows everything down, and I don’t know enough about what’s going on to care yet. What I do care about now are the characters, and I would have been perfectly fine waiting for them to reach their apparent crime spree through the natural course of the story.

So, because of the way the story’s told in this issue, it seems a little bogged down. The good news is, it’s a great story. I was actually worried that this series would alienate its male audience – nudity and a sex can only hold my attention for so long without substance – but handing the keys over to Jon, or at least letting him move the steering wheel a bit, was a great call. In a weird way, I really relate to him. He’s cool, but in a decidedly geeky kind of way. Seeing how he dealt with the special ability both he and Suzie possess was maybe a little too stereotypical, but it made me laugh a lot more than I did in the first issue. 

The art is just as good, if not slightly better, than last time. I’m getting used to the style, and I think it serves the story well. The layout has even been improved, so really all of my complaints from last time have been addressed. The only thing that concerns me for the future of “Sex Criminals” is a matter of mythology. Where did this power come from? What is its real purpose? How many people have it? These are all questions that, based on the ending of this issue, the comic plans to address. All of the possibilities I can think of give too much gravitas to a story that so far, has been set in a fairly realistic world that’s just silly enough to be unique. That’s a great quality to have, and it would be a shame to see it go full on nuts with the addition of a secret genetic underground facility or something. But then again, it’s a comic book, and stranger things have happened. 

“Sex Criminals” is published by Image Comics with a story by Matt Fraction and art by Chip Zdarsky. You can pick up Issue 2 for $3.50 on October 23^rd. 

Telltale has moved their focus off of Walking Dead just long enough to provide us with another gritty piece of episodic genius. “The Wolf Among Us”, based on Bill Willingham’s “Fables”, is a gritty 80’s cop drama chock full of fairy tale characters, and should not be missed. Playing as the Big Bad Wolf, called Big B by the cast, you are investigating the murder of a mysterious fable after her head is left at your front door.

The cell-shaded animation plays perfectly to the story and style. The soundtrack drives the experience forward flawlessly setting the tone for New York where these Fables are hiding out. The art-style tied to a diverse, and at times  grotesque crew of characters lends to a world of intrigue that we haven’t seen anywhere else. Ranging from the angry and vitrolic Ichabod Crane (who is most assuredly involved in something evil) to the drunk and lazy Colin the pig (who happens to be the Big Bad Wolf’s roomate), there is no lack of interesting characters.

Photo: The Big Bad Wolf and Colin 

Generally I find myself unmotivated to run through anything a second time but The Wolf Among Us has me starting play through number two as fast as I can manage. My first go at the game was mostly as a friendly version of Big B. I want to see just how bad I can make him. I’m not saying that I want to tear a guy’s arm off, but collateral damage happens when you’re saving murder victims.

Photo: Ichabod is a little tense

At $4.99 an episode or $24.99 for the bundle this game is a steal. Play through number one only took me about 3 hours and there is definitely room for at least 2 more to get all the various changes which will include different relationships and controlling who lives, or dies. The characters are fabulous, and the game has a solid amount of reference and humor. Watching Big B interact with the magic mirror is worth redoing several times. Game play mechanics are perfect for the genre, and combat is stressful and taxing. The encounters leave you breathless and are more challenging than anticipated; luckily the Wolf can take a heavy beating. Telltale has been batting a thousand since they released “The Walking Dead” and this is another example, get on board quick you won’t be disappointed. 

Opinion one — Zombietron

Quantic Dream does so much right with this game, it’s hard for me to say that it won’t be GOTY. Like every game that Quantic has developed, it is heavily focused on story and you are guided through it with minimal distractions like invasive H.U.D’s.

Photo: Willem Dafoe as Doctor Nathan Dawkins 

Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page’s performances are absolutely top notch. The bond between those two is completely believable from beginning to end, and Ellen portrays Jodie as a lost soul beautifully. The bond created between Jodie and Aiden is also a testament to how good the writing behind this game really is. Without any words, and entirely through a players gently guided actions we are shown this incredible bond between these two. The most emotional moment in game was the realization that they may be separated due to my choices. (Trust me this doesn’t spoil anything.)

Without mirroring the usual 3rd person shooter Beyond provides just enough run and gun to remind you that it’s an action game. Moving from cover to cover while utilizing your invisible partner to remove or distract enemies is exciting and challenging. (Not to mention heart-breaking when you’re forced to meet the enemies family.) Although I don’t rank this game above “The Last Of Us”, it does offer many advantages including the heart warming endings, as opposed to TLOU’s one humanity breaking finale.This difference is what makes Beyond the incredible piece that it is.

Uncovering the characters rich back-story, and creating an ending that is truly yours sets this game apart.

Multiple friends have experienced a completely different path, and even experienced different scenes because they lost a fight or didn’t make it through a scene the same way I did. This provides multiple opportunities for replay and plenty of incentive to do it. Thematically I also have to tip my hat to the writing crew for addressing the question of God without slapping any one belief in the face, it is simply presented as is, and then set up for what could be a mind-bending sequel.

Photo: An unexpected companion 

Referring back to the opening statement I do feel that this will not win a Game Of The Year award, even though it will be nominated by multiple parties. Something that gave Heavy Rain an edge over this title is the finality of the ending. Heavy Rain had no sequel potential and the story could end with no cliff hanger, wrapping up every character. The ending to Beyond (depending on your choice) tied back to almost every interaction Jodie had throughout the adventure, all of these endings regardless of choices eventually converged on a single point in time. This point, however amazing it was ( and believe me, it was awesome.) Forced the writers to take a bit more of a gentle turn with characters, although I must say, the character they chose to bring into that final convergence was genius.

Beyond is definitely in this years top ten, and you’re missing an incredible story of love, companionship, combat, and the supernatural if you skip this one.

Opinion 2 — Sithbot

Beyond Two Souls is an astonishing game, and I love almost every aspect of it. It takes everything that was wonderful and amazing about Heavy Rain and kicks it up a notch. From the jaw dropping graphics to the incredible performances by the leads (Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page),

this game is a vast improvement on every story-driven game that has come before it and sets the bar stupidly high for what is to come.

Photo: Visually the bar is set so high

The drawbacks? Well, the plot does meander a lot, and I would have rather have enjoyed it as a straight play through instead of bouncing around the timeline. I can appreciate the attempt used to tell the story, but it wasn’t executed as well as the rest of the game surrounding it. Also, I really missed the way your choices impacted the story the way they did in Heavy Rain. Sure, there are multiple endings and you do decide how to get there, but for the most part, the decisions you make are locked into the individual vignettes and don’t affect the overall story. So you can be a cold hard bitch or a complete angel, and it will change how that section plays out. but the consequences don’t bleed over into the rest of the story.

Lastly, this is very much more of an interactive movie than an actual game. True, you do control Jodie and Aiden, but much of the experience is spent watching and passing QTEs instead of directly interacting. Personally, I like this approach as it more fully drew me into the story, but this may not be up everyone’s alley, so if you’re expecting an action game instead of a story driven adventure, you may want to pass. Which would actually be a shame because this is one of the most moving, intense and emotional gaming experiences I’ve ever been privileged to enjoy.

Quantic Dream continues to amaze, and I can’t even begin to fathom what they will come up with next. They are truly on the edge of interactive storytelling, and I hope that other developers will take some cues from them on their upcoming projects.

This week’s 5 and 3 begins with Zero issue 2 by Ales Kot and Tradd Moore. The cover uses black and white to great effect. The faces become “faceless” as if each soldier is just another number copy of the others. It reminds me of storm troopers. Of course, the red faced boy stands out from the clones. Before even opening up the book you know who the story will be about.

The variant cover to Adventure Time #21 is another example of using shape and design to create an amazing artistic image. Sarah Horrocks does a great job with the colors and pencils of “Cover B” for this issue. The Ice King and Gunter are nearly lost in twisted Escher like maze of columns.

A simple cover by Cliff Chang for Wonder Woman 24 gets more and more interesting the longer you look at it. The little details come out and scare the hell out of you. Yes true bot-lievers, Wonder Woman has joined the pantheon of Gods.

The last one of my cover picks that uses geometrical shapes to catch the eye is Hawkeye 13. As usual, Hollingsworth reminds us that this books coloring is half of its charm. David Aja’s honeycomb panels to show us targets bull’s-eye’s and Clint Barton is chosen this week because Matt Hollingsworth’s coloring puts this cover on another level.

Fables #134 by Buckingham gets my last cover choice this week. I love the blue coloring against grey’s and whites. The wolves orange eye stands out as a similar point of focus as the horn.

Included at the end is a bonus I just had to add. So, I guess this week, 5 and 3 is more of a 5 and 4, but, who would complain about more comics or more art?

This Hawkeye series by Fraction, given visual life by Aja, is great. Jessica Drew is absolutely sexy because of how independent and powerful she is. You can feel the tension in these panels as she makes it clear to Barton that she doesn’t need him to protect her. The flip of the hair, the twist in the air and the confident turn of the back to walk away from Hawkeye and Black Widow was a moment readers (as well as Clint) will not soon forget.

Thief of Thieves 17 continues to please anyone who likes heists and Robert Kirkman. I always imagine George Clooney as Danny Ocean as Redmond. In these panels though, we’re reminded this book is about violence and art theft.

In honor of Anime Banzai this week in Layton, Utah, I picked Deadpool and Molly having a moment in Uncanny X-Men 13. These future Evil Brotherhood of Mutants aren’t very nice. This particular Deadpool isn’t very funny… unless you think gratuitous violence is something to laugh about.

Now, how about that bonus? In Indestructible Hulk Special #1 there is a full page splash of Hulk and puppy goodness. Not only is this cute and awesome, it’s an amazing example of Jacob Wyatt’s pencils and inks combined with colors from last week’s 5 and 3 MVP Jordie Bellaire. Who was this week’s MVP you might ask? Well, send me a tweet @MarkAvo and I’ll let you know.

Issue 18 of Valiant’s X-O Manowar is a direct lead up to next month’s Unity event. X-O Manowar is the book that launched the Valiant universe reboot. After a year and a half, the book is still going strong. With consistent pencils and coloring, this comic is a critical darling. The story, which jumps around in time, follows a Visigoth prince from 402 A.D. named Aric Dacia. His people are fighting for their survival against the Roman Legions when an alien race known as The Vine abducts him and many of his fellow Visigoth warriors. They’re kept as slaves whose purpose is to manage the Vine garden/birthing room on board a bio ship. Aric manages to revolt and successfully escapes his captors with the use of The Vine’s sacred living weapon known as the X-O Manowar armor. When Aric returns to Earth, the type of travel and space time results in his arriving 1,600 years after his birth in modern time.

The entire introductory story happens in the first few issues of X-O Manowar. Where the story is at now, Aric has had run in’s with the modern Earth military and many of the other characters in the Valiant universe. Now the world’s militaries are after the armor and Aric’s heroism has resulted in him being king of Vine slaves rescued from the Vine home world.

With political interests and greed for the alien armor, Russia sends Special Forces to the new kingdom. Their mission is to do anything possible to obtain the X-O Manowar armor, and to kill Aric’s people. The action is as high as the tension in this book. Many of Aric’s people, although grateful for rescue, are unhappy with the new King. The Russians use a submarine as a diversion to draw the man and his armor away from protecting his people. This is what he has feared and what his people have complained about. There is a possibility of asking America for protection but Aric refuses. He does not want to abandon his land in modern Romania or his people. Near the end of the book, Harada, a powerful psychic from the Valiant book Harbinger makes an interesting appearance that is sure to be connected to Unity.

Robert Venditti weaves an interesting action story with a grand historical perspective. Venditti has been the writer of this comic since the beginning. This issue is given its cinematic feel by Lee Garbett and colorist Moose Baumann. Garbett’s resume spans DC and Marvel books but he’s probably best known for Dark Mists or his work on several Batman titles. He was just announced as the penciler for the upcoming Marvel Now! Book Loki: Agent of Asgard.

Valiant is proving their mettle month by month, and this book is no exception. Based purely on this story as a lead in, Unity should be a terrific comic event. There are preview pages after the solicit that will give you a good idea of what this book looks like. Please let me know what you think of the preview pages in the comments or via Twitter @MarkAvo. Whether you’re a Valiant fan like I am or not, I’d love to hear from you.

Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Lee Garbett
Cover Artist: Clayton Crain
Valiant 8-Bit Level Two Variant Cover: Donovan Santiago
Publication Date: October 16, 2013
Price & Page Count: $3.99/T+/32 pgs.

Making religion the subject of a comic book – or any medium, really – is never an easy thing. As a creator you have a right to tell your story the way you want it to be told, but as with any sensitive subject, you have to keep in mind who your target audience is and how they’ll react to your world. It’s unfortunate then, whether they feel misrepresented as a group, or that a part of society is being romanticized that shouldn’t even be mentioned out in the open, it’s almost inevitable that someone will get offended. There just isn’t much you can do about it. 

But, even though the word “Atheists” is right on the cover of the first issue of “S.H.O.O.T. First,” I don’t really think this is the place to spark a religious debate. All of my views concerning that aspect of the comic will be contained in the following paragraph. If you want to skip over it, my review of the comic as a comic book starts right after that. 

You really have two ways to go with a tag line like “Angels vs Atheists,” don’t you? Either treat it as a gimmick to attract readers, or use it as a catalyst to explore a deeper meaning that relates back to society as a whole. “S.H.O.O.T First” – at least the first issue – chose to be gimmicky. A dedicated group of non-believers use tools and knowledge that only they possess to battle religious symbols/creatures, save mankind, and prevent the end of the world. Doesn’t that description sound a little like a religion in itself? As I read through the issue, some questions stuck in my mind: How can you not believe in a God when you’re battling Angels? How do you, as a member of this elite team of demon hunters, balance non-belief when “proof” is staring at you right in the face? Are they not real angels or demons? Is there another, more scientific explanation? Are religions causing damage to mankind now? I knew the comic had fallen to gimmick level when one of the main characters asks those same questions, and everyone else in the story ignores him.  They’re way more concerned with showing off the technology they possess than tackling a very controversial issue. It feels like a waste to gloss over such a key point in the first issue, which should be trying to draw me in as much as possible so I grab the second when it gets here. That needs to be addressed upfront in order for me to enjoy the fight scenes and banter, otherwise I can’t suspended my disbelief. 

The first issue itself is a pretty standard sci-fi affair; a group of highly trained professionals are called in to deal with a catastrophic situation. One regular Joe is on the scene to save the day and be recruited, thereby providing a reasonable pipeline to explain everything about the world of the story to the reader. 

When it comes down to it, “S.H.O.O.T. First” is packed with summer blockbuster style fun…but that’s all it is right now. The characters have little depth outside of their weirdly non-stereotypical stereotypes, and over half of the issue is a fight scene where the majority of the vocabulary they use hasn’t even been defined yet. It’s pretty to look at, and might even be good for a laugh or two, but there’s no reason to linger in these pages. 

If I sound overly harsh, it’s only because I wanted so badly for this comic to be good. The subject matter is so perfect. It could be a great analogy about what it’s like to be Atheist in a very God-centered world. Instead, they chose to focus more on shooting things and secret underground bases. That’s fine, but I sincerely hope it finds more depth in future issues.

“S.H.O.O.T. First” was created by Justin Aclin and Nicolás Daniel Selma, and will be available on October 16th.

Jordie Bellaire is my MVP of 5 and 3 this week. Her colors made this week’s list twice and met the artists pencils and inks turn into a visual feast in each book he worked on. Deadpool 18’s sad ending made me forget the funny moments but not that Posehn and Duggan are serious comic writers.

I love candy. I love James Bond. I love Adventure Time.

Jordie Bellaire makes another appearance for Manhattan Projects 15. It’s another take on the cover to Manhattan Projects #10. The covers for this book have been simple but are reflective of the mood or story inside each issue.

I haven’t read Mars Attacks Judge Dredd but I’ve loved Al Ewing’s Mighty Avengers and Peter Panzerfaust. That’s not why this cover made the list this week though, it’s because it is so much fun! I’d love to answer the door on the 31^st to see this guy ask, “Trick or Treat”?

Francesco Francavilla is killing it on covers, not to mention the art inside of the books. Just off the top of my head I can think of his art on 7 covers in the last 4 weeks. His cover of Avengers Arena #16 is a runner up for 5 & 3 this week. You should read Afterlife with Archie regardless of whether you think Archie isn’t your genre. Francavilla’s styel is perfect for a zombie book and will get you in the mood for the Halloween season. More great news for fans of his is that he’ll be doing the art for Guardians of the Galaxy 8 which is due the end of this month.

In panels this week, I picked some big guns. I did it because these books were spectacular. Starting with Star Wars #10, Wood makes me nostalgic for the Vader in Episode IV and V. The tone of this panel sends chills down my spine.

Greg Capullo shows us what the first Bat Suit looked like in the latest issue of Scott Snyder’s Zero Year opus. I think his work on Batman has cemented Capullo as a hall-of-fame artist in comics. He’s always had the talent but Batman is getting him recognition for his work outside of the comic fan world. Every time I read a Snyder & Capullo Batman issue I know I’m reading a future classic. The other thing that’s great with Zero Year is Bruce Wayne. He’s not quite Peter Parker, but when was the last time you saw The Caped Crusader talk trash to the turkey’s he is punching in the turkey neck?

The final moment of the week is right before the pay off. Thor isn’t playing around with these Builders. If you’re not reading Jonathan Hickman’s Infinity event from Marvel you’re doing yourself a disservice. There are moments in it, like this one, that will have you fist pumping.

That’s all I have for this week. Tell me in the comments what your 5 and 3 were. If you’ve got some suggestions for next week, tweet them to me before Thursday night @MarkAvo. Until then, if you need me, I’ll be on the lookout for the Bot signal.