Starbolts #746: A Friend in Need

 Hail! 

    Did anyone really think that there was going to be a smooth ride to Crystal and Marcus's wedding? Have you been reading the comic long? Don't worry. This little side quest isn't going to take too long because I want to have some mother/daughter stuff in the comic before the big day. We might even see the pools of No-Mat once Tanis, Heidi and Lucy had left, that is. I uhh... don't think they want to be interrupted. 

    Kyodon seems to be quite remorseful over what happened a while back. Elisabeth King summoned her to Earth and she caused a fair bit of destruction. Of course, she was used to destroy things earlier when dark avatars had her cause trouble, too. For her whole existence Kyodon was used to destroy and you can't blame her for wanting the destruction to end. So, she's seeking out the one thing that allows her to be controlled--the psionic resonator. If it's destroyed, she can truly be free. Here's hoping our heroes can find the item they need! 

    Crystal and Marcus are the first mortal Terrans to be in Et-tria, the home of the Aquan gods and goddesses. I'm not sure how the Aquan pantheon will take to this trespassing but we can only hope that they don't react like the Greco-Roman gods do. That wouldn't be good. If anything, they might be like the Norse gods and invite them to dinner with the honored dead. Stranger things have happened in this comic. We shall see where Xazes, the Aquan god of justice take them. It should be noted that Shrall is Xazes avatar. That's why Marcus name-dropped him. 

Let's hope the Aquan gods see the wisdom in what Marcus and Aquita are trying to do so they can get back to wedding stuff!

See ya next time! 

     

Starbolts #745: Facing the Dragon

 

Hail!

    That was one way to stop the sliver of Demonstorm and Zarantha from taking over Marcus and Crystal's bodies. Unfortunately, the entities seemed to have done some damage in the holodeck. It's a good thing they were there and not at their apartment. I don't think the building needed another hole or two. A possessed Crystal and Marcus could do a lot of damage and it's a good thing our heroes were on hand to stop their friends from doing something dangerous.

    It seems that the Order of Korun detected the slivers in Marcus and Crystal when they were at the academy back in Starbolts #729.  That prompted them to send Vasha in to see if they were okay. The shards were removed and now everyone is happy. Very happy in Crystal's case.

    I'm not one hundred percent sure what new feeling she has. I think I'll explore it once she's on Aquarius. I'm not going to drop it or anything. It should be important to her character development and overall arc. She's a character who has had a lot of trouble in her past and Marcus has always been there to help. That's what drew her to him. That and his unfailing ability to be a gentleman. He's never been one to take advantage of anyone. But, if things were different who knows what would've happened.

    At least the two of them know not to dwell on "What ifs". A bright future lays a ahead of them. Our heroes will be married in five comics. It should be a great celebration! Let's hope there's no drama on Aquarius. 

See ya next time! 

Oh and I do like how I called out the cliche of being woken up by a kiss. It's lame but there was really no other way to defeat that thing. If Marcus fought it, he'd hurt Crystal. So, in order to defeat it, you needed to do something else. It was a risk and it worked out well for those two! 

    

Starbolts #744: More Matrimonial Mayhem

 Hail!

   It seems Medea's routine checkup took a decidedly unexpected turn! Remnants of Zarantha and Demonstorm fused together to create an entity who looks like he should be headlining a show on the Las Vegas strip! How are our heroes going to get out of this one? 

    I think we should back up and take a look at how we got here first. Crystal and Marcus were both tainted by Demonstorm and had been trying to bond for quite some time.The entity inside Marcus tried to block the bonding process until it saw a way to corrupt Crystal. It allowed the bonding to proceed and a creature that is half Demonstorm and half Zarantha was created. That just about sums it up.

    Marcus and Crystal are going to have to come up with a way to stop the creature from entering the real world and they can't do that through physical means. The only alternative is to look for another solution and they have one coming to do it! Can it be done? I'm the writer. Of course it can be done!

    In other news, Medea has made it clear that she wants to stay on Earth. This makes sense considering her son is on Earth. She has nothing waiting for her on Demonsk. So, what would be the point of her going back there? I suppose you could say she has her boytoy Taurol on Demonsk. That's the thing. Umm....Taurol literally is a boytoy. He's not real. She can conjure up  new Taurol on Earth. It could be argued that she could start looking for her people there. We'll see. Finding the Faeori is going to be the next storyline after the wedding.

    The soon to be newlyweds certainly have their hands full. Let's face it. It was never going to be an easy ride to the wedding day. They're superheroes. When have things ever been easy? At least we're getting a good look at what makes these two characters tick. They compliment each other and next week we're going to see just how well that works.

See ya next time! 

      

Starbolts #743: Matrimonial Mayhem

 Hail! 

    This week's comic started off simple enough. I was going to have Vasha evaluate the two for their wedding. Things changed at the last minute during the scripting process. I decided to instead change gears and have Medea come in to see if Crystal and Marcus were cured of their bouts with the forces of magical evil.

    Way back in Starbolts #372, Crystal was touched by Zarantha's dark magic and had to be cured of her influence by the Green Monster. The Green Monster was this elder creature who lived in the sewers of Boston. Purging Zarantha's influence from Crystal was an important step as it laid the foundation for what came later. Not long after that adventure, it was revealed that she and her sister were void witches. Zarantha saw Crystal's magical potential and tried to exploit it. She also tried to "eat" her, too. That part of the story was revealed in later in Starbolts #693. 

    Marcus had his own problems. In Sttarbolts #582, Medea helped him purge himself of Demonstorm's possession when he went into the wrong room of a castle and was zapped by Demonstorm. No one blamed him for what happened because it would've happened to anyone anywhere. Marcus needed help and his ex-wife was more than happy to lend a hand. 

    That brings us to today. Two weeks before their wedding, the two are going to have a checkup of sorts to see if everything's still good. Crystal has been using powerful void magic spells lately and Marcus just needed a general checkup to see if everything was all good. I doubt the checkup will last long as I intend to have the team leave for Aquarius by #745. This is one of the advantages to having Medea administering the checkup.

    Speaking of checkups, it looks like Heidi and Tanis's girlfriend Lucy might be the new nurse. I'm trying not to make any Animaniacs references even if Lucy is also blonde like Hello Nurse is from that show. 

    As for Marcus and Crystal, we'll see what happens with the two next week as they go through a sort of couples' counseling with Medea as the mediator. Things are going to be interesting when Medea is your therapist.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #742: Every Ending is a New Beginning

 Hail! 

    As one door closes, another opens. This week we say goodbye to Roger Stevens, the second man to hold the mantle of Iron Eagle. I can't say I'm sad to see him go. Lately, his appearances in the comic have been less than heroic. It's hard to believe he was once a celebrated superhero. Now his reputation is in the tubes and it's up to Jack, the current Iron Eagle, to clean up the mess he left behind. Jack has a huge mess to clean up.

    I do like how we have an insight into the Whitefox kids' personalities when they were asking their mother all those questions. Crystal would be concerned as she has the highest emotional IQ. Carter has the highest IQ and Jack just wants to make sure Stevens didn't try anything. 

    Stevens might return some day. I'm not sure when. We're going to have to take a trip to the Vault at some point and see what it's all about. We know it's a prison for metahumans and so far two people have been sent there. Those being Tornado and Stevens. The bulk of the Legion are there as well including Jack's former best friend, Snake. The joint definitely has its fair share of inmates and there's bound to be more of them in the near future. I don't know if Lancer would be among them. No, I think he went to a special wizard prison.

    Now we get a chance to focus on much more happier times. We have a wedding in two weeks to go to. Well, two weeks in the comic. I plan on having the wedding in Starrbolts #750 and that'll be in September. We just entered August and I'll be sure to have plenty of good stuff coming your way until then!

    Marcus going ahead and working on wedding stuff as a surprise for Crystal was probably a good idea because she would have been stressed out. Now, the happy couple can focus on the trip to Aquarius, the guest list and a few other odds and ends. 

    It should be obvious that Crystal would want to keep her last name. She just got it back when it was revealed she was a Whitefox. I don't think she'll change it any time soon. Even Carter hasn't completely changed her name. She's Doctor Carter Odanta-Whitefox. Once the Whitefox ladies learned who they really were, they were hellbent on keeping those names.

    Anyway, next week we'll be heading to Aquarius. It's been a while since we've been into space. So, let's board the ship and head for the destination wedding. I think this is one destination wedding everyone would want to go on. I mean it's at an alien planet! Who wouldn't want to go there?!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #741: Tanis's Big Date

 Hail!

    As usual it looks like Tanis was worried about nothing. Heidi was never going to break up with Tanis. Instead, she wanted him and Lucy to be involved with her. How will they make it work? That's to be determined. I think it was clear that Lucy wanted Tanis since the moment she met him. I don't know if I'd call it love at first sight. However, there was a spark there and now the three of them look like they're going to try and make it work.

    It's a shame Heidi's parents are a wee bit bigoted. I wasn't about to show that argument. We likely won't be seeing the Monroes again unless it's absolutely necessary. And it likely won't be. Then again Heidi has a teenage brother. He might be a metahuman as well! Won't that be a shock to the parents? I could make him a meta. It would just depend on what kind of power I want to give the kid. If he is one, I wonder if it'd be enough to turn her parents around. That might be wishful thinking on my park. Perhaps they'll change their minds. 

    For now, it looks like Heidi, Tanis and Lucy are involved and this might play into whatever Medea is planning. If they can't find their people, what other course of action could they have to bring them back? I don't want to say it's like Marshall or Lancer's breeding initiative. But, this might have a greater purpose than that. Tanis is the only known male Faeori. He's going to have to do something about his species and I don't think Shenra will be helping him. Yes. Shenra is also Faeori. She just doesn't know it. I'll probably be revealing that in this arc to her.  

   That reminds me. Soon we will be following Crystal and Marcus to Aquarius for their wedding. There's likely going to be shenanigans before the big day.  What superhero story doesn't have drama in some form. It has been a while since we've visited Aquarius. So, we're going to check things out there as the Starbolts head there for a wedding next comic.

    I'm sure Tanis will be invited. Heidi and Lucy can be his plus one. Err....plus two. Marcus and Crystal better send those invitations out before someone gets involved with any other people.

See ya next time!

Oh and as for program thirty? Well, what happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck! 

Starbolts #740: A Perfect World

 Hail!

    Another day has been saved thanks to the Starbolts. They put an end to Lancer's bid to create a breeding program pretty effectively. You might be wondering what will happen to Jared Lancer next. I'll be going over that in future comics. Right now it's time to savor the team's hard earned victory. They had been fighting Cyclone for a long time and they nipped it in the bud before it got too crazy. That's being proactive. There might be other criminal organizations out there. I think the 'Bolts got lucky dealing with someone who was just so incredibly inept. They might not be lucky next time.

    I did have to draw a parallel with Clive's actions. The guys had similar beliefs in eugenics and everything. I'm pretty sure they'll be sharing a prison cell. Assuming Lancer will be going to a normal prison. He likely won't be given his magical nature and everything. No, I'm sure the Order of Korun will have something to say on this matter. Their punishment might be more severe than anything  

    Meanwhile, it looks like Heidi and Lucy are certainly ummm...friendly with each other. More on that next comic. If those two get back together, who knows what it will mean for Tanis. He is still in love with Heidi and we can only hope that he isn't the jealous type. More on that drama next comic. I know I left some dangling plotlines with this arc. They'll be resolved in time for a wedding in Starbolts #750!

See ya next time!