Starbolts #765: Chasing the Funk

 Hail!

    Even in the Delta Quadrant our heroes can't catch a break! It turns out that the ship that was following the Aquito was a Jaleen ship,. The Jaleen are a bunch of bounty hunters. I know I said I'd reveal them. However, I think it's best to keep their identities a secret for now. We may actually see them next week. I'm just building up the tension and trust me the payoff will be pretty sweet. All I can tell you is that for some reason they wanted to take Tanis and that magic allowed the kidnappers to penetrate the ship's shields and take our blue haired friend.

    The Jaleen seem to roam the quadrant in a sphere-shaped ship. Who knows where their allegiances lie. Someone clearly hates the Funkeezi and hired them to destroy anyone in their path. There are so many questions. Why were they so close to Demonsk? What is their deal? I'll explore their story in the comics to come. Right now I think Crystal is gonna have her hands full taking care of Heidi. 

    Here's hoping they find Tanis soon! It's probably a good thing she and Tanis weren't doing what everyone assumed they were doing. See Starbolts #716 for instance. Special thanks go out to my friend and fellow Wikitreer Jenn for Marcus's line. "Stop the ****ing!" We say that every time we encounter a family with a ton of kids. How many, you say? I think 15 to 16 qualifies.

See ya next time!  

Starbolts #764: The Stowaway

 Hail!

    This week, I'm introducing the first alien race our heroes have encountered in the Delta Quadrant! They are the Funkeezi and they are pretty much inspired by the classic Sega Genesis game "Toejam and Earl".  I played that game and its sequels a lot growing up and I figured now would be a great time to create a race similar to Toejam. There are some key differences, though. I don't think they'll be all about funk or anything. We'll learn more about them soon enough. I just thought it'd be a cool idea to create a three legged race. I will admit that creating Toejani's sprites was a little difficult. At least I got the basics down!

    It also looks like the strange ship that's been following our heroes is after Toejani. We'll see them next week. I haven't decided on a look for them. That's why it's "Audio only". I haven't really made up my mind for how I want the second Delta Quadrant race to look. Needless to say this area of space doesn't have as many generic humanoid shaped bodies as the Alpha Quadrant does. Creating a look for the new aliens is going to be a challenge. But, it'll be worth it.

    Now then. Is Toejani really a criminal? We shall see. We'll also see our new alien friends next week too. Medea also has Toejani's padd. Perhaps that'll hold the key to figuring out who or what Toejani really is!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #763: Minor Observations

 Hail!

    A lot of things are happening in this week's comic! First off we have someone or something aboard the ship. It remains to be seen if whoever this intruder is is friendly or not. Could it be a friend who will guide our heroes through the Delta Quadrant? Or is he a foe? I think if he was a foe he would have made his intentions known. It's clear that his race has some sort of cloaking device AND that they can mask themselves from telepaths. They seem to be the perfect spies. The question is...how did he get aboard the ship? Well, he could have gotten on board at the starport. That's the most likely option. He may have been hiding on that ship for a long time and watched as the Demonei made their repairs. His story will be revealed in the coming weeks.

     The next major thing to happen this week is the revelation that Tanis is finally over Shenra. It didn't take much. I think he got the hint a long time ago. Now he wants to move on with Heidi and Lucy. I just hope Shenra isn't too jealous. She might be. It remains to be seen. She likely isn't jealous and more just annoyed that Tanis isn't discreet. Here's hoping it's the latter! See ya next week as we find out more about our very curious alien friend.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #762: Into the Delta Quadrant

 Hail!

    And off they go on another adventure into space! I was originally going to have a small group on this expedition. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it made more sense to include all of the Starbolts. So, everyone is aboard the ship and not just the crew Tanis picked for this mission. This means that somewhere in a lab Carter is stewing about being put on this mission. If you recall, the two Starbolts do not get along very well. The teen Starbolts are home for this one at least. They'll be taking care of stuff on Earth while the dozen or so Starbolts and Medea are looking for the Faeori.

    Speaking of the Faeori, who knows what kind of state they'll be in once they find them. I'm sure everything will be just fine. However, there may be obstacles for our heroes along this journey. They may encounter many things out there in the Delta Quadrant. At least they aren't lost. They have the Centurion Corps as backup should the need arise. 

    I did want to include an interesting bit about first contact between the Aquans and the Leonids. Those cats are very particular like cats in the real world. It could have gone so wrong and at least it all worked out in the end. 

    It's a shame Heidi and Tanis's girlfriend Lucy isn't joining them. But, I suspect she has some training to do before she can join her friends on any space adventures.

    Here's to another year of Starbolts adventures! We'll see what 2026 will bring our heroes.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #761: New Year, New Starbolts

 Hail!

     Another year has come and gone and now it's time to wrap up the events of the comic in the past year. As you can see it's heavily focused on Tanis and Heidi. They pretty much had the spotlight in 2025 and it looks like it may continue for a while in 2026. It just depends on how long it takes to find his people and what will happen once he finds them. 

    At least we have some non Tanis related things in the works for 2026. We have Carter talking about the Redemption Project. The Redemption Project will involve former members of Terra Nova's Legion. Several members are on the road to redemption. Will they become good guys or will they be like Marvel's "Thunderbolts"?  I'm gonna go with the latter. The team consists of some heavy hitters. We have Granite, Valentine, Spectra Syntax and Punchline on the team. They have an opportunity to do some good in the world.

    Don't worry, though! Not ALL of the baddies can be redeemed or will want to redeem themselves. I just picked the ones who I think can be redeemed and be useful allies to the Starbolts. Will they be invited to company softball games? That's a different story. I think they'll be just fine. I will be introducing new baddies of course. What good are heroes if there aren't supervillains to battle? There'll be baddies lurking in the darkness. Just not associated with Terra  Nova. That's the whole reason why Carter and Valentine are involved. More on that at a later date.

   We still have Tanis's people to find. That should be a fun arc and I hope everyone enjoys it! See ya in 2026! 

Starbolts #760: Christmas at the Vault

 Hail!

   Happy holidays from the Starbolts! This year, I thought I'd do things a little differently and have the spotlight be on the villains at the Vault. As you can tell it is an unusual prison. For starters both men and women are inmates at the same facility. They're also free to move about a heavily guarded living area. A prison for metahumans is bound to be different from a normal prison. The use of their powers is extremely limited as well since Jack Lantern, a plant controlling metahuman, could only generate a small Christmas tree. It's not that impressive.

    I turned the spotlight on Spectra since we don't really know much about her other than the fact that she was transformed into a light being by her father, Dreadwing. He was also responsible for transforming Granite over and over again until he was freed a while ago. 

    I was originally going to take this comic down a different path and have her be with Tom. I decided not to since Tom appeared sympathetic in the early draft of the comic and I didn't want that. Tom is beyond redemption and help at this point. He is likely never going to be freed given what he and the others have done.

    Spectra on the other hand is on her way to freedom. Using what she knows, she could add onto her father's sentence. Tom could have stopped her from talking. However, I think he was still perplexed by the idea of Spectra and Granite being together since Granite is a rock monster. 

    I like to think it was Carter's idea to help free Spectra and Valentina supported her efforts. They were both controlled by Terra Nova at one point and now the two are working to help free former members of the Legion who deserve to have their freedom. So far they've freed Simon, Syntax and Granite. Spectra is now the fifth member of that team to potentially be free.

    Will it happen? Will Spectra be free? It's a possibility. This week's comic sets up an arc I want to do down the road once I finish with Tanis's arc. Several former villains are getting their redemption arcs. It's not an unheard of thing in comics. However, I am going to have to make new villains since several of them are turning over a new leaf. I highly doubt any more members of the Legion will be freed. I'm just freeing the ones who deserve it the most and Spectra has been an unwilling participant in many of their misdeeds.

    Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a fantastic new year! We'll be sure to visit Spectra again very soon. Like...perhaps in the New Year's comic? That is the comic where I recap stuff that happened in the last year and introduce new arcs. 

I do think it's funny that I have three holidays represented this week. A ghost normally seen in Halloween comics, Santa and a woman who calls herself Valentine. Crazy. Hmm...would Jack Lantern count as an Arbor Day reference? Hmmm....

 See ya next time!  

Starbolts #759: The Rise of the Aquito

 Hail!

    Back in Starbolts #197 , the Aquito was unceremoniously destroyed when Tanis initiated an overload of the ship's engines. The Starbolts never blamed him for his misdeeds. He had just turned into "The Superior Dragonfly" and was under his father's control. M'anta had to use his enhanced telepathic abilities to snap him out of it once he confronted his former teammate. He swore to Jenna that he'd never use his powers like that. He unfortunately had to made an exception in this case since Tanis wasn't listening to reason.

    Now, it looks like the Aquito is back and our heroes can consider this an early Christmas present. This isn't this year's Christmas comic, by the way. That will be next week's comic! This week saw the return of a very old friend. 

    When we come back from the Christmas and New Years' comics we'll see what changes have been made. I last made backgrounds for the Aquito in 2013. Things have definitely changed art-wise since then. The halls and stuff will look more modern in terms of style. Even the bridge may be different now. The outside is the same. However, she may be a completely new ship on the inside.

    In other news, it looks like Crystal and Marcus's honeymoon was cut short. Carter offered to be Lady Liberty. I'm sure that'll go well with the public! For this adventure, I think Heidi will be the voice of the audience. There's gonna be some crazy stuff going on in the Delta quadrant. Will Tanis and co find the Faeori? I hope so! 

    At least the Aquito is back and now the Starbolts have another ship in their fleet. It'll just take some time to get them back home from there. I'm sure they'll manage somehow!

See ya next time!