Starbolts #797: Into the Mantaverse

 Hail!

    Wow! While learning about the reality he landed in, the teenage version of M'anta has come face to face with his adult counterpart! I'm sure our M'anta and his young friend will have a lot to talk about next week about their current situation. The cause of all the problems in the last few comics are right here in this week's comic. If you guess it right, you'll get a cookie! =D I personally think it's obvious. Who else would be responsible for this mess? It's clearly H.P. Gladstone. Biggest file on record and a huge axe to grind. Yep. It's totally him. Or Robkas. ;)

    Nah. I won't reveal who it is here. That revelation will come next week. What I can reveal is that the comic's reality is Earth 2008. 2008 is the year the comic started. Earth 1996 is a reference to the year I started doing the prose comic. It makes sense since those are the years I started each story. 

    I do have to admit M'anta's reaction to our Crystal was a little funny because prose Crystal was a different character entirely. She wasn't a Whitefox. She had crystalline claws (Sound familiar?) , had a southern accent and her outfits were skimpier than even Emma Frost's X-Men costumes. She was pretty out there and when it came time to introduce her to the comic, I decided to tone her down, give her a better costume and even a better backstory. See what happens when you flesh out a character? It is kind of funny that Marcus wants to see the costume. He'd better be careful what he wishes for. Carter's reaction, of course, is priceless!

    Anyway, let's hope teen Manta gets along with his younger self from Earth 1996. I think they will. They have no reason to fight or anything. Let's just hope they can solve this problem. 

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #796: M'anta '96

 Hail!

    Well, it looks like M'anta here isn't just from an alternate reality. He's from the past as well. In his reality, his father's assassination hasn't occurred yet and won't happen for another few years. This is M'anta as he appeared in my very first story from way back in 1996. Granted, I did take a few liberties here and there. I'm allowed to do that, aren't I? Sure, I am!

    The only liberty I took was regarding Carter. Carter didn't come along in the prose version of the story until the early 2000s when I was writing the story with my friend, Sam. Carter was also called Sara Edwards back then and she had a British accent. She went through several retcons before becoming the lovable raven-haired witch we know today. If young M'anta thought the images he saw in Carter's head were shocking, just wait until he meets this universe's Crystal. Let's hope he doesn't fly off when he meets her.

    Anyway, we have some glimpses into what the reality M'anta came from is like. Aquarius became a desert thanks to the Mosqukatrara. The Agents took the J'arrstis in and made them superheroes. There's more, of course. But as you can see several things never made it into the comic. For starters, I rather like keeping Aquarius a blue, watery world. I think the Aquans would agree. It gets better. The Aquans refugees created a city in the Pacific Ocean once Sirak made his race known to the people of Earth. I forget if I ever restored that version of Aquarius. I might have.

    Sirak is eventually born to Mateo and Aquita in the other reality and Aquita's father did die by Terra Nova's hand in the prose story. Some things are just a constant in the multiverse. King Sirak is always assassinated in every reality. Look on the bright side. At least the couples always exist in every reality!  

    It was probably a smart move on the Starbolts part by having Aquita meet with a younger version of her brother. I can't imagine anyone else being on hand to help except maybe Shrall.

    Now we know where our M'anta is. Will he be meeting his alternate self? Possibly. I don't see why not. More fun times are sure to be had as we march toward Starbolts #800.  I have a feeling our young hero is going to get himself into some trouble before that comic. Stay tuned!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #795: Home Again

 Hail!

    Wow. I'll say this. There's never a dull moment for this crew. Just when they thought they could relax for a while another adventure begins! I think at this point the Starbolts just call it "Tuesday". At least an alternate version of Manta shouldn't be too much of a problem, right? Right? I mean he doesn't seem to have a goatee or anything. That's usually a bad sign when you're dealing with an alternate reality version of someone.

    This technically isn't the first time the Starbolts had to deal with an alternate reality. Back n Starbolts #167-200 the team had to survive a universe full of dark versions of themselves. The jury's still out on whether or not that was a proper alternate reality because it was created by Demonstorm. Demonstorm wanted to make a reality where he was the hero and the Starbolts were the villains.The villain is also a great magician so he could have easily cast an illusion and made it seem like everyone was in an alternate reality when they were really just on Demonsk.

    Here we have a proper alternate reality version of M'anta. Where does he come from? Well, I'll tell you. Not only is the Starbolts' landmark 800th comic coming soon. This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Starbolts in general! I've been writing the series since 1996 and the story was in prose from until 2008 when I started the webcomic. M'anta here is from the prose version of my story as we'll see next comic. The prose version of the Starbolts is vastly different from the one in the comic today. Case in point. M'anta recognizes Carter but calls her "Sara" and wonders why her hair is black. There are small changes like that from the original story and bigger changes too.

    The Starbolts have been through a lot of changes in thirty years. I'll have to look at the old stories to see just how M'anta would react to all the changes I made since then and wow there are a lot. Let's hope he reacts to everything in a good way. But chances are he'd freak out a little. This version of M'anta is still a teenager. He might be taken aback by all the changes.

    Elsewhere in the comic we have an important daddy/daughter talk between Crystal and her father. Crystal is finally becoming the woman she was meant to be. I do hope she runs into alternate M'anta because prose Crystal was a completely different person. She never had any abuse and was not a Whitefox. She was also a bit umm....promiscuous.  When I introduced her into the comic, my friend and beta reader Mark wisely told me to tone down her promiscuous behavior. She was also an Arronfeld by blood, too. Comic Crystal, as you know, would not like that. There are other changes here and there that made things different from the comic and we'll be exploring them as the story celebrates its thirtieth year and as we march on toward Starbolts #800.

    As for Tanis and his girlfriends? I think that scene speaks for itself. Heidi reunited with Lucy and she told him about the bonding and now Lucy wants the same thing. Makes sense. She doesn't want to feel left out of the bonding. It should be noted, again, that you don't have to bond via sex as Whitefox explained in the comic this week. There are other ways to do it. Sex just hurries it along, I suppose. At least the three of them are happy! Will Tanis run into the alternate version of M'anta? Maybe. There was never a prose Tanis. So that would be an interesting encounter. Very interesting, indeed.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #794: Facing Reality

 Hail!

    Today, we bid farewell to Shenra. Shenra, for those who don't know, was introduced way back in Starbolts #437 when she was pitted against Tanis and forced to fight the Starbolts. Terra Nova had captured her and spent a few years brainwashing her into helping them with their fight against our heroes. She eventually broke free and joined King Shrall's superteam, Xemplara, for a while. Eventually, she joined up with our heroes when they went on their quest to find the Faeori. Now that she found them ,and fell in love with one of the locals,  she decided to stay with them while they rebuild their society after dealing with a magic-eating dragon for a few decades.

    This isn't goodbye. We'll be seeing her, Toejani and the rest of the inhabitants of the Delta Quadrant sooner or later. Space may be big but as long as Firaxil can make nifty stargates like that the distances will be a lot shorter. We'll be seeing our new friends again just like we'll be seeing our new enemies again. New characters don't just get pushed aside...unless they really need to meet a grisly fate. Remember that witch that fell down the well? I don't think we'll be hearing from her any time soon.

    This week's title naturally refers to the reality of Shenra's situation. Does she have second thoughts about leaving everyone behind in the Alpha Quadrant? Any regrets? She did have a dangling loose end with Tanis to take care of. At least that has been resolved. She clearly made up her mind and now she can focus her energy on Andora. All the Starbolts can do is wish her luck in the future.

    At least our heroes are in a good place as they return home. Starbolts #800 is just around the corner and now we can focus on a few other odds and ends. We may cover some plot threads in the mean time. Starbolts #800 will be a big one for sure. I won't give anything away in the mean time. I just hope you all enjoy the ride!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #793: The Great Reconnection

 Hail!

    I wonder if I should have put a warning at the top of this week's comic. A fourth of it has some nudity. Eh, it's okay. There's some strategically placed word balloons and blurs covering up Crystal's umm...large tracts of land. I always try to be mindful with the nudity in the comic. And in this case we knew it was coming. Marcus and Crystal had to bond again after losing their connection in Starbolts #789. Now they're back and maybe a little stronger than ever. I don't think those two will be deliberately trying to disconnect only to reconnect again any time soon. It should be noted that they don't have to bond through sex. It can be a catalyst.

    Picking Marcus over Tanis for the bedside conversation was easy. Marcus went through a tough time in the Cave of Sorrows and so it made sense for him to open up to Crystal here. We didn't see what Heidi went through and to be honest it may not have been as brutal as Marcus's struggle. I mean sure Heidi is bisexual and there's a number of topics I could have had her deal with. But we know Marcus and I wanted bring up something that was on my mind for a while.

    Marcus isn't like most Black people. He was born in an infirmary to two top tier superheroes. He was raised to be part of the next generation of Earth's heroes. He met and fell in love with a survivor of abuse and as luck would have it her parents turned out to be Stan and Andrea Whitefox who are friends with Marcus's parents. Speedy's had it all.  But it remains to be seen how he deals with everything when the Starbolts return to Earth. The next storyline is going to involve Crystal's book. It should be a good one!

    Meanwhile, the Faeori have a choice. They can either stay in the Delta Quadrant or return to Earth with Medea and Tanis. The choice is theirs to make now that Xarius is on the other side of the quadrant. I think Xarius may turn up again. You never know. We might even see her true "dragon" form some day. I'll definitely bring her back at some point. A dragon like her can hold a grudge for sure. She was draining the Faeori and now they're free. Where they go from here is anyone's guess. At least the day is saved thanks to the Starbolts.  We still have got a ways to go before Starbolts #800. Upward and onward!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #792: Face the Dragon

 Hail!

    I love having Jack and Carter team up. I should do it more often. They definitely have a good cop/bad cop dynamic. Though, based on some of Jack's actions he could be a "bad cop" sometimes. Still, they got the job done. Crystal and the others will have their magic back and all will be right with the world. That just leaves one small problem. What do we do with Xarius? Well, she could stand trial for her various crimes or they'll do something else to her entirely. I'd hate to waste a great villain. We'll see her and her son again some day. You never know. They COULD follow our heroes back to the Alpha quadrant.

    At least the magic has now been restored and we'll see the impact of Xarius "losing her lunch" next week. Marcus and Heidi will no doubt be happy that their respective partners are better again. Whether or not the bond is still there is to be determined. I think now they all know that they have to maintain the bond for a little while in order for it to stick.

    That just leaves the Faeori. There's quite a few of them on board the Aquito and poor Firaxil is trying to corral the lot of them. The question is do our heroes leave them on the moon or do they take them back to Earth. The possibilities are endless. Shenra is still going to stay with them no matter what. It's just a matter of WHERE they will all stay. I may show her next week. For now it seems the"dragon" has been stopped and we can continue our march to \Starbolts #800.

See you next time! 

Starbolts #791: The Magic Eating Dragon

 Hail!

 Wow. That is some mean magic eating dragon! I know she has angel wings but not all dragons need to have reptile-like wings. This story also takes place in the Delta Quadrant where the laws of nature as we know them do not apply. If that's a "dragon" then Toejani is a marsupial. Actually, for all we know Toejani's species could be like marsupials. You never know. Maybe the universal translator glitched and something was lost in translation? Who knows?

    At least the machine was destroyed and Medea, Crystal and Tanis will be on the mend. But now we have a mad dragon to contend with and since our heroes beamed up the Faeori for their safety you can bet that she will not be happy about this situation and be right on their tail! That dragon is not gonna be happy and we haven't seen the last of her. Stay tuned for dragon hijinks next time!

See ya then!