Starbolts #801: The Next Generation

 Hail!

    First off, this week's comic is dedicated to a friend of mine who passed away a few months ago. She was an avid fan of the comic and often provided me tips and guidance on a few stories. Denise was a great friend and I'll miss her a lot. She really loved the comic. Especially, Medea. For some reason she could never get enough of the lady she called "The Big M". I only wish she was able to see the story where she finally found her people. I also wonder what she would think of this upcoming arc. More on that in a bit.

    Denise was also a Wikitreer and helped me more than a few genealogical puzzles here and there. I'm definitely going to miss her. Rest in peace, Denise!

   As far as this week's comic goes, it looks like Medea is forming a crew of former Starbolts villains. Why? What purpose will it serve? And is Robkas at the end really on the up and up? These are all very good questions and I'll be sure to answer them as I always do. Though, it seems like Robkas's reason for joining may not have to do with heroics as much as getting back together with his girlfriend Dahlia. And, yes. Medea would steal her from him. Of course she would. She's Medea. That woman has no "off" button.

    I wanted to do an arc where the former villains I've gathered at the academy do something other than just hang around and have the odd cameo here and there. There has to be a reason for their being there. I'm thinking of making this crew something like a "West Coast Avengers" team or even the "Thunderbolts".    There's a good chance they may be a combination of both teams. And chances are very good that they'll be running into our heroes.

    Speaking of our heroes, it looks like baby Rose is doing just fine with her family around her. I admit there was a curve ball here calling the comic "The Next Generation". It wasn't necessarily going to be about the kids! Nope. We have a new group of heroes waiting in the wings. Will they be as successful as the Starbolts? Time will tell. All I know is that I'm gonna have to make some new villains. Oh and I would have used the other former Terra Nova villains for this group but I think Medea knows they're a bit too young. So she decided to run with the former Legion members instead. Makes sense when you think about it!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #800: Rose

 Hail!

    And baby makes three! Welcome to the 800th edition of the Starbolts! This comic was a long time coming. Not only is this year the thirtieth anniversary of my story. It's also the beginning of a new chapter for M'anta and Jenna. They were dating when the comic began and were married fairly early on if I recall. Now, they have a baby! Eagle-eyed readers will recall that was the name I gave the baby is the same name I gave one of the time traveling teenagers from the future.  For more on that adventure, check out Starbolts #462-#493!

    It looks like things are more or less syncing up with the time period they came from minus a few other details. Now there are three children of the Starbolts running around the academy. Sirak, the son of Aquita and Mateo was the first followed by Firaxil and Carter's daughter Dendra. Will there be a fourth? Probably. But not for a while.  Let's let the ladies rest for a bit, huh? Who would be next? It's hard to say. I haven't really decided on anything. 

    I did enjoy working on a few scenes this week. That journalist scene was fun to do. Imagine a Ms. Manners type like her coming across Crystal fresh off of a workout. She was pretty much speechless. Then it turns out she used to write for a tabloid. Let's hope she stays on the straight and narrow. 

    I do enjoy how Medea is making herself helpful. She helped Richard Dastara create a way to talk to the Faeori colony in the Delta Quadrant. More on her later. She definitely wants to be in on the "Starbolts Parents Club" as she calls it. I think they'll let her in. I mean she did save several members of the team and made amends for her own transgressions. Why not? Dare I say, why not?

    I also hinted at Crystal's upcoming book. More on that in future comics. We shall see what the future holds for our heroes. Thanks for reading and being part of this adventure! Here's to many more issues of the comic!

See you next time! 

     

 

Starbolts #799: The Two Professors

 Hail!

   You know, I don't think the Doctor even had days like this. Oh, sure he came across other versions of himself/herself throughout time and space. However, this version of the Professor was hellbent on destroying two nearly identical realities together in order to somehow bring back a lost companion named Sarah Jane. The Doctor suffered losses of companions too. I think it might have been too much for the Professor to handle and that's why he wanted to merge realities together. Poor guy needs a few regenerations to think about what happened and what Sarah Jane would have wanted.

     Now that each M'anta is back in their proper realities, it's time to get the show on the road. Jenna's baby is due and will be making an appearance in next week's comic. Next week's comic won't just celebrate the 800th edition of the comic, my friends. We will be celebrating the story's thirtieth year that week with callbacks to past adventures and who knows....maybe there'll be a guest star or two! 

    I really liked how that asteroid came out. I found the sprite online (A free one) and decided to dazzle it up a bit. I do wonder if the Professor knows about the group of dinosaurs who escaped their fate and made their way to the center of the galaxy. I'm sure he knows. He probably didn't want to tell the M'anta from Earth-1996. Spoilers and all that.

    Anyway, we have our 800th comic coming in hot and it's sure to be a good one!

See ya next time!    

Starbolts #798: The Case of the Two Mantas

 Hail!

    It certainly looks like things have taken a interesting turn this week. The Professor, a baddie last seen in Starbolts #478, is behind this latest multiversal mashup.  This time we seem to be dealing with two iterations of the same character. The one who nabbed the Mantas is wearing a fetching bowtie and the Professor who wants to merge Earth--1996 and Earth-2008 into one reality treats our heroes like action figures. We'll be seeing him next week for sure as we march toward Starbolts #800.

    Now we know what's at stake. It seems that the Professor's 9th incarnation wants to merge both realities into one because they are so similar and if you look at the panels with the two Starbolts teams, you can see what I mean. There are a few uniform changes and everything but there are some differences. The Earth-2008 Starbolts team has Tanis and Heidi on there. Earth-1996 doesn't. Earth-1996 is technically the past of Earth-2008. They just haven't met Tanis and Heidi yet.  Other changes worth noting is how robotic Norad looks in Earth-1996. He doesn't have an android body yet. Kevin has different eyes as well.

    All it takes is a few subtle differences to make one reality different from another. There's nothing drastic like a zombie universe or anything and the 9th Professor wants to put both realities together because they are so similar. He figured that the teenage version of Manta would be enough to cause the inversion. Will he succeed? Time will tell. 

See ya next week! 

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!