Starbolts #588: Born on the Fourth of July

 

 

Hail!

    After this week's comic I bet you are wondering if Jack really is on the road to becoming the new Iron Eagle. Time will tell. Right now he's still dealing with everything that's happened in the past year. The entire Whitefox family has to come to grips with the fact that Sara and Crystal were Stan and Andrea's twins all along. In fact, I suspect that while Marcus and Crystal are away at the ranch, she is probably doing some soul-searching while he has therapy sessions with Angela. Sara definitely is doing some self-discovery. I think they might all need a breather in order to take stock in what has actually happened. It's a lot to take in.

    For the most part, Jack seems to be still angry over his old "friend" Snake's betrayal. It was bad enough that he killed Soldier Six on Discord Island. He's also responsible for the abduction of the embryos as seen in Starbolts #455. The soldier is definitely not happy here. Who can blame him?

    We do get a bit of a glimpse into what could have been when Andrea talks about Scarlett and her conversation with Jack in the flashback. Scarlett had no memories of her parents as she was brought into "Project: Liberty's Children" at a young age alongside Jack. They could have been anyone. She latched onto Andrea as a surrogate mother much like Crystal did. If Scarlett had lived and if the embryos were not stolen from Harris Labs, the twins' lives would have turned out very differently. Count on that! 

       The flashback probably takes place just after Mateo and Jenna were born as they are the oldest of the original Starbolt kids. Jack and the rest of Soldier Six were hyper-aged and at this point were probably physically teenagers.

    See Starbolts #458 to see the outcome of the reveal. Between now and when Jack sees Snake again (And you know he will) he has a lot to sort out. How will confront Richard? We shall see. His actions also impacted Andrea who considered him a son. So, it's going to be tough for everyone.

   We'll have time to go into detail soon enough. Tune in next time for a return of an old friend.

See ya next time!

Starbolts #587: The Path to Redemption

 

 

 Hail!

    Wow. This week's comic might have the largest number of references to past comics than any other comic I've done in the fourteen years I've been doing the comic. Let's link them all here!

Starbolts #237: The Amazing Dragonfly: Where Garazo helped Tanis shortly after his transformation.

Starbolts #437: Sinister Temptation:  Where Tanis gets seduced by a mind-controlled Shenra.

Starbolts #440: Bringing the Party to Terra Nova: Where Tanis foolishly chases after Shenra and endangers a very crucial mission. 

Starbolts #500: Home of the Brave: Crystal's first outing as Lady Liberty.

Starbolts #547:Flight of the Eagle: Where Jack kills the monster that killed his grandparents, the World War II era heroes Iron Eagle and Spitfire.

Starbolts #579: Livin' on a Prayer: Where Tanis's face gets fixed.

    I think that's everything and it certainly looks like Medea is on a redemption tour. You have to remember she was a reluctant accomplice to Demonstorm's villainy. She never sought out to harm anyone and simply wanted to be left alone. However, the dark lord had other intentions. He married her for power and to basically keep an eye on the last void witch in his realm. Her son, Tanis, was not born from a loving union. In fact, he was grown in a test tube and artificially aged to young adulthood. So, if you really think about it....Tanis is like two years old.

    Scary, right? At least he now has his mother steering him on the right path. It should be good for both of them. Their relationship is clearly on the mend here. Medea is also looking to fix Jack after fixing his sister, Crystal. It's probably a good thing that Sara isn't on Earth at the moment. She'd probably say she could fix herself. 

    It looks like we might be on our way to fixing Angela now that Cece and Medea have come up with a plan to save her heart and thus save the planet Illibrata from its future fate. That dark future we got a glimpse of back in the late 400s has already been altered for the most part. Fixing Angela now will irrevocably change the future for the better.

    As far as Garazo and Medea go? Yeah. Medea's not REALLY interested in Garazo. She wanted to teach her son a valuable lesson. And I think he learned it quite well. 

    We've got some time before Angela gets her powers in order. Next time we're going to see what's going on with Jack. Is he trying to become the next Iron Eagle? What will his mother have to say about that?

Tune in next time and find out. See ya then!

Starbolts #586: School Days

 

 

 Hail!

    This week we catch up with Cece and Walter and see what's going on with those two. From the looks of things, it seems that Walter is no ordinary butler. You'd be right about that. He once served at the behest of Scotland Yard as one of their agents. There's also a bit more to the story. Do you think he could have worn the Cobalt armor for Richard? Hmmm....It's a possibility. I wouldn't put it past Richard to let him wear the suit if he needed to. Like if there was a meeting he couldn't get away from or anything. But, that wasn't what Cece was going to ask him about. No, this was something else. I'm not entirely sure what it is yet!

    Too bad her questioning was cut off by Crystal's call. As you might have guessed, she still needs some training in the tethering spell. She will master it, I am sure. It just takes time and patience. We'll be catching up with her and Marcus in a few comics!

    In the mean time, it looks like things are progressing well for Ellie and Richie. No, the two aren't dating. They're just really good friends. I do like that tamale in a hat bit. It reminds me of one of Jeff Dunham's puppets, José Jalapeno on a Stick. I'd probably vote for him, too. I mean we could do a lot worse than what we've got.

    Ellie plans on sticking around and I think we've got some great things in store for her and her friends so stay tuned!

See ya next time!

Starbolts #585: The Cold Shoulder

 

 

 Hail!

    This week we get a little sidetracked from what's going on with Ellie to bring a new metahuman the Starbolts need to deal with. Her name is Cynthia and she has ice powers. Apparently, she's also a little off. We'll find out more about her story in the coming weeks. Could she be connected to Ellie in some way? Could she render that dating website plan the Starbolts had for TK moot? It's hard to say.

    Still, it was cool of Garazo to give Takashi a very epic introduction wasn't it? Now everyone is going to want a cool intro by Garazo for their Department of Metahumans profiles. Too bad Crystal and Marcus aren't there. You know they'd be all over that type of introduction. Especially Marcus.  

    It's still good to see the Starbolts on the case when a new metahuman pops up. As you saw last week, the academy was getting a lot more new students. We could see many more in the future. After all, one metahuman/magic user/non powered person they can help means one less villain in the world. I don't think the world would be able to handle Cynthia if her powers went out of whack. The whole world would become a winter wonderland.

See ya next time!

Starbolts #584: Kids in America

 

Hail!

    Looks like we got two storylines going before we head into Starbolts #600. Will we have time to fit them all in? Probably. First we have the final conclusion to the "Heart of Illibrata" arc. This may see Angela finally return home from her time with the Centurions. Will Medea help? Well, she's helped four Starbolts in what I'd like to call her "Redemption Tour". She might as well, right? What does she have to lose?

    The next arc involves Ellie and her mother. As you might recall, Elisabeth was the head of Terra Nova until she was stopped back in Starbolts #441. Incidentally, that raid also brought the Starbolts four more recruits to the New Starbolts team. Behind the scenes more students have been added to the academy as you can tell by the panel showing all of the kids.

    Eagle-eyed readers might notice Syntax is among the students as well as a Setleth, a Dovianni, a couple wizards from the Order of Korun and a couple random teens. More kids are likely hiding behind the speech bubble. So, there's probably thirty kids in that classroom. There may even be more! It is an academy after all. Sam and I felt the need to make it feel more like a school by adding more kids.

Now, with that said....Who could Ellie be talking to? Find out next time!

See ya then!

Starbolts #583: Heaven is a Place on Earth

 

 

 Hail! 

    This week Crystal and Marcus are off on a well deserved vacation. After what he endured at the hands of Demonstorm, can you really blame him? Yeah, he and Crystal are going to need some time away. But, don't worry! They'll both be back for the special 600th comic coming soon. A few other Starbolts will be returning by then as well. It seems like everyone is scattered these days. Angela is in space. Firaxil and Sara are on New Inobus. Now Marcus and Crystal are off to the Arlandero ranch.

     Don't worry. I'm sure there really isn't any disastrous consequences to the bonding ritual. It was a line. And a good one at that. It probably only works for witches or something.

    Meanwhile Medea has fixed not one but TWO Starbolts. This could be her redemption tour through the ranks of the Starbolts. Could she be the one to fix Angela? That remains to be seen. We may be focusing on her as we start on the road to Starbolts #600. We may even check in on our friends here. Yes, I know they said they wanted to be alone. But, hey. Why not, right? 

Stay tuned! More Starbolts goodness is coming your way!

Starbolts #582: Love is a Battlefield

 

 

 Hail!

    This is it! Marcus is finally free of Demonstorm's control and is well on his way to bonding with Crystal.There is going to be some serious celebrations next time for the two of them. So, be on the look out for that. I think it's well deserved and I think everyone reading this week's comic would agree that it was a long time coming. 

    I'm not sure what Marcus is doing with his speed powers. He's not tapping into the speed force as used by The Flash or anything. His powers are from a mutation and not from anything else. So, it remains to be seen if this would be transferred to the real world.

    As far as the scene he experienced, it all occurred in the time it took for him to accept Crystal's bonding gift. I'm reminded of that song by Jim's Big Ego, "The Ballad of Barry Allen". It seems quite appropriate for this week's comic!

    Poor Marcus, though. He was asked about his sex life in front of her father. Talk about awkward. I don't think he was keen on revealing the details in front of ol' Stan. But, between you and me he secretly enjoyed seeing the young man squirm a bit. Of course Stan approves of Marcus. But, it's okay for him to tease his daughter's boyfriend every once in a while. I think he saved face just in time.

    Marcus never met Cody and this week we get to see an inkling of what that confrontation would be like. Our speeding friend is definitely not afraid of that abusive jerk and here he proves it. Cody was just a manifestation of Crystal's fears. Her fears combined with Demonstorm almost did him in. But, he prevailed and now it's time for the two to bond. 

 See ya next time for the romantic payoff!