Starbolts #411: Homecoming

Hail!

It's been a long time coming and now Sara has returned to the Starbolts! Just so you know, the adventure is far from over. We still have Clive to track down and we need to figure out who he called. There are still plenty of mysteries to solve and over time Sam and I will reveal everything. For now Sara Whitefox has returned to the Starbolts. Ten years may have passed in real time. However, it's been about two years in comic time. Gotta love those sliding timescales!

As you can see it took a long time to work on this sixty panel behemoth of a comic. It was well worth it and I think next comic will be about the same length. We're still working on the assorted odds and ends. I tried to include as many characters as I could in the two-panel spread up there. Too bad Tanis is still in sickbay. He'll be fine. He'll meet Sara soon enough.

At least the Starbolts have cause for celebration and it couldn't have come at a better time since this year is the comic's tenth anniversary. Funny how things work out, huh? Now it's time to turn the mic over to my good friend and co-writer, Sam! Sam, take it away!

Sam: 

She's back! After ten long years Sara Whitefox returns to the Starbolts. Firaxil gets his girlfriend, the Whitefox clan get their missing member, and team science gets their third scientist. A little bit of good after all of the hardships Chris has been putting his creations through.

I have to say, when Chris told me Sara was coming back, I was equal parts ecstatic and terrified. On one hand, I had the chance to work with a character I have loved for over a decade, on the other, I knew that the Sara I had once created wasn’t fit for the world as it is now. Too much had changed over those ten years. Chris and I are different people and the Starbolts are a different team. We needed Sara to adapt too.

Chris and I have spent months redeveloping Sara’s character into someone whose return would really have an impact on the whole team. Some changes were easier than others. The original prose, for example, had Sara’s parents as Apollo and Isis. But Apollo was changed for the comics and there’s no Isis so that no longer worked. We toyed with a few ideas but ultimately we knew that Clive Marshall had to be Sara’s father. That alone gave us plenty to work with. Who would her mother be now (aka, who in their right mind would get into a relationship with Clive?), how would her powers initially manifest, how would this information affect her going forward? It’s been exciting to explore and we’re really looking forward to showing off the answers to those questions (and more) in the coming months.

*****

The Starbolts really were a different team ten years ago. When your writing style improves, your characters tend to as well. Some things are the same. And now this Sara is poised to fit right in with her old friends. Welcome home, Sara Whitefox.

Time for me to update a few things around the site. See ya next time!