Starbolts #696: Betting on the House

 Hail!

    Well, that was one way to end the threat posed by the wicked witch Zarantha. Marcus was betting on his bond with Crystal being strong enough to save them and it was! Now, I didn't want this comic to read like everyone was saved by the power of love or anything. That's not it at all  Zarantha was defeated by plain old hubris. She sorely underestimated Crystal and Marcus and that ultimately led to her downfall. She had no way of knowing that our heroes bonded the night before. See Sttarbolts #686 for details.

    Crystal and Marcus had been trying to bond on the mystical level for a while now and this time they found a way to make it stick. She bent the rules of magic to suit her desires and thus a bond was formed. I see her going to her parents for help on the matter and Stan and Andrea likely gave her some valuable pointers because after all they were the original rule breakers. Stan and Andrea did their best to buck tradition and it paid off for their children. Though, I have a feeling it'll be a lot easier for Firaxil and Carter to bond. Jack and Anya might go a different route. 

    As far as Zarantha goes, she has a fitting fate. She's stuck in a universe that was once teeming with life and is now completely dead. There is no life and because there's no life there are no souls to consume. She might find a way back but her powers are diminished and now she has to stay there forever. She is immortal and is now the only thing living in that universe. Well....I don't know if I'd call her "living". She looked kind of undead when she was pushed into the portal.

    Next week is going to see a epilogue of this adventure. I imagine some loose ends are going to need to be tied up in a neat little bow. That new organization our heroes have been fighting has been doing some pretty nasty stuff lately. First it was the robots and now it's this wicked witch. What are they planning? Why must they test our heroes? These are all good questions! Stay tuned and find out the answers!

See ya next time!

Starbolts #695: Hungry Like the Witch

 Hail!

    Yikes! It looks like Zarantha has entered the final boss stage of her evolution! Let's hope our heroes can stop her. She placed a dark bubble around Dodger Stadium and now the heavy hitters can't come in and save the day. Firaxil and Angela are the strongest Starbolts and if they can't get in, our heroes inside the bubble may be in for the fight of their lives. Let's hope they can save the day.

    Keep in mind Carter had no idea this was going to happen. I don't think anyone could have foreseen this kind of development. If you use a soul cleaver on someone without a soul, you'd think that would have been it. Looks like chaos magic is more unpredictable than she or anyone else realized. It's going to take a lot to defeat Zarantha now and I hope our heroes are up to the task!

See ya next time!@

Starbolts #694: Soul Cleaver Fever

 Hail!

    Finally our heroes have the soul cleaver and Carter plans on using it on Zarantha herself! What kind of an effect will it have on that witch? It's hard to say. I mean Zarantha doesn't exactly have a soul anymore. Theoretically, the knife wouldn't work on her, would it? Well, either way we're going to find out what happens when the "food" fights back. The question is who is going to be the one to stab her with it. Carter? Crystal? Marcus? Jack? These are all good questions to be sure. Next week we'll be seeing the battle and I think there may be a change in personality for Zarantha. She's gotten....umm....hangry.

    This week the Starbolts were introduced to Nikki's girlfriend, Heather. A while back I had her cameo in a comic when she showed up for an interview. She got the job almost immediately and no it wasn't because of her looks. Heather's really smart and Nikki sees that in her. In fact, she and Cal are probably the only ones who see past her beautiful exterior. Heh. Remind you of anyone? 

    I think Heather could possibly be the audience's lens in this comic. She's observing all the weird things going on around her and wondering just what she's gotten herself into. Her boyfriend Cal came back from the dead and isn't a zombie. Her girlfriend Nikki is a clone of a superhero. Things are a little complicated. But, she's handling things really well.

    So, we're marching toward Starbolts #700 and it looks like an epic battle is on the horizon. Will our heroes emerge on top? Let's hope so. It's going to be a challenge to quell the witch's hunger. We'll see what happens next week when Zarantha herself goes under the knife!

See ya next time!

Starbolts #693: A Desperate Escape

 Hail!

    Here it is, folks! The whole reason why Zarantha has been after Crystal all these years is because she sees our heroine as food and not in a zombie needing brains sort of way. Zarantha studied chaos magic and because of her studies she lost her soul. Now she has to consume other souls in order to survive. There's a catch! The souls she consumes must be from void witches. That's pretty gross! This basically means that in all those battles with Zarantha she was basting Crystal and getting her ready to be consumed. She will go to great lengths to satisfy her hunger. That's what happens when you study dark magic like chaos magic. You essentially become a lech. It's her own fault, really.

    Speaking of baddies causing their own problems, we have trapped Tommy in the Outlands! How long he'll stay there is up to Sam and I. It's really his own fault for shooting the sensitive equipment. Everything would have been fine if he had just calmed down and went along for the ride. Nope. Tom doesn't play with a full deck. All he wanted was to score with Crystal and his lust left him stranded in another dimension. Will he ever go home? Maybe. I might bring him back because there are natives in that dimension and we can't have a human influence them. Think of the damage he might cause! 

    At least our heroes are back on Earth. It looks like Marcus and Crystal landed on Nikki's balcony. Too bad Nikki isn't at home right now. Her fight with Zarantha seems to be going well. We'll be seeing the satisfying conclusion to that fight soon!

    We're marching into Starbolts #700 and the fun is just getting started!

See ya next time!

Starbolts #692: Chasing Crystal

 Hail!

    Well, it looks like our two lovebirds have been reunited and it was not a moment too soon! Marcus may be a tad impulsive. But, that's just a result of his speedy nature. He thinks five steps ahead of everyone else and it can be a little bit extra. However, you can't argue with the results. He is the perfect person to run in and grab Crystal before the wicked witch can bat an eye. It's her own fault, really. She left an inept and unfortunately lovesick thug in charge of her prisoner.

    Crystal had a great strategy here. She was trying to make Tommy jealous of her and Marcus by playing up the relationship. Marcus really does worship her. I think he'd chuckle at the "goddess" line. Then like a loser Tom tried to use the same trick on Marcus. Marcus is way too smart to fall for that since he knows Crystal's heart and her soul. She would never cheat on the man who saved her time and time again. Though, she did save him a few times too. Let's not forget he had Demonstorm in his head for a while.

     Marcus definitely doesn't like being back in the Outlands. Well, the D.I.S.C.O.R.D. island part at least. The rest of the dimension is fine as far as he's concerned. The floating island he's on was once D.I.S.C.O.R.D. Island and that was where Soldier Six met their unfortunate end. He heard Jack tell the story of his team's death AND even went there when the team went back in time. See Starbolts #470 for details. In that comic he witnessed the death of his hero, Tyrone who was like an older brother to him when he was little. Being back on the island brings back a lot of bad memories.

    Speaking of souls. I know I said I was going to explain why Zarantha wants Crystal's soul so badly. I wasn't able to fit it into this week's comic. However, it IS in next week's comic, I had to fine tune the details. It's kinda gross to be honest. You'll see. 

    Meanwhile, we have Nikki fighting the witch by herself. How long can she hold out fighting her? She's a tough cookie. Then again so is Nikki. She may not want to admit it. But, she does have Andrea's blood running through her veins despite being a clone of Carter's. You might say she has issues with being a clone and all that. More on that later!

See ya next time!