Starbolts #766: Slaves to Violence

 Hail!

    It's honestly amazing how a van full of escaped slaves went unnoticed by Demonstorm and his men. I suspect that was Medea's doing. She might have caused a distraction that allowed the slaves to run free. Or in this case take a van. I'm sure other slaves ran the same way.

    Now it seems that the Valeen bounty hunters were former slaves of Demonstorm and rather than enjoying their newfound freedom they decided to turn to bounty hunting in order to become slavers themselves. That's....ten shades of messed up right there. I mean you have a ton of people who were wrongfully subjugated and a few escapees want to become the masters. I suppose it could be argued that that's all they slaves know.

    I wonder if they knew Medea freed them. That seems extremely unlikely. Why else would they have captured Tanis? They knew he was the son of Demonstorm. I guess they thought he was just as dangerous as his father. That reminds me. Why didn't they take Medea? She was on the ship, right? Well, I think Medea being a very powerful void witch may have played a role in her protection. She was too powerful and so they took the next best thing.

    Meanwhile, we have Heidi and Crystal talking. Crystal has agreed to train Heidi how to fight. Heidi hates feeling defenseless and now she wants to learn from a woman who learned from the best heroes on Earth, the second Lady Liberty and others. With her beauty, a few martial arts degrees could make her one of the most deadliest assets the Starbolts have on their roster.  We may see her training soon. 

    In the meantime, it looks like Tanis is in some hot water. What do these bounty hunters want? Why are they like this? We'll see soon enough. Right now Tanis is in trouble and is in need of saving. Let's hope our heroes can find their lost friend. They never leave a man behind. Stay tuned for more!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #765: Chasing the Funk

 Hail!

    Even in the Delta Quadrant our heroes can't catch a break! It turns out that the ship that was following the Aquito was a Jaleen ship,. The Jaleen are a bunch of bounty hunters. I know I said I'd reveal them. However, I think it's best to keep their identities a secret for now. We may actually see them next week. I'm just building up the tension and trust me the payoff will be pretty sweet. All I can tell you is that for some reason they wanted to take Tanis and that magic allowed the kidnappers to penetrate the ship's shields and take our blue haired friend.

    The Jaleen seem to roam the quadrant in a sphere-shaped ship. Who knows where their allegiances lie. Someone clearly hates the Funkeezi and hired them to destroy anyone in their path. There are so many questions. Why were they so close to Demonsk? What is their deal? I'll explore their story in the comics to come. Right now I think Crystal is gonna have her hands full taking care of Heidi. 

    Here's hoping they find Tanis soon! It's probably a good thing she and Tanis weren't doing what everyone assumed they were doing. See Starbolts #716 for instance. Special thanks go out to my friend and fellow Wikitreer Jenn for Marcus's line. "Stop the ****ing!" We say that every time we encounter a family with a ton of kids. How many, you say? I think 15 to 16 qualifies.

See ya next time!  

Starbolts #764: The Stowaway

 Hail!

    This week, I'm introducing the first alien race our heroes have encountered in the Delta Quadrant! They are the Funkeezi and they are pretty much inspired by the classic Sega Genesis game "Toejam and Earl".  I played that game and its sequels a lot growing up and I figured now would be a great time to create a race similar to Toejam. There are some key differences, though. I don't think they'll be all about funk or anything. We'll learn more about them soon enough. I just thought it'd be a cool idea to create a three legged race. I will admit that creating Toejani's sprites was a little difficult. At least I got the basics down!

    It also looks like the strange ship that's been following our heroes is after Toejani. We'll see them next week. I haven't decided on a look for them. That's why it's "Audio only". I haven't really made up my mind for how I want the second Delta Quadrant race to look. Needless to say this area of space doesn't have as many generic humanoid shaped bodies as the Alpha Quadrant does. Creating a look for the new aliens is going to be a challenge. But, it'll be worth it.

    Now then. Is Toejani really a criminal? We shall see. We'll also see our new alien friends next week too. Medea also has Toejani's padd. Perhaps that'll hold the key to figuring out who or what Toejani really is!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #763: Minor Observations

 Hail!

    A lot of things are happening in this week's comic! First off we have someone or something aboard the ship. It remains to be seen if whoever this intruder is is friendly or not. Could it be a friend who will guide our heroes through the Delta Quadrant? Or is he a foe? I think if he was a foe he would have made his intentions known. It's clear that his race has some sort of cloaking device AND that they can mask themselves from telepaths. They seem to be the perfect spies. The question is...how did he get aboard the ship? Well, he could have gotten on board at the starport. That's the most likely option. He may have been hiding on that ship for a long time and watched as the Demonei made their repairs. His story will be revealed in the coming weeks.

     The next major thing to happen this week is the revelation that Tanis is finally over Shenra. It didn't take much. I think he got the hint a long time ago. Now he wants to move on with Heidi and Lucy. I just hope Shenra isn't too jealous. She might be. It remains to be seen. She likely isn't jealous and more just annoyed that Tanis isn't discreet. Here's hoping it's the latter! See ya next week as we find out more about our very curious alien friend.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #762: Into the Delta Quadrant

 Hail!

    And off they go on another adventure into space! I was originally going to have a small group on this expedition. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it made more sense to include all of the Starbolts. So, everyone is aboard the ship and not just the crew Tanis picked for this mission. This means that somewhere in a lab Carter is stewing about being put on this mission. If you recall, the two Starbolts do not get along very well. The teen Starbolts are home for this one at least. They'll be taking care of stuff on Earth while the dozen or so Starbolts and Medea are looking for the Faeori.

    Speaking of the Faeori, who knows what kind of state they'll be in once they find them. I'm sure everything will be just fine. However, there may be obstacles for our heroes along this journey. They may encounter many things out there in the Delta Quadrant. At least they aren't lost. They have the Centurion Corps as backup should the need arise. 

    I did want to include an interesting bit about first contact between the Aquans and the Leonids. Those cats are very particular like cats in the real world. It could have gone so wrong and at least it all worked out in the end. 

    It's a shame Heidi and Tanis's girlfriend Lucy isn't joining them. But, I suspect she has some training to do before she can join her friends on any space adventures.

    Here's to another year of Starbolts adventures! We'll see what 2026 will bring our heroes.

See ya next time!