Starbolts #790: The Cave of Sorrows

 Hail!

    This week's comic had to go through a bit of a slight edit as I was unsure of how to work the angle with Marcus meeting that apparition. Initially, I wanted Marcus to meet a version of him that was exposed to the Black experience. But I wasn't sure how to go about it. I think I got the point across. Marcus was born to two superheroes and one of them was from Kenya. The other one was a military guy and as a result Marcus never had a "normal" childhood. His best friend growing up was a guy with wings growing out of his back! He never had a "normal" childhood experience. So, he lived his life the way he wanted. Sure he did stuff for his fellow African Americans but he fears that there would be scorn and ridicule along the way.

    Once Marcus delivers that spell safely to Crystal, they're probably gonna have a long talk about what the apparition told him. I tried to give Crystal's spell some of Crystal's own personality and I think it works here. Of course she says things our Crystal probably wouldn't. But at least the intent is there. I think the two of them will be in for an interesting bonding session once the magic returns to our redheaded heroine. 

      Now, we come to the dragon. I was never going to make him that big, really. Huge dragons are kinda a cliche. Looks like he was a wee bit obsessed with television. We'll see how this plays out now that his viewing mirror is gone. Will he help our heroes restore their friends' magic? We shall see.

    As for what Jack saw? I have a few ideas. Most of them involve Soldier Six and the fact that he never learned magic. I'm not sure what Heidi saw. Maybe she saw something related to Lucy. It's hard to say. 

 I'm not sure if I'll play up on Marcus's reaction to the vision at some point. He'll talk about it with Crystal, sure. But there's little else he can do at this point. I do think the edit is a lot better than what I had before. Nothing like a good old fashioned polishing to get things right!

 See ya next time as we march on to Starbolts #800! 

Starbolts #789: Escape from Crazytown

 Hail

    Well, this adventure with the Faeori has definitely took an interesting turn. It seems that their magic can undo any mystical bond between couples. Oh, dear. If Marcus, Crystal, Tanis and Heidi get out of this mess they're going to be spending the trip home reconnecting. It shouldn't be a problem. I hope. The bond was tenuous at best because Crystal and Tanis are magic users and their bondmates aren't. It takes time, effort and a lot of maintenance in order for the bonds to stick permanently. Since they're young, our heroes were exceptionally influenced by the spell our cult leader friend cast on them. 

    There just has to be a way for our heroes to get the magic back and they will succeed once Jack and his team face the dragon. One problem. Marcus and Heidi are obviously affected. Let's hope they can hold it together and save Medea and the others before it's too late. I don't think Medea and co like what that guy is selling. 

    It was a bit of poor planning to have a bunch of magic users on the ship for this adventure. But it is what it is. Though, I am pretty sure Firaxil can take out the cult of no personality without his Centurion powers. There just isn't enough time to get everyone there and back. Here's hoping Jack can save the day yet again. I just don't think a dance-off is going to work this time.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #788: The Cult of Personality

 Hail!

    Wow. The only thing more dangerous than a cult is a cult on drugs. Looks like our heroes are really in a pickle. The sooner they deal with that dragon the better. That beast has definitely sucked the brains out of the Faeori along with their magic. Once "Kolor" has been dealt with they should return to normal. Well, aside from all the withdrawal symptoms and everything. That's going to be a huge pain for the village. Good thing Shenra has elected to stay once this mission is over or else they'd have no idea how hard the recovery will be.

    In other news, we have learned that Crystal is planning on writing a book about her life. I can't say this is a surprise because it's something I've discussed with Sam and my other consultants about from time to time. For those who don't know Crystal is a survivor of abuse and her book could help millions who have been in her shoes. It's always been a plan of mine to have the Whitefox sisters outshine those who harmed them. Carter is on a fast track to winning a Nobel. Crystal is for sure going to win awards for her story. We'll see snippets of it and who knows it may even be a good jumping on point for new readers. I haven't done one in a long time and I should probably get around to making one as we head to Starbolts #800.

    Before we get that far we're going to have to fight a fearsome drug dragon. It was definitely not cool of the cult to cast illusions of Medea's dead parents. If she could be tricked by an illusion, it means that the dragon is far more powerful than they think. Then again the beastie did hide a solar system and cause a technological blackout. I'm going to have to try something really unique for this magic eating dragon. I don't think it'll look like eastern or western dragons in Earth legend. But I promise it will be epic!

It probably won't be another space turtle. Stay tuned!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #787: Independence Day Aquarius

 Hail!

     There's nothing like starting a Independence Day celebration with the execution of a giant orange space cockroach! In this week's comic, we return to the Alpha Quadrant to see what the rest of the Starbolts are up to. Jenna and Mateo are on Aquarius with Stan and Andrea Whitefox celebrating their independence from the Mosqukatara Empire. Of course things don't always go as planned and so Shrall and Mateo had to go hunt down the guy who vandalized the palace's reflecting pool. Good thing our heroes were on hand to stop him. 

    I liked teaming Shrall and Mateo up. For some reason the comic reads like a buddy cop movie. I do feel sad that Jenna was sidelined. It can't be helped. She is VERY pregnant and the baby will be coming soon. Very soon. How soon, you ask? How does Starbolts #800 sound? Sounds like a plan to me! Mateo should team up with his brother-in-law more often, I think. Shrall used to partner up with Marcus a lot of the time in the prose stories I used to write. Not so much now because he's got Firaxil to be his straight man. And besides if two wisecracking heroes team up not much will get done.

    Anyway, today is also America's 250th and I do hope all the Americans out there had a great one. I wasn't sure what else to write this week so I thought I'd go to the Alpha Quadrant. Next week we'll be going back to the Delta Quadrant to see what's been happening on the other side of the galaxy. We need to find the Faeori and get back to the Alpha Quadrant before issue #800. Jenna's baby is counting on M'anta and his team. Let's hope they get home safely!

See ya next time!