Starbolts #791: The Magic Eating Dragon

 Hail!

 Wow. That is some mean magic eating dragon! I know she has angel wings but not all dragons need to have reptile-like wings. This story also takes place in the Delta Quadrant where the laws of nature as we know them do not apply. If that's a "dragon" then Toejani is a marsupial. Actually, for all we know Toejani's species could be like marsupials. You never know. Maybe the universal translator glitched and something was lost in translation? Who knows?

    At least the machine was destroyed and Medea, Crystal and Tanis will be on the mend. But now we have a mad dragon to contend with and since our heroes beamed up the Faeori for their safety you can bet that she will not be happy about this situation and be right on their tail! That dragon is not gonna be happy and we haven't seen the last of her. Stay tuned for dragon hijinks next time!

See ya then! 

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! 

Starbolts #786: Shenra's Choice

 Hail!

    This week Shenra made a clear choice and that was to stay behind with Andora. I guess they hit it off. I don't know if I'd call it "love at first sight" but I think they just found a connection. And let's not forget that Andora seems to have a thing for Faeori. Andora clearly has a type. But who are we to judge. Though, we still don't know how copulation works with Andora's species. I know Tanis isn't even eager to find out. It's no one's business but theirs. So it's best to let those two be. Shenra may have found her "happily ever after" and I'm sure our heroes would be happy for her.

    So now the team that's going to the village will consist of Medea, Marcus, Crystal, Jack,Tanis and Heidi. Solid team right there. We've got a magic user, a tactician, a couple speedsters and a level 100 witch. I think they'll be just fine considering Carter has to tend to Firaxil. He's likely out of commission. 

    We also learned a little bit about Heidi's past. She clearly had a sexual relationship with Lucy. We know she isn't the first bisexual Starbolt. Carter is and Valentina is as well.  And she was caught by her father in the back of a pickup truck. Whoops. Well, it happens. I guess they weren't careful. Still, that didn't stop her from continuing her relationship. She's still with Lucy and joining them is Tanis. All we can say is "Good for them". More on Tanis and Lucy when they return to Earth.

    Our heroes will unfortunately have to face a magic eating dragon soon. That dragon is likely the reason why the entire solar system is seemingly invisible. I like to think that the King and M'anta discussed their options with Toejani. The magical cloak is likely a recent occurrence and I'm sure he and neighboring systems would be very happy to see it go away. The King made his decision in order to facilitate trade with nearby Funkeezi. That would benefit both worlds and so M'anta gave Medea and co the go-ahead to solve the cloak problem. 

    I think our heroes will have to be careful dealing with the beastie. You never know what to expect with these comics. And as for Medea asking Marcus and Crystal about their bonding rituals. She's Medea. She's always going to ask that question. It's what she does.

    Next week we'll finally be going to the village and we'll see what's been causing the problem! It'll also be the 4th of July. I'm sure I can make it all mesh together. I mean Jack and Crystal are already on the away team. It shouldn't be hard to do!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #785: A Big Decision

 Hail!

    Well, this week's comic certainly took some interesting turns didn't it? Let's see if I can unpack all of this properly. Firaxil's bit seemingly ended relatively smoothly. He wasn't under the influence of magi juice that long and so snapping him out of it was relatively simple. He still needed to get checked out in Sickbay. Poor guy. Nara probably gave him all kinds of icky space sickness we humans don't need to know about.   Fortunately, Dr. Arlandero will be able to make him well again. 

    Now we come to the main event. Looks like Shenra made a very good first impression with Andora. They ended up kissing on the couch and well....what they did behind closed doors is no one else's business. But is all what it seems? We know next to nothing about Andora's species. What looks like a woman may actually be a male and vice versa. For all we know they could breed like sea horses. You never know. Firaxil once said that it was a big galaxy and not everyone reproduces the same way humans, Aquans, Inobe and other races do. We have no idea what the specifics are for Andora's species. I'm going to have to come up with a name for them. I can't keep calling them "Andora's species" or "Nara's species" since Nara was the first representative we met from that race.

    Either way, Shenra made a new friend and it looks like she'll be staying behind once our heroes do what they need to do at the village. We'll be getting there very soon. As you can imagine there may be some fallout from this little tryst. I imagine Tanis has a lot to say about the issue. People were hard on him for his activities during a missing. Will they feel the same way about Shenra? Probably not because she was never technically a Starbolt. She isn't bound by their rules. She was an agent of Xemplara, though. 

    We'll see how everyone reacts to her decision to stay with Andora. I have a feeling they'd be okay with it....especially Tanis. We'll see what happens.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #784: The Flaw in the Plan

 

 Hail! 

    This week's comic started off with everyone planning to visit the Faeori and instead we got a final confrontation between Shenra and Nara. I think it's safe to say that when the two ladies met for the first time on Funkeezi that she took advantage of Shenra being an alien and a magic user. Now Nara will face justice in the hands of her people. One has to wonder how long of a rap sheet she has. It's probably a mile long at this point. The question is why didn't she use the magi juice on herself earlier when she fought Heidi. Perhaps there wasn't enough time for her to inject herself with the magi juice. She injected herself with it at the same time she injected Firaxil and now he has to deal with the effects. Bummer. That same injection temporarily gave her superpowers.

    Now, then. Will this be the last we see of Nara? Not sure. I do know that Shenra and Andora seem to be hitting it off. We'll see more of them for sure. We'll be getting to the Faeori village soon and I can't help but wonder about the fact that they trust Andora more than King Alric. Hmm. There may be more to the story here.  All I can say about that is....Stay tuned!

 See ya next time! 

Starbolts #783: To the Moon

 Hail!

   Our heroes have found the moon they were looking for and have made some new friends along the way. Looks like these people are the same race as Nara's. Interesting, isn't it? I'll go into detail about how Nara ended up on the Funkeezi planet. There's definitely a lot of things going on here and clearly one of the members of the royal family is attracted to Shenra. There's definitely a lot to unpack as we continue on this leg of the adventure.

    Don't worry. All will be revealed. This week's comic has clear references to the Masters of the Universe line of cartoons and toys. The soldiers look like "Man-at-Arms" and there's a reference to bee people. Those are of course the Andreenids. I don't know if we'll be seeing them during the course of the adventure. But I definitely know Andora is definitely eager to help our heroes find the Faeori. What fabulous secrets will be revealed next week? Stay tuned!

See ya next time!  

Starbolts #782: The Changing Face of Tanis

 Hail!

    Well, it looks like Tanis is a new man after a very eventful night. He seems to be a lot more confident and more sure of himself.  It's amazing what a little bonding session will do and now he's interested in learning more about magic from his mother. The fact that he actually called her "Mom" is kind of a big deal given his history with her. He was grown in a tube like a fungus, artificially aged and sent to fight the Starbolts on Demonstorm's behalf. It took him a long time to call her "Motther" and now he calls her "Mom". That is progress. Not to mention character development. I wanted this arc to improve Tanis's character a bit since he was the butt of everyone's joke for a very long time. I just hope he puts some clothes on after that mission. Preferably before he meets the Faeori.

    Speaking of the Faeori, we've arrived at the gas giant Nara talked about and now it's time to find the moon they're living on. We can only guess what kind of state they'll be in. As for the gas giant? I was going to put rings around it like Saturn but I wasn't sure how to go about it. Right now it's a generic gas giant that looks like an orange. It does look kind of cool. 

     In any event, our heroes have arrived at the Faeori's new home. What will they find? What state will they be in? Will Tanis actually have some clothes on? These are all very good questions! I will answer them all next time!

See ya then! 

Starbolts #781: More than Meets the Eye

Hail!

    I think it's safe to say that there's more to Medea than meets the eye. She's a woman with many layers. On the surface she looks like a woman with absolutely zero filter. And she is. She has no filter whatsoever. Longtime readers are aware of that fact. She has no problem telling people off or dabbling in a morally dubious area every now and then. None of the Starbolts would have gotten the results she did. The Aquans wouldn't have been able to penetrate her mind and none of the others would have gotten her to talk. So that just left Medea to do the heavy lifting.

    At least our heroes now know where the Faeori are. In the next few issues will be finding them and then before you know it it will be time for Starbolts #800. Wow. Time flies when you're having fun, huh?

    Meanwhile, we got some much needed character development for Tanis. Tanis will realize that his mother just wanted him to embrace the magical side of his life. Bonding helped him unlock his magical talent. The more he uses magic, the more he becomes the person he was meant to be. Good thing Heidi is there to help out. Still, I'm left wondering how they're going to explain this to Lucy. By the time he returns to her, he should be a different person. He'll be much more confident. And that's the kind of person Heidi and Lucy want in a man.  

    Next week we're bound to see a new Tanis. Stay tuned for that. Our heroes are hot on the Faeori's trail. Nothing's going to stop them now!

See you next time! 

Starbolts #780: Withdrawal Madness

 Hail!

    I think it's safe to say that Shenra is having some severe withdrawals. She's got Nara in her head pressuring her to bond with Tanis. Nara basically found her weakness for Tanis that dates back to their tryst on a roof way back in Starbolts #437. Ironically, she was under mind control then too. Someone should really fix that girl's brain so that she's no longer susceptible to telepathic manipulation. The Aquans tried to fix her but she didn't want anyone else messing with her head. When this is over, she'll hopefully have one of the Aquans fix her brain. She's had it messed with twice now and that's honestly enough for anyone.

    You gotta love Medea and her lack of a filter. She comments on peoples' looks all the time and I'm pretty sure she'd comment on men as well as women. Well, she'd comment on anyone with a pulse. Let's be honest here. At least her heart is in the right place. She'll get the information out of Nara somehow. It likely won't be pretty. 

    It's a shame that her detox spell didn't work as well as she'd hoped. That must have been some strong magi juice. It seems to have a very long-lasting effect.  Hopefully, it will wear off. And as for Tanis and Heidi? Well, their activities are open to interpretation. Though, it's pretty clear what Medea wants them to do. 

    Anyway, next week promises to have some excitement. Will Medea get through to Nara? Stay tuned!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #779: A Dangerous Encounter

 Hail!

    Yeah, I'm beginning to think bringing Nara along for this trip was a bad idea. This scenario is akin to putting a fox in charge of a hen house. Nara's species can sense magic users. That means she can sense whatever Tanis, Crystal, Jack, Carter, Firaxil and Medea are up to. She knows Medea plans on asking where the Faeori are. I don't think she'll cooperate. You might be thinking it can't be that bad if she can detect a magic user. She can also manipulate them into doing bad things if they're under the influence of magi juice or have been under its influence before. Sufficed it to say Tanis and Heidi bad better watch out.

    Then again we can only hope that Shenra isn't going to their quarters. I hope not. It's getting to be a happen where his romantic encounters with Heidi are interrupted. Hopefully, she's on her way to see M'anta and ask him to drop this lady off at the closest inhabitable planet or moon. There she can find for herself. Though, I suspect Shenra would be okay with dropping her off into the heart of a collapsing star. She clearly has issues with that woman and it was probably a bad idea for her to visit her. Live and learn, I guess. At least she and Medea are close to being friends now that she saved her.

 See ya next time! 

Starbolts #778: Dance Revolution

 

Hail!

    It's amazing how once again Michael Jackson's music brought down a drug operation. For those who don't know check out the plot of "Moonwalker."  Is it a good movie? Your mileage might vary. My brother and I played the game it was based on many times growing up. Fun game. I think it's one of those cases where the game was better than the actual movie.

    Anyway! Our heroes leave Funkeezi with a musical database that contains Michael Jackson's greatest hits and who knows what other songs are on there. Sufficed it to say that the Funkeezi were impressed by Terran musical forms. It will take them some time for them to analyze everything from Abba to ZZ Top. In exchange, the Starbolts get Toejani's aid in their quest to find the Faeori.

    The question that should be on everyone's mind is what kind of state will the Funkeezi be in. They're addicted to magic. I wonder if Medea might be able to cure them like she cured Shenra. More on her next week. I figure she'll be coming down hard after drinking that magi juice. She'll be confronting the dealer for sure. 

    It was pretty cool to have Crystal and Carter enhance Jack's abilities like that. I have this idea that if Jack is in close proximity of his sisters he'll be able to perform magic. We've seen it once before when they went to visit the spirits of their grandfather. This time he was able to conduct a full concert complete with music and dancing. That wowed the audience and served to help end drug operation.

    Now our heroes are back on the road. What else will this quadrant throw at them? Time will tell. We already had to deal with a music crazed civilization and a bunch of bounty hunters. Let's see what's out there. Engage!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #777: Funkeezi Dance Party

 Hail!

    Ain't no party like a Funkeezi dance party because a Funkeezi dance party doesn't stop! It looks like the Funkeezi have turned dancing into an intergalactic sport. This one event was broadcasted all over the quadrant to billions and billions of people. It was also saved for posterity by our heroes. There's no way Jack is ever going to live this down especially since he dressed like Michael Jackson and performed his "Beat It".  Ahh, I wonder if this incident violated the Prime Directive. Probably not. They're all about music on Funkeezi and I think the quadrant could do with a little something from the King of Pop.

    Meanwhile, it looks like Nara is the magi juice dealer our heroes were looking for. Jack was right to be suspicious of her and so he called in his sisters to do a little bit of magical interference and assistance. There was no way he was going to impress the crowd by himself and he doesn't entirely trust Tanis. The question is did he earn their trust? What happens next? Will Nara help the Starbolts find the Faeori? We shall see. Right now she's out cold thanks to Heidi. Might be a good idea for Tanis to stay on her good side!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #776: Barroom Blitz

 

Hail!

    This mission to the seedy underbelly of Funkeezi culture has definitely taken a strange turn. In order to find out what exactly happened to Shenra, Jack and Tanis are going to have to dance and then meet with the dealer who supplied her with magi juice. After that? Who knows. All I know is that this unconventional pairing of Jack and Tanis has been seeing some hilarious moments. However, I suspect Heidi won't be too pleased that some alien lady was hitting on Tanis. Chances are she was listening to the whole thing. It's a good thing Jack saved his life or else he'd have been in big trouble.

    Speaking of that lady, there's more to her than meets the eye. I think we'll be seeing that lady again--especially next week. 

    I'm still trying to figure out why the bar has an underground dance arena. What's the purpose of it? Maybe Funkeezi takes underground dance clubs a little too literally? Who knows? One thing is for sure Jack can definitely call this adventure one of his strangest. His sisters are never going to let him live it down. The whole thing will be recorded and put on his file back at Agents Academy. The Whitefox sisters are definitely chaos goblins!

See ya next week as we dance the night away! They take their dancing seriously. Let's hope Jack can bust a move! 

Starbolts #775: Breaking Funkeezi

 Hail!

    There's nothing quite like a trip into a city's seedy underbelly, huh? Looks like our heroes will be dealing with some nefarious types in this wretched hive of scum and villainy. Somehow I don't think there will be a cantina band playing as they entered. I did miss an opportunity to have the bouncer say "We don't serve their kind here!" Perhaps the bartender will say it instead next week. 

    It seems obvious that the Funkeezi in this part of the city don't like people with two legs. I guess they have a lot to learn. Then again they might have a good reason to not trust "bi-legs". After all they had to deal with the Valeen and everything. We'll just have to wait and see. 

    Poor Tanis may be in over his head but at least he'll have Jack watching over him and Jack has Crystal and Carter on standby in case things go south and they will. I don't think this place is going to be open much longer. But that's to be determined.

    Our heroes have been invited into the club and the manager knows one of them is a Faeori. This should get interesting very quickly. 

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #774: The Underfunk

 Hail!

    It's so tragic to see a hidden race fall on such hard times. The Faeori successfully escaped Demonstorm's clutches and somehow found themselves unable to perform the simplest magic trick. Along come the Valeen and suddenly they're addicted to magic. It's going to take a lot of work to get the Faeori clean. If our heroes can, of course. First thing's first. Our heroes will have to find them and that may be a little tricky given how secretive they are. However, if they root out the dealers, the dealers could lead them right to them. Here's hoping M'anta's plan works!

    Poor Shenra. She fell victim to the drug. With a little luck perhaps Aquita will devise an antidote. The problem is we need to figure out what prevented the Faeori from using magic in the first place. I have a few ideas in mind. We'll see how they play out in the next few comics.

    I do like how Medea was talking up the Starbolts. I mean they DID defeat her ex husband many times in the past. It's only fair that she'd brag about it. It looks like it worked and now the Starbolts are on their way to finding the Faeori!

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #773: The Hyperfunk Zone

 Hail!

    The good news is that our heroes are closer to finding out more about the mysterious Faeori. The bad news is that they might be addicted to magic. How is that possible? Well, I'm sure Medea will be asking that question next week when Tanis takes Shenra to his mother. Oh, Shenra. I'm not sure how she got the "magi juice" and now she might be hooked on magic. It's sad to see. However, she was the one who wanted to go "explore the culture". Something tells me she found more than she bargained for. She may have needed a chaperone. Or at least stayed in the compound.

    I had trouble coming up with funky backgrounds this week and thankfully Google had some free images I could use. Many thanks go out to the people who originally made them. I'm not sure what I would have made. But, they wouldn't be as funky as these images. For some reason I'm picturing them all animated. It'd definitely be a trip.

    I had to rewrite a couple bits here and there regarding the magi juice. I originally had Derek offer Medea some. But that didn't fly well with me after a second and third reading. It's better to let him be a leader who warned Medea about the criminal element in his society. Too bad Shenra found out a little too late. More on her next week. Poor Shenra. She has no idea what she's in for.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #772: Bring on the Funk

 Hail!

    This week we're bringing on the funk while Marcus and Tanis have a long overdue talk about what it means to be tethered to the woman they love. Marcus did his best to explain the situation. It's like feeling love in a way that can't be expressed by mere words. Crystal is likely having the same conversation with Heidi while the guys are on their way to the transporter room. Those two will have a lot to learn in the coming comics about what it means to be bonded. It might actually end up helping Marcus and Crystal,too. You never know. They're still rather new to the whole thing. So, it could end up helping them out at the same time.

     I think Tanis and Marcus now have a lot more in common. Both were initially just speedsters and now they're both mystically bonded. The only difference is that Tanis is the magic user. He was the one who initiated it with Heidi. He isn't sure how it happened. I think he might be eager to learn! We'll see how things go.

    Next week we'll be beaming down to the Funkeezi homeworld. The place is sure to be a trip. I had to laugh when I came up with the name "Derek" for their leader. I couldn't come up with anything really alien enough this week. I guess it suits a planet like this. Though, I wonder if I should have called him "Kevin" in honor of Kevin Bacon. Eh, it's fine. Derek it is and we'll be meeting him next week along with more people on the funkiest planet in the universe.

See ya next time!