Trigger warning: This week's comic contains references to sexual assault and violence. Viewer discretion is advised.
Hails and horns!
Well,
we’re finally here. This was the time period that Crystal freaked out about the
most back in
Starbolts #464. As you can see, her fears were well warranted. Now
we know the reason why she was crying in the flashback in
Starbolts #304. Her
boyfriend of three years, Cody Dillinger, attempted to rape her. It’s an act I
do not condone and again I have to say that I do not like writing this
character. This man is beyond redemption. He didn’t just force himself on her
that one time. Over the course of three years he was very, very rough with her.
Cody damaged her emotionally as well as physically. In fact, this is probably
the last time we will EVER see this man.
As writers, sometimes we have to write
characters who for better or for worse are the scum of the earth. Sadly, the
Starbolts don’t live in a fantasy world where people don’t get assaulted. It happens
to people in the real world and I try to put some of that realism into the world
of the comic. It is a sad situation to be in and I do not wish it on anyone. So,
what do we do about Cody Dillinger? We will reference him in a future comic. He
just won’t be appearing any time soon. Instead, I will share what happened to
him after the incident that cost him his eye and gave him five scars across his
face.
Following
Crystal’s rescue from Terra Nova, she went to Agents Embassy with Dennis, Marcus
and Mateo. The teenager spent the night tossing and turning because of
nightmares she was having thanks to her ex-boyfriend’s actions. Scared, she
contacted Andrea and had her meet her in the mess hall. She told her about
everything he did and Andrea had her get an emergency check-up with Dr. Harris
right there. The check-up revealed that Cody had been very brutal with the
sixteen year old for the better part of three years.
Naturally,
Andrea was furious and had asked Stan to press charges on Cody and to immediately
adopt Crystal since her parents signed off all rights to her. Of course, this
was way before it was revealed that she was really their birth daughter all
along. Stan wholeheartedly agreed to take the girl in. Dennis was also placed
under the Whitefoxes’ protective custody at that point because there was no
evidence of a birth certificate. This was due to his own extra-terrestrial
origin.
The
Whitefoxes soon sent Agent Phillip Smith of the Department of Metahuman Affairs
and FBI agent Maria Cooper to arrest the twenty-seven year old for the statutory
rape of a minor, sexual assault and child pornography. He was summarily sent to
prison and won’t be released any time soon assuming he is even still alive in
the Starbolts’ present time. Chances are he isn’t. Men like him don’t last long
in prison. Sam, Mark and I agreed that he probably should be dead. So his final fate is that he was killed in a prison riot.
Cody
was the primary reason why Marcus and Crystal didn’t get together until
recently. If there was no Cody, she would have gotten with him shortly after
her rescue. There is a connection between him and Terra Nova and that’s a story
for another time. It’s also very important to remember that he was wrong. She
did find love again after three years of dealing with him and ten years of
therapy. Now she’s with a man who loves her for who she is: A compassionate and
caring woman. Marcus gets her and she gets him. That’s why they are together.
They connect on an emotional level and that is way more than the purely
physical relationship she had before. That was lust. What Marcus and Crystal
have is love and that’s the most important thing. It’s just a shame that it
took so long. But, she had scars that needed time to heal and he was with her
every step of the way. They were best friends first and later became something
more when they realized that their friendship was actually them falling in love
with each other.
You can
bet that once the others found out about this event, they were not happy.
Marcus definitely wasn’t. Jack even went to so far as to check Cody out at the
prison where he was being held. The Starbolts rallied in support of their
friend because that’s what friends do.
Sure she was a difficult teenager. But, they knew her story and truth be
told Jenna almost had the same thing happen to her.
At
least with Jenna things turned out to be moderately better. Rick Baxter was a
jerk to be sure. But, he wasn’t a rapist. We’ll be seeing more of him when we cover the
death of Sirak J’arrsti. He is another person I really don’t enjoy writing. I’m
not going to say who was worse. BOTH men are slime and at least Rick is
definitely dead. Let’s just say he got the point and took it right to heart.
Mwahahaha!
With
Jenna’s story, we got the origin of the Starbolts. Immediately following that
day, Jenna, Mateo, Marcus and Kevin were brought together to form the
Starbolts. Less than a week later Aquita, M’anta and Shrall arrived on Earth.
The rest as they say is history. And that’s really what this comic has been
about the last few weeks. Basically, we’re getting a crash course in Starbolts
history by dealing with the bumps along the way and of course dealing with the
threat of the Professor. He certainly seems hell bent on trying to undo the
past. What is his deal? We’ll have to wait and see!
More time travel adventures are coming! Stay tuned!
