Starbolts #649: The Worst Possible Conclusion

 

 Hail! 

    We are just one comic away from the epic 650th comic! But, before we get there we have this spotlight on Simon Wheeler and his girlfriend, Valentina Ferrara. Longtime readers know that these two had a history in the comic as they were once members of Terra Nova's anti-Starbolt team, the Legion. These days four members of that team have now taken up residence at Agents Academy and will be on hand to see that terrorist organization off for good.

    In Starbolts #603, it was revealed that Valentina and Carter (then known as Sola) had a romantic relationship. Whether or not it was mutual is up for debate as the Sola personality was quite ruthless. Still, there may be some truth to what she said in this week's comic. Valentina may have indeed helped to bring Carter's true personality to the surface and thus helped to free her when the time came. You never know.

    Poor Simon, though. He assumed the worst because of all the insecurities he built up at the hands of Terra Nova. They hardly did the guy any favors and Val is attempting to help him through it in the same way he helped her through everything. Don't forget. Her powers involved releasing a hypnotizing pheromone and guys like Tom abused its effects. Sola never did. That drew Val closer to her. When Carter was rescued, Val no longer had that love. That's when Simon came in to save the day.

    I guess it's an understatement to say that Terra Nova screwed up so many lives. Next week we'll see them off for good in our 650th comic and beyond. Many characters will be showing up and it's sure to be a blast.  So, stick around for that. We still need to find out what exactly happened to Carter in those pools.

Stay tuned!

Starbolts #648: Wolf-Boy Meets Girl

 

 Hail!

    In light of last week's kind of depressing tone, Sam and I thought it'd be best to lighten the mood with a comic starring Takashi Shimonoseki aka Garoukingu. Here he is on his first date with a woman he met on one of those dating apps. If you recall a while back, Crystal planned on having her friend join a dating app since his dating pool is kind of low. All of his friends have basically paired off at this point and that's got to make poor TK feel miserable. I know he doesn't have to have a significant other. But, there's no harm in trying things out, right? Right!

    I've actually created an elaborate back-story for Ms. Patel this week as I was working on the comic. Check this out. Rina comes from Mumbai, India and is from a wealthy family. Her parents once arranged a marriage between her and one of her family friend's sons. That's what she was going to tell TK before she spotted the only ginger in the joint.

    Anyway, things didn't work out between her and Raj. So, she left him and went to Cambridge University to study engineering and eventually made her way to America. She is one of six children and most of them are married by this point. Because of that, her parents pressured her to find someone and so she ended up registering on "Matchmaker". 

    Wow. That really is a deep backstory, right? We'll see how this plays out in future comics. She'll eventually meet the Starbolts in time. I'm debating whether or not to turn her into a super. Then again, there's that line from the Incredibles "If everyone's super, then no one will be.". It may be best to let her be a civilian. At the very least she could find work at the academy. Let's not get ahead of ourselves! They just met!!

    I do like the bit with Marcus and Crystal. Everything nearly fell apart and Crystal swooped in to save the day. They were good to help TK on his journey. Rina may have been a bit jumpy when she saw those two. But, I am sure the relationship will improve. These things take time. I liked the reference to Marcus and Crystal's first date. That was when they were on the run back in the early 300s. Things have definitely progressed on that front and I'm sure wedding bells are in their future.

As for Takashi and Rina? Who's to say? At least the wolf-boy found someone!

See ya next time!

Starbolts #647: Cutting Through the Red Tape

 Trigger Warning: This week's comic references sexual abuse. If you or anyone you know is abused in this fashion, please seek help.

 

Hail!

    This week's comic was a little hard to write as I really, really don't like writing creeps. I don't know what it is. But, I just can't do it without having some kind of palette cleanser afterward. I wanted to show that Jeb Arronfeld was every bit a creeper as Cody was. Maybe even more since he lived with Crystal. That guy had some serious problems and as Crystal would probably say, the Leonid who killed him probably did the world a favor.  Yeah. I have no tolerance for guys like that.

    Want to know the sad part? Ruby would justify her actions by saying she kept that monster away from her. I don't think it quite works that way. At least justice came for Jeb Arronfeld and it was likely very swift and painful. That's all I can say on the matter. The leering and lusting after Crystal likely didn't stop here, either. Now Crystal has the body of Jeb Arronfeld. I think she'd be happy to see him cremated. It's the least he deserves for being such a creep! He probably figured it was okay to do what he did because Crystal wasn't his biological daughter. Though, the Arronfelds were supposed to pretend that wasn't the case.

    It should be noted that the flashback took place the same day as the flashback with Cody and Crystal in Starbolts #628. To put things into perspective, that was definitely not Crystal's best day!

    Meanwhile Ruby is likely still suffering from the magical slashing she got back in Starbolts #638. Ruby may have been stitched up. But, her face will forever burn thanks to the inadvertent curse our young witch put on her. How's that for justice?

     As far as Granite goes, I think I've put things in motion for his eventual release. He's basically Ben "The Thing" Grimm at this point. All he needs now is a shove in the right direction and some support. He could be an asset to the Starbolts if he so desired. Perhaps one day he will join their ranks. For now he seems to be on probation and living in a swanky "cell" that has basic cable. It was the best the Starbolts could do for the poor guy. He's living in the DMA headquarters, too. So, there's that. I think he'll be fine.

    We're almost to our landmark 650th comic and with that comes the "funeral" for Terra Nova. Jeb is clearly going to be the "guest of honor". Next time we're going to catch up with Pegasus and see how the mansion repairs are coming along.

See ya next time!

Starbolts #646: Hints from Medea

 

 Hail! 

    Leave it to Medea to have absolutely no filter whatsoever and somehow manage to drop potential plot points for future storylines on the way out the door. Medea is one character who Sam and I love to write. I was cracking up so hard when Sam sent me the edits for this week's script. He called it the best work he had ever done on the former villain. 

    I think it's safe to say that we can call Medea an ally of the Starbolts now since she fixed Marcus, fixed Tanis and has yet to do anything remotely evil. The Starbolts still keep a close eye on her because she was once married to their first baddie, Demonstorm. It kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Was Medea every bit a victim of Demonstorm as she was? The answer is a resounding "yes!" in my opinion.

 Demonstorm was a tyrant and now that he's effectively out of the picture for the time being, Medea is free to finally be herself. She praised Carter's work on her son Tanis back in Starbolts #438 and that was just the beginning of his healing process. She has been on this sort of redemption tour for ages and I think she has done a great job trying to make amends for all the damage she did while under his umm...well..."thumb" is probably the best way I can put it.

    I do like her interactions with the ladies here. Cece clearly is having none of it. If Medea has no filter, then Cece is the exact opposite here. To each their own, I suppose.

    As far as Carter and her name goes....Yes. Sara is now Carter. I'll probably change that in the Starbolts' bio section at some point. I think the original Lady Liberty will love having Carter take her name as well as her mom. She was originally going to be called Carter when she was born. But, Terra Nova stepped in and we all know how that went. At least the twins are happy with their names and are ready to take the next step. Tune in next time as we start to say farewell to Terra Nova once and for all.

See ya then!

Starbolts #645: Birds of a Feather

 

 Hail!

    This week Pal'idin's son, Pal'idin has taken up residence at Agents Academy since his father was killed back in Starbolts #624. As you can see his sprite's are the same as his father's. There's a reason for that. Like M'anta, Pal junior is basically honoring his father's memory by wearing a similar suit. However, the suit that Pal is wearing here is basically the uniform of Dovianni's elite guard known as The Soldiers of the Talon. Everyone has a suit like that in that organization. Junior here is just a low ranking member.

    Now that Junior is on Earth, it seems that Ariel would like to adopt him. I don't think anyone would take issue with that because she and Jaime are more than capable of raising a kid. Pal'idin is alone now and really has no one watching over him and offering guidance. Who better to help than someone who has gone through a similar experience? I think they'll be a great influence on him. I just hope Junior gets over his fear of Mateo. That would be a good thing!

    Ariel would be a great surrogate mother for Pal'idin because she had similar experiences. Way back in the earlier comics I went into detail on how she was sent out as a hatchling to find help and safeguard their species since Dovianni was ruled by the Mosqukatara. Because of this, she never knew her parents and has been longing for a family ever since. Now she has a chance to make one with this kid. Let's hope he says "Yes" to being adopted. I think we all know he will say "Yes" since he already sees her as a mother. Time will tell.

For now let's be glad that Pal'idin has a home now. I think he'll be in good hands.

See ya next time! 

Starbolts #644: Bringing Down the House

 

 Hail!

    A father's love has no bounds. He would move heaven and earth for his children. In this case, Stan was more than willing to nip a problem in the bud for Carter and Crystal before it escalated into full-on persecution. As you can see from the comments from the peanut gallery, it was not a moment too soon.  Several wizards like Bruno were willing to ban void magic all together. Were it not for Stan's intervention, they may well have succeeded. 

    Thankfully Stan had an ace up his sleeve. Back in Starbolts #560,  Adelphus Longwood offered the position as head of the council to Stan. He declined then. Now he accepted and promptly handed the reins to his friends, Ethan Knight and Gregorio Arlandero. That's not all he did. As of this comic, the Order of Korun is no more! It will forever be known as the "Order of the Triad". The triad refers to the trinity of void, primal and Centurion force. 

    This trinity of magic will now serve as the governing body for all magic users within the universe of this comic. I'll go into detail at a later date. This is basically just the start of a new Order which includes all types of magic users. A new day has dawned for the magic users of the Starbolts universe. What can we expect? Time will tell, my friends.

 As far as Cece goes, she is on the mend and Carter is clearly happy her mentor is back in action. Crystal will be happy as well. It looks like things are wrapping up here in the Starbolts universe. However, we still have something else to talk about. I wonder how Pal'idin's son is doing. Someone should really check in on that poor kid....

See ya next time and find out what he's been up to!

Starbolts #643: She Saved the World

 

 Hail! 

    Wow, there's a lot going on in this week's comic! We start off covering the fallout of Ellie saving the world from Kyodon's wrath. She needed a friend to talk to and who better than the team's resident therapist, Angela? The poor girl already has to deal with the fact that her mother, Elisabeth, was the head of a terrorist organization. Now she has to deal with how her mother summoned Kyodon and had her cause problems for Ellie and her friends. That's a bit much for a teenager, isn't it? At least she's in good hands with the Starbolts. They'll help her out!

    Next we have Crystal talking to her mom about Ruby/Masque. She had a bit of a crisis concerning her name in the wake of everything. Andrea reminded her of her grandmother who we last saw in Starbolts #614 helping her other great-granddaughter repair her soul. The details of that episode are coming soon. Trust me. At least Crystal is now at peace with her name since it no longer means "crystalline skeletal specimen 001". Charming name Terra Nova came up with isn't it? Rolls right off the tongue.

    Crystal definitely enjoys seeing her parents kiss and everything because she never saw the Arronfelds kiss. As far as she knew they were in a loveless marriage. If it ever really was a marriage. You have to remember that Crystal lived in a fake farm in a fake town. Chances are good that the Arronfelds weren't really married. Crystal likes seeing them kiss because it reminds her that she was a product of love and not the science experiment she grew up thinking she was.

    And to that end we have Stan doing everything he can to protect his daughters. He wants to give them the life they never had and a life where they don't have to fear outside forces disrupting their lives. It was bad enough that Terra Nova caused them so much pain. Now he wants to nip the next problem in the bud by taking on the Order of Korun. Changes are coming to the Order in the wake of Cassandra's death and heads are gonna roll!

Stay tuned!