Starbolts #469: The Call

Hail!

The Starbolts second mission through time has yielded quite a few important plot points. First, we've learned that the Professor intends to fix dramatic events. Why? Well, the minion has asked Jack and Takashi to ask M'anta. What does he have to do with this? Could the Professor have misinterpreted something he said or did when he visited him all those comics ago? It's possible.

The second thing we learned this week is that Jack is the one who called Soldier Six about the murder of Kevin's mother. Little bit of a predestination paradox there. I'll need to avoid those. It couldn't have been easy for him to call and hear his former girlfriend's voice. Definitely not easy. Chances are good that he hid in the bushes before he left and watched himself interact with his old friends. Poor guy. It should be noted that this comic takes place about a month or so after the incident at Harris Labs. That year was a bad year for the Agents!!

At any rate, two out of nine time travel adventures have been completed. These events are all going in chronological order. So, the next place we're visiting is D.I.S.C.O.R.D. island with Marcus. Will more secrets be revealed next week? Stay tuned!

Starbolts #468: Making Aquarius Great Again

Hail!

Sorry this week's comic was a little later than usual. I came down with a nasty stomach bug right when there were about ten panels left to work on. I couldn't very well work on everything. So, I had to delay it a couple of days. And despite all that, I think this week's comic turned out good.

I'll give you all just one guess as to who Yeena is pregnant with at the end of the comic. If you guessed Aquita, you'd be right. She was conceived shortly before the end of the Occupation of Aquarius. By the time she was born, reconstruction was underway and by the time the twins M'anta and Shrall were born two years later, Aquarius had begun to finally heal from the wounds inflicted on them by the insidious Mosqukatara.

The bug queen here just wanted to make Aquarius great again. Problem is that she was enslaving everyone. The planet is free and now Jacob and Firaxil can head back to the future. One timeline has been restored and there's eight more to go! Get ready for more temporal hijinks!

See you next time!

Starbolts #467: Dark Times on Aquarius

 Hail!

The time traveling Starbolts are off on their adventure and their first stop is the Aquan Occupation. This was a dark time in Aquan history. For sixty years, aliens known as the Mosqukatara enslaved the people of their world. They were forced into labor camps, slums and exterminated for following their religion. There were other atrocities the bugs committed. The water was heavily polluted and that forced many to take shelter on land.

However, where there was strife there was hope. Sirak, Yeena and their resistance cell was one of many that oversaw the liberation of many camps, saved countless lives and preserved their planet for sixty years until they were liberated. Firaxil and Jacob have arrived at a crucial point in time. The Mosqukatara's losses have been mounting for years. All that was left was one final push to drive the insects from their homeland.

We know that the cell was successful in saving Aquarius. However, something is up with Yeena. I'll reveal what that is, soon. Readers might want to keep her in your mind. She'll be coming up a lot in future comics. Notably the ones concerning Sirak's eventual assassination and over course her rescue.

You might also want to take note how M'anta and Sirak share the same wardrobe. M'anta is wearing his father's armor. Heroism does run in the family. Actually, it runs in many of the Starbolts' families.

See you next time for part two of our trip to Aquarius! 

Starbolts #466: Time for Time Force

Hail!

And they're off to various points in time and space! Where are they all going? Well, here's a list of who is going where:

Number	Time team	Time period
1	Mateo/Angelo	Crystal’s farm
2	Aquita/Dendra	Jenna burns down school
3	Marcus/Rose	D.I.S.C.O.R.D. Island
4	Firaxil/Jacob	Aquan Occupation
5	Angela/MJ	Firaxil and New Inobus
6	Jenna/Sirak	Angela’s death
7	TK/Jack	Kevin’s mom’s death
8	Kevin/Kaori	Death of King Sirak
9	Norad	Sara’s death

The only ones not going on a mission are Sara, Shrall, Anya and the newbies. They'll be staying behind to monitor the crazy adventures through time and space. Let's not forget that Crystal and M'anta have their own missions to save Carter and Yeena respectively. That isn't to say the others won't have important things to do. They will. Oh, they certainly will if Stan and Andrea are planning something. They won't be left out of the coming conflict! And what a conflict it will be!

You might ask why Shrall wouldn't go to Sara's timeline with Norad. Well, it was decided off screen that the android has no emotional impediments at this time. He'd be able to solo it with no problem. No emotional issues. Shrall and the others have another job to do!

So, yes. Marcus is the heart of the team. There's this thing with the DCAU that if the Flash were to ever die, the entire Justice League would turn evil. This plays on that principle. Call it the "Speedster Principle". =)

At any event, the stage is set. We'll be going to these events in chronological order. So, the first event we're going to is event #4, the days of the Aquan Occupation. Fun times ahead, readers.

See you next time!

Starbolts #465: The Time Lost

Hail!

Looks like M'anta and Crystal are taking on a sidequest to save M'anta's mother, Yeena and the first Lady Liberty. The first Lady Liberty's death was shown in a flashback in Starbolts #447: The Legacy of the Shield and Yeena's death happened way back in Starbolts #52: The Aquan Front. Wow. That was ten years ago in real world terms. In the comic, it's only been a little less than two years. Crystal and M'anta have their work cut out for themselves as they work to bring those heroines back to the present.

We still have a few questions. Who is "The Chief"? Obviously she is someone who is familiar with the Starbolts. I wonder who she could be. What is "The Parental Directive"? We'll find out the answer to that one soon. For now, we wait as the teams are ready to go back in time and fix history.

Good luck, Starbolts! You're gonna need it!

Starbolts #464: All the Pain of Yesterday

Trigger Warning: This week's comic contains references to sexual assault. Viewer discretion is advised.

 

Hail,

This week’s comic had a trigger warning for obvious reasons. I revealed that Crystal was almost sexually assaulted just minutes before meeting Marcus. It’s the reason why she was crying on the rock in Starbolts#304’s flashback scene. Normally, I try to keep the comic light from time to time. However, certain things need to be addressed when talking about certain characters. Characters like Sara, Firaxil and Crystal have not had easy lives and I hope that I am conveying that in the best and most tasteful way possible. My friend, Sam, has been very helpful in that regard. The comic doesn’t make light of what happened to any of those characters. But, sadly it is a fact of life for many and I’m trying my best to treat the situations with the utmost care and delicacy. Despite the fact that these characters have fantastic powers and abilities, they are still characters who have gone through the wringer.

There is a bit more to Cody Dillinger’s story that will be revealed in due time. I don’t enjoy writing this character at all.  However, readers will soon see that he got his just desserts. In time, Crystal is going to learn that Cody was more than just a mere farmhand. I don’t want to give anything away. That one time on the rock wasn’t the only time he did something to her. Let’s just leave it at that. More on his backstory and what happened to him soon. 

Sufficed it to say, it took her a long time to recover from that and other things Cody did to her over a three year period. The point is that she did and is now in a much healthier relationship with someone who actually loves her and has a great support system. 

Picking that period of time was a tough choice for Sam and me. We needed to pick a moment in time where Crystal outright rejected Terra Nova, the people who “raised her” and embraced the life of a superhero. The farm she lived on was not really a farm and the community outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky was not really a community. She was basically raised in an environment akin to the “Truman Show”. Only nastier. All of the children except for Firaxil were children of Terra Nova agents and there were agents running around. I’ll be delving into that story soon, too.

As for the others, the Starbolts are going to have a hard time coming to grips with the time periods they have to go to. These include:

1. Crystal rejecting Terra Nova (as discussed.)
2. Sara's death
3. Firaxil and the shuttle leaving New Inobus
4. The life bomb on D.I.S.C.O.R.D. island
5. Jenna burning down her school
6. The death of Sirak J'arrsti
7. The death of Criam J'arrsti
8. The death of Kevin's mother
9. The death of Angela

Those nine events shaped Crystal, Sara, Firaxil, Jack, Jenna, M’anta, Aquita, Shrall, Kevin and Angela into who they are now. Once the Starbolts finally confront The Professor, you can be damn sure that there’ll be hell to pay. Since those Starbolts in particular will be angry, the whole team will be. One thing, though. What are M’anta and Crystal going to do since they won’t be going to these nine time periods? That, readers, we’ll find out next week!

Should also note that the kids are really angry about this. They learned about these events from their parents. MJ almost wanted to reveal himself to his parents. He did feel for them, you have to admit. He’s a good kid.

See you next time!

Starbolts #463: The not too Distant Future

Hail!

This week we find out what was behind that ominous glow in last week's comic and it turned out to be the arrival of the children of the current Starbolts from the future! Fifteen years in the future to be exact! Let's take a look at who's who:

Sirak Arlandero, the son of Mateo Arlandero and Aquita J'arrsti.
Dendra Odanta, the daughter of Firaxil Odanta and Sara Whitefox.
Marcus Johnson Jr, the son of Marcus Johnson and Crystal Whitefox.
Jacob Whitefox, the son of Jack Whitefox and Anya Petrov.
Angelo Stanton, the son of Kevin Stanton and Angela Arlandero.
Rose J'arrsti, the daughter of M'anta J'arrsti and Jenna Dastara.

As you can see, there are quite a bit of cousins in this team. But, that's fine. The next generation of Starbolts is here to help the older generations take care of the Professor. The Professor was once a cosmic entity who was nice and helped out M'anta once when he was hurting and looking for Jenna in the time stream. What could have caused his heel turn? We'll find out soon enough.

I'm aware that the future Starbolts are all dressed like Power Rangers. That's just a sight gag. They won't be summoning any zords or anything.

Either way, I guess if you're going to have wedding crashers, it might as well be your children from the future! See ya next time!