Remember when they told you not to look directly at the sun? This would be worse.
Star Power #8
(January, 2015)
“The Search For Black Hole Bill” part 3
WRITER: Michael Terraciano
ARTIST: Garth Graham
Mitch manages to come online, warning that without a full recharge both it and Danica will die. With no recharging stations to be found in the dead network, the only solution is to find a star that matches the type Mitch hid as. Too bad the nearest one is becoming a magnet for all of Star Power’s surviving enemies. The new leader of the Supernova Dragon Lords, Roarboar, wants weapons to start raids and turn the group into conquering warriors, forcing Black Hole Bill to be a figurehead for the upcoming raids. Roarboar has weapons stationed at a dive bar that happens to be where the surviving trio of Void Angels are still looking to find work. One of the former Void Angels wants to finish off Star Power but the others have more important things to worry about. They all do when Roarboar and Bill arrive at the bar, Bill shooting the new barkeep who replaced the one Roarboar had a deal with. The others find the Angels but the barkeep survives and sends a distress signal, and the nearest ship is of course the one used to keep Danica company as Kaylo, Shi Lalis, and a still injured Grex who demanded to come along…and has a score to settle with Bill!
What they got right: There are some good bonding moments for our quartet, especially Kaylo’s joke I’ll let you read. You really get to see the friendship between the four, and also between the three Void Angels when the one human member doesn’t want to join the all-human (thus probably racist based on comments made by the Angels and the Chief) Supernovas. Bill is starting to realize he backed the wrong horse. We see Mitch vulnerable when confronted with the dead Star Power network. The action is small, but possibly ramping up next issue, while the character moments make up for it without feeling like its replacing the superhero parts since this is about recharging the Star Power.
What they got wrong: The creators of the AI ships probably should have gotten their worldbuild entry in the previous issue, where Bill was trashing (treated as murdering and given what he does here we shouldn’t be surprised if that’s what it was) one of their ships.
What I think overall: This is what a lot of current “superhero” comics think they’re doing by replacing the superheroics with people sitting around talking or doing the human stuff. Here the character moments come because the story has time to do it and doesn’t forget the type of story it normally is. If you want to know how to make superhero comics with a female lead this is still the series you should be looking into for a positive example.
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