STAR MAIDEN’S MINI-ARC COMES TO A CLOSE…

This Star Maiden story I’ve been telling for the past month or so is one that I’ve been looking forward to sharing for a long, long time. I first had the vague notion of what was wrong with her back around the time she was first introduced in Chapter 3.

Over time, the explanation and story behind it evolved. Up until a couple of months ago, the planet Star Maiden went to “vacation” at was not her home world, but a completely new world I was going to have to introduce. Then Wes Molebash and I did what I thought was a pretty good job on her origin story and I got the idea to reconfigure the origin of her insanity to include a trip back home. I had a ton of fun imagining how Star’s home world had changed since she’d left, most of which I just didn’t have space to include. My favorite element was making her father a brain a jar. Part of the reason I he didn’t die by the end of this flashback was because I didn’t have the heart to do it. I wanna see him again!

You can read Star Maiden’s full flashback tale starting here. One of the most challenging aspects of this mini-arc was the, really, two stories being told–the one Star Maiden was telling and then what REALLY happened. I had fun with it, but I admit I didn’t properly anticipate how dense it would make some of the strips. It got wordier than I’d hoped.

Still, here’s something I thought might be fun. Dr. Klein obviously didn’t see what we saw, he only heard Star Maiden’s version of events. So here, in it’s entirety, is Star Maiden’s narration of her trip back home. (Crossing my fingers and hoping it all makes sense put together…)

“It had been a super duper long time since I had left my home planet to come to Earth. And I was getting oh-so homesick. So, I decided to take a vacation!

“Everyone back home was so happy to see me again! Even my old teacher, Starbrighter, was there! And my dad, too! It was such a terrific surprise! Last time I saw him, he was dead. He did look a little different, but he was still my Pop-Pop!

“Dad and Starbrighter didn’t always get along so well, so it was great to see them finally working together! My first night back, we all sat down and had a wonderful meal together!

“After my meal, I felt so refreshed! Of course, I immediately thanked Dad and Starbrighter for their delicious hospitality. Sadly, my old mentor had business elswhere and could not stick around for the rest of my visit.

“The next day, I went out to get reacquainted with some of the townsfolk! They were all so happy to see me! They begged me to stay and I didn’t have the heart to tell them no!

“So, I lived among my people for many wonderful years! But, unfortunately, the hour of my bye by arrived. The people were so, so sad to see me go that they gave me a parting gift as a token of their love!

“And now here I am–back on planet Earth and living with all of my friends!”

Huh. That was weird.

GETTING OUR RIGHTS BACK and WHAT ABOUT PAGES 9-18?

That’s the title of the newest MONSTERPLEX blog. We’re now in active negotiations with Zuda to get our rights back and I tell you everything I can, including when you might see more Monsterplex pages, at the link.

10th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Today is the tenth wedding anniversary for my wife and I. Don’t expect to see me around much. I’ll catch up with you guys later though, for sure.

NEXT WEEK:

On Tuesday, The Life and Times of Soviet Sam concludes and I’ll have an announcement to make regarding T.L. Collins.

Then, on Thursday, Tangerine takes the chair! You know that’s going to be interesting.