Star Power 7: Bad Luck for the Starstruck!

[Vinyadan]

Keep in mind that every volume is supposed to be made of five issues, while this one will be made of four, so the last two issues will have to be compressed into one.

So, what do we have left?

-- The criminal fellas
-- The crazy murderous policeman
-- The corrupt police chief laying a trap against the detective
-- The slaves who "aren't going to talk"
-- Danica + Burke

So I assume that the detective will survive so that there can be a happy ending for Grex, while Danica will marry Burke. Big final party shot with everyone (Chief, Brightman, the other 2 friends, Mitch, Burke, Danica).

The real question, however, is: are we going back to DD 7/7?

[faustin]

And what about the subplots with Countess, Burke's former wingmen, the robot, etc...?

[Traab]

And what about the subplots with Countess, Burke's former wingmen, the robot, etc...?

They all got thrown into a cell with black hole bill, melded together, and became a powerful monster danica had to defeat to create a new star power source. /nod You must have missed that comic.

[Welf]

It's already been seven years? Damn. How has it been that long already? It seriously feels like it's only been one, maybe two years since this all began. I guess I really am getting older.

Well, I can honestly say that I'm going to miss Star Power. It's a fun, dumb comic that is truly ripe for snarking. And there are so many plot threads that are now going to be left dangling forever. A pity.

I was shocked as well; I would have said like maybe 2 or 3 years. But the first post about this comic was made on May 15th 2013, almost exactly 7 years ago.

I will miss the comic too. It still feels like there is a lot unsaid, and still a big galaxy out there to explore. But I can understand Garth. He is a creative mind and wants to do new project, develop new skills. Plus he needs to pay bills. But still a pity.

[Celestia]

Nah, we get a timeskip as danica is an old woman recording her life story as the narrator this whole time, she is the head of a new armada of star powered sentinels. How she created them, what they do, all that is left unexplained just because.

That could be. DD ended on a time skip like that. And it would mean that we completely glossed over all of the actually important parts of Danica's life to tell stories about space bikers and a creepy music man, which is a very Mookie thing to do.

I was shocked as well; I would have said like maybe 2 or 3 years. But the first post about this comic was made on May 15th 2013, almost exactly 7 years ago.

I will miss the comic too. It still feels like there is a lot unsaid, and still a big galaxy out there to explore. But I can understand Garth. He is a creative mind and wants to do new project, develop new skills. Plus he needs to pay bills. But still a pity.

Yeah, the writing has been on the wall for a while now. Star Power first switched to the two/week upload schedule with longer breaks between chapters because Garth was having motivational issues. It was really only a matter of time, which makes it all the more bizarre that Mookie kept ignoring the main plot to focus on pointless nonsense when his artist was running on fumes. Maybe he didn't notice or maybe he was too optimistic in thinking that he could reignite Garth's passion with these "fun" stories. Either way, a competent writer would have spent this time wrapping up dangling plot threads and building up to the final climax.

[Traab]

I would argue against that. It may be that mookie is hoping to leave the series open ended in case he can get someone else to work with. After all, a competent author isnt going to rush his entire story just because he is about to lose his artist. Why wreck the entire thing by going, "And then danica solved all problems everywhere, the end."? Better to leave the chance for it to be continued some day, if he can find someone else to take up the reins. If he leaves it like this, there will be interest in reading it if it comes back BECAUSE all these plot threads exist.

[Vinyadan]

It's true, it feels like there was still a lot out there to see. I credit Garth with this feeling: his alien designs have impressed me since the first issue. But Psycop also was great. And Mookie always has his relaxed, dreamy-eyed, feel-good attitude, if occasionally a bit too sugary.

However, it also feels like the comic never knew what it wanted to be about. It started out with the declared fascination for astronomy. So we had the observation of stars, and a protagonist that wants to dream while her superior wants her to focus. We also had an attempt with an orbital sling.

And then, after showing the mighty Star Sentinel defeat an ageless enemy from timeless void (the Countess), the comic decided to follow a second-stringer like Black Hole Billy. There is no thematic continuity here. It's just that the comic didn't want to create a new villain, and instead followed an old one: one who had already been presented as an underpowered idiot. So we follow this trend, and, instead of astronomy, we have Roarboar and his flying scooters, because the only thing characterising BHB was a shotgun in an age of lasers, so we go tribal-future.

I don't want to sound too harsh here; when I reread a piece of vol. 2, I was surprised by how much better it felt. Why? Expectations. You can write a good or decent piece, but if the expectations set were for something else, then your audience will be unhappy. Now I know what vol. 2 is about. Back then, I expected something completely different. But you don't make money

Vol. 3 was about archaeology. So we have another thematic shift.

Vol. 4 is... Exploration? War? Genocide? On a planetary scale?

Vol. 5 is about Music and cloning.

And Vol. 6 was about organised crime.

I mean, there is no semblance of coherence. Instead, we have the potential, but LOTS of assets are left unused. Let's think of vol. 4, with the interstellar ship. The crew is left unused. Danica is sent alone. The ship is magicked in as a cheap solution. And I am sure that there are lots of other examples. What about her family? What's the deal with her mom? We never find out. It's never resolved, it's never confronted. There is no path of Danica. Instead, Burke gets a path. Grex more or less does, too.

And the setting also shifted from one side to the other. In the first issues, we have a government whose scientists and military do human experiments and something called "Starbreaker". Then it all disappears with one word of Psycop. Later, Mookie explicitly says that he made a Galaxy that doesn't need Star Power, but doesn't give her a path to growth and she's limited to punching people and destroying starships, exactly the same thing she's always done, only with decreasing danger.

[Celestia]

I would argue against that. It may be that mookie is hoping to leave the series open ended in case he can get someone else to work with. After all, a competent author isnt going to rush his entire story just because he is about to lose his artist. Why wreck the entire thing by going, "And then danica solved all problems everywhere, the end."? Better to leave the chance for it to be continued some day, if he can find someone else to take up the reins. If he leaves it like this, there will be interest in reading it if it comes back BECAUSE all these plot threads exist.

There's no chance of that happening. There's already a low readership and lack of interest. That's not going to improve with time. A webcomic that doesn't update dies. This isn't a TV show that will become a cult classic in five years, growing into a massive fanbase. When most art is made, it's put out there forever, always on display and waiting for a new audience to stumble upon it, but the internet doesn't work that way. The internet buries things that aren't popular. When the comic stops updating, people stop visiting the site. When the views stop coming in, search engines bump it down the list. Eventually, the only way to find it will be to specifically search for it by name, and that's obviously not going to bring in new people. The internet is simply a different arena.

[Welf]

However, it also feels like the comic never knew what it wanted to be about. It started out with the declared fascination for astronomy. So we had the observation of stars, and a protagonist that wants to dream while her superior wants her to focus. We also had an attempt with an orbital sling.

I think that was intentionally; instead of a concise story with myth arc that slowly progresses he wanted to explore the setting and do various kinds of stories and challenges. Basically "Voyager" instead of of "Deep Space 9". But as you said we expected the later, and I think webcomics need long term arcs. IMO successful webcomics have a core of very dedicated fans that pay anything to see the mysteries and story treads resolved.

There's no chance of that happening. There's already a low readership and lack of interest. That's not going to improve with time. A webcomic that doesn't update dies. This isn't a TV show that will become a cult classic in five years, growing into a massive fanbase. When most art is made, it's put out there forever, always on display and waiting for a new audience to stumble upon it, but the internet doesn't work that way. The internet buries things that aren't popular. When the comic stops updating, people stop visiting the site. When the views stop coming in, search engines bump it down the list. Eventually, the only way to find it will be to specifically search for it by name, and that's obviously not going to bring in new people. The internet is simply a different arena.

That's true. Even good stuff is lost and forgotten. And the comic was neither good no bad enough to create a large and rabid enough fan/hate base that would like to see more and pay enough to make it worthwhile.

[Shogo]

Well. Well. It was in fact fun to see her sputter.

I'm on the mob boss' side on this one. But I'm also someone who thinks Batman should just kill most of his villains. Or failing that, that they should have mysteriously fallen down a flight of stairs onto 27 bullets.

Granted, I know the real reason they aren't killed off. Just saying.

[Celestia]

Well. Well. It was in fact fun to see her sputter.

I'm on the mob boss' side on this one. But I'm also someone who thinks Batman should just kill most of his villains. Or failing that, that they should have mysteriously fallen down a flight of stairs onto 27 bullets.

Granted, I know the real reason they aren't killed off. Just saying.

To anyone who doesn't understand Batman's perspective, watch the movie Under the Red Hood. It lays it out beautifully. Basically, Batman stands at the edge of a moral abyss, constantly dancing right outside of it, and he's afraid that if he ever takes even one foot inside, he'll tumble all the way to the bottom and never climb back out. He doesn't kill his villains, not even the Joker, not because he thinks they deserve to live, but because if he starts killing them off, he'll end up going on a murderous rampage, cutting a bloody swath through Gotham. For Batman, his no killing rule must be ironclad and unbreakable because it's the only way he can justify to himself what he does every night; it's the only way he can prove to himself that he's not just as insane and monstrous as them.

[faustin]

If anything the mob bosss showed more responsability than the heroes, who left the assassins behind unguarded. How long until they'd escaped? And even if they wouldn't, how do you deal with them in a thoroughly corrupt city?

[Kantaki]

Meh, I'm with the Extavo here.
Murder cultists needed to be dealt with, and while locking them up would've been less... Icky, morally speaking, that's hardly a option on Planet Mafia, so blowing them to Kingdom Come is it.
Definitely more sensible than our heroes' approach.
Just leaving them tied up?
Best case they die of thirst and starvation, worst case they're freed and go back to murderizing.
Good thing you can fly Starpower, cause you have no leg to stand on.

Also, is it just me, or it Danica looking a bit like a hypocrite here? She's giving off those "I'm gonna kill you for not following my no killing rules."
More importantly, the Extavo had no right?
Who gave her the right to butt in and enforce her idea of right and wrong?

[random11]

Link

Ignoring the morality issues, what the heck did Danica expect?!
She went alone to make a deal with a mobster deep in revenge mode, when his REGULAR reaction is violence.

Also, what's wrong with her back in the third panel?

[Shogo]

Like I said, I know why Batman doesn't really kill the villains. Both the in-comic reasons and with DC not wanting to scrap popular, money making villains.

I also don't really care. I think Batman's justifications are bull****. Doesn't really help that DC actually did a What If comic where the Jason Todd incident was enough to make him kill the Joker. You know what happened? He killed all the supervillains but continued business as usual with the "normal" criminals. Created a world without supervillains and it became almost utopian. The only complaint other superheroes had is that with only mundane criminals to deal with they had problems with boredom.

But even ignoring that, there's the surprise someone like the Joker hasn't been snuffed out by one of Gotham's famously corrupt cops. Or even one of the few that aren't corrupt. With all the nasty **** the Joker does, you really expect me to believe that no one EVER made sure he had an "accident" while being taken into custody after Batman has beaten the **** out of him?

Anyways . . . To at least have something to say about Star Power in this post . . . I guess I'll repeat myself. The mobb boss is right here. Danica is wrong.

[Celestia]

Like I said, I know why Batman doesn't really kill the villains. Both the in-comic reasons and with DC not wanting to scrap popular, money making villains.

I also don't really care. I think Batman's justifications are bull****. Doesn't really help that DC actually did a What If comic where the Jason Todd incident was enough to make him kill the Joker. You know what happened? He killed all the supervillains but continued business as usual with the "normal" criminals. Created a world without supervillains and it became almost utopian. The only complaint other superheroes had is that with only mundane criminals to deal with they had problems with boredom.

I'm not saying I agree with it, either. I was just giving Batman's reasoning.

But even ignoring that, there's the surprise someone like the Joker hasn't been snuffed out by one of Gotham's famously corrupt cops. Or even one of the few that aren't corrupt. With all the nasty **** the Joker does, you really expect me to believe that no one EVER made sure he had an "accident" while being taken into custody after Batman has beaten the **** out of him?

That I will totally give you. It makes sense that Batman has never done the deed. It does not make sense that no one else has, either. They wouldn't even need to shoot him, either. There have been several times where Joker gets beaten so badly that he's clinging to life by a thread. Some vigilante cop or nurse could just subtly cut that thread without anyone being the wiser. And even if the rest of Gotham suspects foul play is involved, chances are no one will care enough to actually do anything about it. The cops will just shrug their shoulders and say the evidence is inconclusive. Heck, I can even see the city reintroducing capital punishment just for the Joker. I mean, I think his canon kill count is well over 1000 by now.

Anyways . . . To at least have something to say about Star Power in this post . . . I guess I'll repeat myself. The mobb boss is right here. Danica is wrong.

I wouldn't say "right" as much as "less wrong," personally.

[Welf]

Also, what's wrong with her back in the third panel?

I think it looks okay? Here an image with side boob and another SFW image of a woman on her hands on knees. The back has a similar arc in the first image.

[Kantaki]

The main issue with that pose is that it kinda clashes with her face.
Her expression says "I'm gonna rip your spine out through your eyes and choke you to death with it."
Her pose says "I know yoga".

[Celestia]

The main problem with that panel is that her head has inflated to twice its normal size. She should really go see a space doctor.

[Kantaki]

The main problem with that panel is that her head has inflated to twice its normal size. She should really go see a space doctor.

Nah, her head has to be that big to fit her ego.
Which is honestly impressive considering it doesn't exactly have to share.

[Neoriceisgood]

Huh Star Power's ending? Strange whiplash to read it's been ongoing for 7 years, I did not realize I had been reading it for so long.


Reading Garth & Mookie's posts on the subject I can fully understand why Mookie wouldn't want to continue without his collaborator, if you've always made a particular project by brainstorming together, discussing the story etc and one half of that equation vanishes I can see how that'd kill the motivation to continue that story at all.

I'm curious how they're going to end it as a short-circuited story tends to result in fairly mediocre and rushed endings and many unresolved plot threads, but honestly? I'd rather it end on something that feels like an ending than just being dropped on the spot without any closure. Let's see how it goes.



I'm not sure how I feel about Star Power as a whole after all these years, it definitely had Mookie's trademark campy writing all over but it was definitely a lot more restrained and less problematic than DD got at times. Then again, part of why I originally got interested in Dominic Deegan as a kid was because the writing was just so strange and unconventional that I was curious to see where the story would go (despite some major flaws.)

Star Power as a whole had significantly better art to the point where snarking on it generally feels more like nitpicking some details like wonk anatomy. The writing also felt ... I want to say better? It was still pretty campy but I feel a lot of Mookie's more out-there-ideas and questionable decisions were kept in check.

Ironically that also made the story as a whole a lot more boring to me as an unchecked Mookie sometimes writes hilariously questionable story arcs.


I guess in the end I didn't hate Star Power, there was never a Maltak moment where I seriously questioned why I was still keeping up with the comic at all.

[faustin]

The main issue with that pose is that it kinda clashes with her face.
Her expression says "I'm gonna rip your spine out through your eyes and choke you to death with it."
Her pose says "I know yoga".

Is kinda normal in comics to put superheroines in sexy poses ranging from awkward to spine-breaking.

[faustin]

I'm not saying I agree with it, either. I was just giving Batman's reasoning.


That I will totally give you. It makes sense that Batman has never done the deed. It does not make sense that no one else has, either. They wouldn't even need to shoot him, either. There have been several times where Joker gets beaten so badly that he's clinging to life by a thread. Some vigilante cop or nurse could just subtly cut that thread without anyone being the wiser. And even if the rest of Gotham suspects foul play is involved, chances are no one will care enough to actually do anything about it. The cops will just shrug their shoulders and say the evidence is inconclusive. Heck, I can even see the city reintroducing capital punishment just for the Joker. I mean, I think his canon kill count is well over 1000 by now.


I wouldn't say "right" as much as "less wrong," personally.

I remember someone suggesting Joker is a manifestation of Gotham's corruption. Sure, the "Pale man" can and in fact has been killed dozens or even hundreds of times in History by victims, enforcers and criminals alike.

And then, someone snaps: a failed comedian involved in a petty crime, a shellshocked veteran with too many nightmares, an abused orphan after her caretakers' last beating.... at the end, a new Joker is born.

That's why Joker remembers several pasts. All of them are true.

[Kato]

Meh, I'm with the Extavo here.
Murder cultists needed to be dealt with, and while locking them up would've been less... Icky, morally speaking, that's hardly a option on Planet Mafia, so blowing them to Kingdom Come is it.

But it's not Planet Mafia. It's 'totally fine Planet with a few mafia cities', and as dumb as that world building is, if after this event of space slavery the rest of the planet or the galactic Feds or someone else can't make arrests that's even dumber. Of course Danice & Co shouldn't have gone in without a plan what to do with them but 'blow them up' cannot be your plan if you attempt to be the good guy. (also, Extavo totally did not do this because it was necessary but for revenge. And justifying revenge murders is a few miles down a slippery slope) of course arguably nothing in this world runs on any kind of logic or morals, so...

[Vinyadan]

It would be easier to gauge the validity of Danica's reaction, if I knew the purpose of taking the mafia boss. Did they deliver her to the other mafia boss? The one whose son she had killed?

[Shogo]

Let us not forget that the entire reason they keep going on these half-cocked plans is because the Galactic Defense presence on this planet is hopelessly corrupt and completely on the take.

There was never going to be a heroic arrest. Either the crazy assassins got dealt with - permanently - or they'd just be free to go back to business as usual once they wake up.

[Traab]

Let us not forget that the entire reason they keep going on these half-cocked plans is because the Galactic Defense presence on this planet is hopelessly corrupt and completely on the take.

There was never going to be a heroic arrest. Either the crazy assassins got dealt with - permanently - or they'd just be free to go back to business as usual once they wake up.

Nah, thats just the local defense. I imagine like has happened at least a few times now, like with the countess and the hypernovadragonzords the REAL galactic defense shows up, giant ships blaring out warnings and swoop in to actually save the day. "Thanks for uncovering this corruption star power, we can take it from here."

[Celestia]

Let us not forget that the entire reason they keep going on these half-cocked plans is because the Galactic Defense presence on this planet is hopelessly corrupt and completely on the take.

There was never going to be a heroic arrest. Either the crazy assassins got dealt with - permanently - or they'd just be free to go back to business as usual once they wake up.

Though, it's only these five cities, right? Why don't they just bring in other cops? Or if it's a jurisdictional issue, there's got to be some sort of higher authority, like a planetary FBI. They should have no trouble stepping in, unless they're also corrupt. However, if the corruption reaches even the highest of levels, then why do the crime families only have five cities?

It almost feels like this wasn't thought through thoroughly.

[Kantaki]

Though, it's only these five cities, right? Why don't they just bring in other cops? Or if it's a jurisdictional issue, there's got to be some sort of higher authority, like a planetary FBI. They should have no trouble stepping in, unless they're also corrupt. However, if the corruption reaches even the highest of levels, then why do the crime families only have five cities?

It almost feels like this wasn't thought through thoroughly.

Wait, what? Only five cities? From Grex backstory I was under the impression this is basically crime-world.

It might make sense if there are only five cities- city defined somewhat loosely maybe* -or if those are the central strongholds of the Families.

But yeah, most likely it just wasn't very thought through.

*Over here I can walk to the next city without actually leaving city limits.
And even without that, when a city grows enough villages and smaller towns just get swallowed.
Take that to its logical extreme and you get Coruscant one really big city.

[PraetorDragoon]

Wait, what? Only five cities? From Grex backstory I was under the impression this is basically crime-world.

It might make sense if there are only five cities- city defined somewhat loosely maybe* -or if those are the central strongholds of the Families.

But yeah, most likely it just wasn't very thought through.

*Over here I can walk to the next city without actually leaving city limits.
And even without that, when a city grows enough villages and smaller towns just get swallowed.
Take that to its logical extreme and you get Coruscant one really big city.

Most is free from criminal rule and corruption except five cities as per here https://starpowercomic.com/comic/axi...rt-4/?nav=next.