Saturday, June 15, 2024

Saturday Splash Page #129

 
"Dark Star," in Star Power and the Search for Black Hole Bill #2, by Michael Terracciano (writer), Garth Graham (artist)

Set in a far future where Earth has joined a community of inhabited worlds called the Millennium Federation, Star Power is about a young astronomer named Danica Maris, recently assigned to a top-level space station research facility. While studying a seemingly innocuous star, Danica is hit with a burst of energy that turns her into a "Star-Powered Sentinel". The last one, in fact.

The comic ran for six storylines, usually around 5 issues, plus a short one-off between 5 and 6 I think Terracciano wrote and drew himself. Each volume takes a different approach or tells a different kind of story. Volume 1 is the origin, whereas Volume 6 was sort of a noir or "undercover cop" arc, albeit with a character who transforms in a flash of light into a flying, energy sword-wielding warrior. Volume 5 is a thriller/horror story, while volume 4 was about the horrors of war and how you make a difference in a conflict where neither side wants to stop. Volume 3 is more of a treasure hunt.

Terracciano keeps some other subplots building in the background, so that one of the mercenary starfighter pilots that tries to kill Danica in Volume 1, ends up being critical to an investigation that finally concludes in Volume 6. Additionally, there steadily built relationships between the main cast, and usually some subplots related to them in each volume. The former merc sniper Grex has to deal with someone she works with getting hurt by Black Hole Bill (a perfectly smug and sleazy hired gun) during his escape, and struggles to weigh her desire to protect her friends against her desire to kill Bill. An archaeologist that joins the others in their search in Volume 3 is overly confident she'll solve every puzzle, and has to cope with that not being the case at all.

Graham's art work is clean and cartoonish enough the various aliens look noticeably different from humans (even if most still correspond to a basic "two arms two legs" human body plan), while not looking out of place next to the humans. All these species have been interacting and cooperating for some lengthy period of time, there should be a measure of familiarity and ease between them.

The varying types of stories also give Graham the opportunity to draw a lot of other stuff. One arc may involve giant sand worms or an arboreal planet inhabited by what look like intelligent red pandas. The next involves war-torn cities and robo-scorpions. Then it might be all cityscapes of dirty streets and narrow alleys, people in trenchcoats and fedoras. And Graham makes it all work. Some of it might be the fact the Federation consists of over 1000 different worlds, which allows the possibility of different settings and societies, but it never feels like something doesn't fit.

Terracciano writes Danica as mostly cheerful, inquisitive and kind, if a little shy. She gets really excited about stars, but feels embarrassed if she starts to ramble about them around other people. She anthropomorphizes most things, giving them cute names. And while she's sometimes scared or uncertain, her first instinct is to try and help people. Some characters shuffle from the background to the foreground depending on the arc, but she develops a core supporting cast of 3 security officers that were present when she first gained the powers. Initially assigned to help Danica as a task, we get to see how Grex, Kaylo and Shu Lalis interact with each other as friends, and how Danica is steadily integrated into that group.

The series ended after the sixth storyline, I believe because Terracciano had the opportunity to return to an earlier series and wanted to do so. Given the scope of the setting and the fact they'd established the Millennium Federation comprised only a small portion of the galaxy, while the rest was largely in chaos, there was a lot of ground for different stories out there, but so it goes.

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