Nuke Me With the New

This story continues from Starblast #3…

Metallurge has answered the summons from Nightmask and is running late for the emergency meeting among Earth’s paranormals. He arrives at a nearby barn where Nightmask introduces him to the other heroes he has gathered: Justice, Overshadow, All-American, Psi-Hawk, Chrome, Captain Manhattan, and Pit-Bull. He has gathered them all together as Earth’s last line of defense against invaders that are coming from another universe.[1] At first, everyone finds Nightmask’s warnings hard to swallow, except for Captain Mahattan who relates to them about his encounter with Quasar a few months earlier.[2] All debate comes to an end when the naked form of Kayla Ballentine suddenly teleports into the room with them. This comes as a shock to everyone except Metalurge who drolls over the attractive naked women who suddenly appeared in the room because he’s a real prince I bet.[3]

At that moment, just outside Earth’s orbit, half of the Stranger’s prison world appears in this universe. This happened just as the Stranger removed the Star Brand from Kayla’s body. The trip also takes Quasar, Uatu the Watcher, and Skeletron along for the ride, disorientating them in the process. Skeletron quickly notices that Kayla is now gone, but the Stranger’s transfer of her power was a success as he now has the Star Brand tattoo imprinted on the tip of his pointer finger. They quickly realize that they have been transported to another universe so far removed from their own reality that they are in a completely different multiverse. When Quasar asks the Watcher for help finding Kayla on the planet below, Uatu reminds the protector of the universe of his people’s vow of non-interference.[4] More over, Uatu is more interested in observing a reality that has vastly different from the multiverse he knows and teleports away.

Quasar is annoyed by this, but has finally gotten the mechanical mesh that was blocking his Quantum Bands and decides to go and search for Kayla alone. The Stranger, however, is content to observe and examine the Star Brand.

Meanwhile, Skeletron has returned to his ship and orders Nygorn to get the other Starblasters together as they have reached their final destination and there is an entire universe outside for them to plunder. This deeply upsets Insidio who was just about to perform an autopsy on the deceased Vanguard in order to learn the secrets of his mutant biology.[5] Skeletron orders him to kill all of Quasar’s other allies and get moving, further annoying the mad scientist who likes to torture his victims. As Insidio begins sawing Ikaris in half, he is ambushed by Black Bolt and Lockjaw, the only two of Quasar’s allies who managed to evade capture. As the other Starblasters rush in, they are too late to stop Black Bolt from healing Ikaris and freeing the others — Darkstar, Perun, Solar Wind, Moondancer, Voyager, Binary and Darkstar.

As the battle aboard the Starblaster ship rages, Quasar catches up with the Watcher who is on this Earth’s version of the moon. Uatu stands in awe on the surface of a moon untouched by alien life and seeing a universe so vastly different than the ones he normally views.[6] When prompted again, Uatu decides to confirm that Kayla is somewhere on the Earth below but will not tell Quasar more. This is enough information for the hero to go on and he heads for the planet below.

By this point, the heroes of this universe have gotten Kayla a change of clothes. When she wakes up she is greeted by Metalurge who is very interested in knowing more about him. She explains to them how she ended up here because she had recieved the Star Brand and confirms that she came from the same reality as Quasar, confirming Captain Manhattan’s story. Now taking Nightmask’s visions seriously and upon learning there is an alien ship orbiting their planet, Psi-Halk and Overshadow fly into space to investigate. When they breach the atmosphere they cross paths with Quasar. Psi-Hawk tries demanding answers from the stranger but Quasar is more interested in finding Kayla and tries to fight his way through the two newcomers. Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of trying to fly through Overshadow’s energy form and gets trapped inside, allowing them to bring Quasar back to the others.

Back aboard the Starblast ship, the battle rages on. While the other heroes are busy fighting their way to freedom, Darkstar refuses to go anywhere without the corpse of her dead brother, Vanguard. With his victory within grasp, Skeletron flees his ship in an escape pod and goes into a closer orbit to this universe’s version of Earth. From there he prepares a device that will allow him to absorb every last vestige of the Star Brand power from Earth and attain ultimate power.

… This story continues in Starblast #4.

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Starblasters (Skeletron, Insidio, Nygorn, Skar, Codabac), Kayla Ballantine, the Watcher, Ikaris, Perun, Captain Marvel, Binary, Voyager, Moondancer, Darkstar, Solar Wind, Black Bolt, Lockjaw, Stranger, Vanguard (corpse) Nightmask, Justice, Chrome, Captain Manhattan, Psi-Hawk, All-American, Overshadow, Metallurge, Pit-Bull

Continuity Notes

1. This other reality is the New Universe, first seen in Star Brand #1. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Realities 2005 #1 designates it Reality-148611. Nightmask has been aware of the danger posed to their world from the Starblasters since last issue.

2. Captain Manhattan encountered Quasar when the hero accidentally found himself lost in the New Universe circa Quasar #31.

3. Kayla has been cursed with the Star Brand since issue #31 of Quasar. She teleported away after the Stranger attempted to remove the power from her in Starblast #3.

4. The Watchers took this vow when they shared atomic secrets with aliens yadda yadda they blew themselves up, it was all very tragic. See Tales of Suspense #53 and Original Sin #0.

5. Vanguard appeared to die last issue. However, a vestage of his mutant energies still linger in his body. This will later allow his father, the Presence, to resurrect Vanguard in Avengers (vol. 3) #43.

6. The moon of Earth-616, at the time of this story, has a lot of alien artifacts on it. The Watcher’s citadel that has been there since beginning of time (Fantastic Four #13), the Blue Area of the Moon constructed by the Kree millions of years ago (Avengers #133), as well as Attilan the home city of the Inhumans (Fantastic Four #240).

Starblast Reading Order

Quasar #53, Starblast #1, Quasar #54, Secret Defenders #11, Starblast #2, Quasar #55, Namor the Sub-Mariner #47, Fantastic Four #385, Starblast #3, Namor the Sub-Mariner #48, Quasar #56, Fantastic Four #386, Starblast #4, Quasar #57