Welcome back, Redshirt readers. In the previous chapter of Stargazers: A Star Trek Story, Syrrik and Leon shared a moment of levity before the latter tried to convince his frenemy that cooking by hand always makes a better meal than one produced by a replicator.
To convince the stalwart Syrrik, Leon decides the only way to solve the issue is by making him a meal. As episode 10 opens, author Jarrett Melendez and the Kisai Entertainment team of artists continue to make this young adult webcomic a delight through its inventive character development, artwork, and storytelling.
1. Artwork
Stargazers episode 10 opens with incredibly dramatic artwork when compared to previous chapters, which teases what looks like a tragedy, with Leon's parents calling Kenga and Churi to their quarters. The young people arrive to find Godric and Valentina sitting outside the kitchen door, looking visibly upset.
Godric tells them, "It's a pretty bad scene in there, kids . . . prepare yourself." Churi and Kenga go into the kitchen and, to their shock, find Leon on the floor covered in what looks like blood with a knife near his hand! It's a horrifically drawn image right out of a horror movie. However, the clever use of misdirection likely won't fool any of Stargazers' faithful readers.
The reveal of this image is enhanced by the large "DU DUN!" over Leon's sprawled form, and that got the biggest laugh out of me for this chapter, since it's obvious Leon isn't dead. Rather, he's laid out in the floor and stressed out about preparing the perfect meal for Syrrik.
The drama of it all is very Star Trek: The Original Series, and you can almost hear the musical sting used for such moments on the show translated in the brilliant artwork.
Of course, much like the way Captain Kirk might fake a mortal wound to confuse the enemy, Leon is fine and pops up to reveal the red marks on his clothing are smears of cooking ingredients. Of course, he's been cooking for Syrrik.
It's hard to tell whether Leon's parents were doing a bit for Churi and Kenga or being dramatic for the fun of it, but either way, the tonal shift of Leon's mom yelling at him about the mess makes for a great opening sequence, but the artwork clearly steals the show in the webcomic's early pages.
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