Starstruck (comics) - Characters

Characters

Lee and Kaluta frequently told interviewers they wanted to step away from good-vs.-evil characters to tell stories of flawed people who were too slippery for such boundaries. The writer said, "In our comic book the 'good guys' are not all good, and the 'bad guys' are not totally bad, and the characters do really stupid things. These characters all have faults. (But they) get smarter, just as people learn things in life." The artist said, "There is no ruler of the universe making other people dance. But there's lots of people in the comic who think they're making other people dance. And that's where the fun is, to watch the characters delude themselves."

The cast of the comics are based on the likenesses of the original stage ensemble. Lee explains that when they started the first serials, "Michael drew the characters in Starstruck to look like the actors in the original production." This included the troupe of Wild Hair Productions as well as extended friends. The writer said, "If you had walked into one of our parties, you would think you had walked into a party on Rec Station 97!"

Queen Glorianna / Mary Medea: The Medea family were revolutionaries that overthrew The Great Dictator, P.A.H.M. Bajar. The ongoing feud between the families motivates Mary Medea to go underground in plain sight as the mystical Queen Glorianna: her ownership of the lucrative Krystal asteroid mines empowers her complex, secretive plan to manipulate a better, progressive future.

Galatia 9: Molly Medea was ostracized from the family in her youth and ended up initiated with the Omegazons, an amazon colony. By wily means she ended up captaining her own fighter ship, The Harpy, and brought in Brucilla as her partner.

Brucilla The Muscle: A Galactic Girl Guide from Kansas who became a star pilot in the jingoistic Space Brigade. When a double-cross frames her into a dishonorable discharge from service, Brucilla brings her skills and temper to the service of Galatia.

Erotica Ann: The last of a line of pleasure droids, Annie achieves awareness and slowly evolves a consciousness. As an initial instrument of Glorianna's plan, she threads the lives of the Bajars with the Harpy crew.

Verloona Tï: The wicked stepsister of Galatia, a vain and power-hungry vamp with unspeakable appetites.

Kalif Bajar: The idiot great-grandson of The Great Dictator, Kalif is unhealthily attached to a destroyed Erotica Ann model. He eventually colludes with Verloona.

Lucrezia Bajar / Ronnie Lee Ellis: The smart twin sister of Kalif Bajar, Lucrezia chafes at being passed over for power because of her gender. As the spectacularly successful author Ronnie Lee Ellis, she orchestrates her own counter-scheme to Glorianna, controlling the vapid nuns of the Cloistered Order of the Cosmic Veil.

Rah El Rex: A schizophrenic dandy who thinks he is being controlled by a being called The Great Disrupter, Rex eventually allies with Verloona.

Harry Palmer: Seen first as a bartender, Harry was actually a soldier with Mary Medea, and transfers his love for her to Erotica Ann, her double.

Randall Factor: A casino owner on the infamous intergalactic watering hole Recreation Station 97, Randall is 'the random factor' whose ties to Glorianna and Harry might not guarantee where his interests lie.

Galactic Girl Guides: Young girls have to grow up tough in an anarchic galaxy; a corps of shamelessly shifty and street-smart Galactic Girl Guides permeates the cosmos, made up of little girls with fast hands and nimble plans.