Posted in: Comics | Tagged: marvel, rictor, shatterstar, x-force

Bad News for Shatterstar and Rictor's Relationship?

With the launch of Shatterstar's upcoming solo series next week, things aren't looking good for fans of the relationship between the titular Shatterstar and former X-Force and X-Factor teammate Rictor. When we last saw these two together in New Mutants: Dead Souls, all seemed well.

Or at least as well as things can be for a couple when Magik is quickly teleporting them and Boom Boom away to avoid their being infected by a transmode virus and absorbed into some kind of Warlock hive-mind…

But in Extermination, Rictor isn't with the new X-Force team, though Shatterstar is. And he's not part of the upcoming X-Force relaunch either. So what happened?

In an interview with Newsarama, reporter Lan Pitts asked writer Tim Seeley about the status of Shatterstar and Rictor's relationship:

I was approaching this as a story that had nothing to do with the larger Marvel Universe. Like, what would be the things I would boil this character and his history down to? And to me it's "alien gladiator becomes a detective," right? That's amazing! That's the perfect, simple hook I can work with.

Our story begins with him in this new life where he's moved on from all the other experiences and continuity, I guess. He now has a building where he has people like himself who are refugees and cast outs from other timelines. So he's a landlord trying to just move on with his life and enjoy it but has trouble keeping relationships working.

And when we start the story he's distanced himself from Rictor. We find out why as the story goes on. He's trying to get his life back together. It's very easy for him to be pulled back into the dark stuff. I think he's a guy who grew up being taught to fight and kill for people's entertainment.

And I think that's the only way he knows how to handle most things. So, when that's taken away, you get a cold, hard revenge story out of Shatterstar.

And discussing Rictor, whose old-school look in the series was previously revealed, Seeley said:

[Artist] Carlos [Villa] and I wanted Ric to have a life of his own, outside of both X-Men and Shatterstar. So, as we'll see, he runs a punk club called the Shakedown, and the look goes with the lifestyle!

Of course, though Shatterstar and Rictor may be "distanced," it's possible we could see a reconciliation later in the story. Or there might be a new potential love interest for the bi-sexual, polyamorous alien? Like this new character, Gringrave?

She's brand new, and we'll see how she fits into the Shatterstar's history. Her design is based on the original idea that Mojoworld is influenced by the pop culture of Earth. So, while Shatterstar (and Longshot) come from Western pop culture, Gringrave comes from Eastern…s he's part anime school girl warrior, part Bollywood. And she is mean as hell.

Seeley kept the spoilers to a minimum, sadly, so your guess is as good as ours. We'll have to wait and see when Shatterstar #1 hits stores in October.

Shatterstar #1
(W) Tim Seeley (A) Carlos Villa, Gerardo Sandoval (CA) Yasmine Putri
A gladiator, a warrior, a hero…the man called Shatterstar has been many things, but one thing he's always been is deadly. He's not a man you want to cross or you'll learn that fact all too well. Walk back into the darkness with Shatterstar.
Rated T+
In Shops: Oct 03, 2018
SRP: $3.99

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