It’s time for Leona Powers – a.k.a. Dawnender – to tell her story.
We’ve seen Leona’s story told by Icon Powers and by Lyon Powers, but now we get to see it through Leona’s eyes. We get to hear it from her perspective. And we see why she is so obsessed with revenge.
Plus, Galatea resumes her day job, and another member of the Guardians of the Dawn joins Project Prometheus!
The Task Force is being hunted. Cardinal Syn is under arrest, and KDave is next! Hard Justice is on the run. And the mysterious Sundown continues his own quest to find the missing police chief. How will the Task Force continue to go after the corrupt cops? The story continues with Issue #6!
In the debut issue of “Galatea Powers”, our titular heroine gave a quick synopsis of her life, done in the narrative style that was best used by a certain group of live-action superhero shows that aired on the CW Network.
You know the ones. The ones that all started with “My name is…”
Well, it was time for Galatea’s “twin” to do the same. After all, if Galatea can do it, why not Leona?
And so we have the opening panels of “Galatea Powers” #2…
This is the first time we really get to see Leona, aka Dawnender, tell her story as she saw things. How her life turned out as seen through her eyes, how she saw her imprisonment, her “liberation”, and her eventual fall.
Of course, as this is a series about Galatea, we will also show what she’s been doing, as Galatea continues to balance her day job working for S.E.R.A.P.H. as well as be a superhero. This includes recruiting another member of the Guardians of the Dawn to Project Prometheus.
Who is this hero? Well you’ll have to wait another week to find out.
Today is Free Comic Book Day, the day when people check out new comics at their local comic book store.
A lot of big and not-so-big publishers, including Image and DC (Marvel said no this year), have special free issues to share, from new collaborations to returning characters from TV shows like “Supernatural” and “The Greatest American Hero”.
Well, we here at Battlerock Comics have nothing but free comics! Mostly because we’re not allowed to charge for the comics given the rights owned by the various source materials.
But today is a good opportunity for us to give an update about a comic series that was on the back burner for several years.
When Jason Knight and the other members of the Guardians of the Dawn started going after the corrupt officers of the Paragon City Police Force, they had no idea how far up the corruption went, nor did they know just what those corrupt officers would do for retaliation. By Issue #3, Jason Knight was presumed dead and framed for the brutal murder of one of those corrupt officers.
But Jason didn’t go without setting up contingencies. His sidekick, Cardinal Syn, would soon pick up where he left off, creating her own task force of various heroes, including new heroes like Artema, Ally Kazam, and Streetangel, and with established heroes like the Elite Ice Queen, KDave, and the hero formerly known as Street Justice.
The Task Force assembles! (“Task Force Twilight” #3)
The series paused after Issue #5, with Cardinal Syn being taken into police custody after being supposedly betrayed by one of their own.
So the question is… what happened after that? Did the Task Force prevail? How did the conflict with the corrupt cops end?
Unfortunately circumstances forced us to pause the story for a few years, and by the time we were able to get back into “The City”, we were unable to bring back all the material we had previously set up. A big reason had to do with the new official licensing of City of Heroes Homecoming with NC Soft, which meant a lot of characters and bases had to be shelved and everything restarted new.
So the decision was made to finish telling the story, but only in text.
Starting with Issue #6, “Task Force Twilight” will be continuing as text-only backstories to the new “Galatea Powers” series, starting with “Galatea Powers” Issue #2 and continuing until Issue #5. Each backstory issue will continue the story as they were meant to be shown in comic format, but with words instead of images.
There is actually a history behind this. If you’ve ever read the first issues of “Action Comics” back in 1938, you’d know that Superman was only the first story. Beyond that were other stories, including those of Marco Pollo, “Pep” Morgan, and Tex Thompson, along with several text-only short stories. “Action Comics” back then was more of an anthology series than just focusing on one hero. Eventually, though, that changed, and Superman soon became the sole star. But the concept of anthology comics continued for decades after that, with one of the most famous of them being “Heavy Metal Magazine”, and DC even dabbled with anthology comics a few times with “Action Comics”.
But here, we’re using the opportunity to finish telling the tale of the events in Paragon City from 2017 to 2018, showing what happened to the heroes of Paragon City during that time between “Task Force Twilight” #5 and “Galatea Powers” #1.
“Galatea Powers” #2 is still in production, but stay tuned for updates on its release. In the meantime, be sure to visit your local comic shop and pick up the free comics they have to offer.
So it’s been two weeks since the release of the first issue of “Galatea Powers” and the reviews have been largely positive.
Some people have expressed their pleasure at the return of a City of Heroes centered comic. As longtime readers of our comics know, we used to have a whole group of comic creators that banded together to create comics, with one of them actually having his custom character becoming part of the City’s lore. When NCSoft officially shut down the game, a lot of those creators moved on.
So some of the longtime players that have enjoyed the game and came back now that it’s operating on an officially-licensed server are happy to know that at least one of those comic creators is back and still creating stories in the City.
Sadly, not everyone liked the comic. The City of Heroes Reddit thread had one person that sabotaged the karma on this release.
To which, I take exception to. It’s not a “faux pas”. AI is a tool. Yes, some publishers like DC have said they will not use it for their art or stories, and I have no problem with that. I used it to create a cover that stands out for the first issue of a comic series. They have the luxury of being able to pay artists and writers and to get paid for their releases.
It’s no different than the foil covers that Marvel inundated readers with in the 90’s for all their “first issue” releases. No different than the “scandalous” and “provocative” cover pose from “Spider-Woman” #1 in 2014. No different than when independent publishers come up with “nude variant” covers. It’s a tool. Nothing more.
And, as I’ve said previously, I have no plans to use it to make future covers. There was an opportunity to come up with the image, and I took it. I’ve spent years creating covers for my comics using in-game content. That won’t change, as you will find out with the next issue.
Speaking of, it looks like the second issue will not be out until the start of 2026. There is too much going on in the real world for me to work on the next issue. A lot of it is related to the loss of my number one supporter, who passed away back in May, and whose estate I’m still helping to settle.
So keep checking in, keep checking the socials, and see when the next issue will be coming up.
Galatea Powers is back in the city where it all began for Battlerock Comics!
For years, Galatea Powers has worked as a proud member of the Guardians of the Dawn, working with friends and family, defending both the city and the world from threats abroad and from space.
But now she faces a new challenge from her dark past, and this time she must face it without the help of her fellow Guardians!
Here’s an exclusive peek at the debut issue of “Galatea Powers”.
According to writer/creator David 2, the first issue serves as a re-introduction to the character and also to the series.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve been to Paragon City. Some of the longtime readers could benefit from the catching up, and, for the new readers, this is a quick way to get to know the characters.”
“Galatea Powers” #1 has a few firsts. This is not only the first solo title series set in “The City”, but also being the first series to have an AI-generated cover.
“We’ve played with AI for backgrounds in ‘Future’s Guardian’,” said David 2, “but this was the first time we used AI to create a photo-realistic cover image of Galatea. It took a few tweaks but I was really glad with how it turned out. It really captured Galatea’s look for 2025.”
While David 2 enjoyed working with AI, he says he has no plans on using it regularly.
“It’s a good tool, but it’s not perfect, and it doesn’t give the same look as the in-game images that I’ve been using all this time.”
Other publishers, such as DC Comics, have officially said they would not use AI in either their images or their stories, continuing their reliance on writers, editors, and artists to tell their stories.
“Galatea Powers” #1 will be online on Saturday, November 1st.
It’s hard to believe that it has been twenty years that the gates opened up and the City of Heroes were open for heroes young and old.
The City of Heroes opened on April 27th, 2004. At the time it was the first superhero-themed MMORPG that allowed users to create their own hero and go on adventures to save the city from villains. Users were given an ever-expanding list of costume items to personalize their characters, eventually given the means to change outfits, and even make more customizations with aura effects and power shadings.
As the years progressed, “The City” evolved and expanded to include the “City of Villains”, giving players the means to create villains that would go on their own infamous adventures and build their notoriety. Then they went further and created “Going Rogue”, where an alternate universe was opened up and the heroes they once knew were evil versions and a middle ground was created that allowed players to swap between hero and villain sides, or to be something in between.
Where once it was solely a subscription game, eventually a unified City of Heroes became free-to-play with the means to pay for extra features, following a trend set by similar games such as Champions Online and DC Universe Online.
Sadly, despite a publicized plea to stay open, parent company NC Soft made the decision to cancel the City of Heroes, with the final shutdown happening in 2012.
But “The City” itself did not die. It carried on with private servers operating in secret, funded by the users themselves. Not only did they keep the game going, they even managed to expand on the game on the own, finishing details on zones such as Kalisti Wharf that were still in the development stages at the time of the official shutdown.
The City of Heroes will always hold a special place for Battlerock Comics and David 2, as it was here that the idea of not-for-profit comics could be made using characters and settings from the MMO. One of the first unique characters was Colonel John Battlerock, also known as Battlerock X. But long time comic readers of our site would probably recognize characters such as Galatea Powers, Ryder Lightning, MidKnight X, and Captain Paragonna, all of whom were heroes in Paragon City, and, thanks to fellow residents of “The City” and NC Soft, are still there today.
Galatea Powers on Talos Island
So congratulations to the City of Heroes for twenty years of capes and adventures, and here’s to hoping this city will go on being free forever.
To start off the new year, we’ve brought back the Cryptic Messages.
The Cryptic Messages are an homage to the “chalkboard” messages in the DC Universe, where cryptic messages reference certain events that either have happened or will happen. The readers are then challenged to figure out what each message means.
Here at Battlerock Comics, the Cryptic Messages first appeared on chalkboards seen in “Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight”, but would eventually appear in other message boards throughout the other comics based in the City of Heroes MMO.
It’s been difficult to incorporate such a chalkboard in the world of Champions Online, but thankfully that isn’t the only medium available.
Having said that… we bring you the latest version of the Cryptic Messages… The Cryptic Screen.
As with the Cryptic Chalkboards, each message in the Cryptic Screen makes reference to something that either has happened or will happen in the pages of Battlerock Comics.
Notice there’s an entry that says “THE STORIES REPEAT” that is crossed out. That is a reference to a scene in “Battlerock Comics Presents” #4.
So the question is… what do the rest of the messages make reference to?
Keep checking with the Battlerock Comics website and find out as we soar in 2024!
Back in “Future’s Guardian” #14, it was revealed that there were several versions of “Galatea” in the vast multiverse.
There is, of course, Galatea Future; the “original” incarnation originally shown in “Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight” #0 and “The City’s Finest” #2, who goes on to become an Omega Incarnate, lives to become over a thousand years old, and then goes back in time to change things, becomes an anomaly in time, and is sent to the world of Champions Online to start her life over again.
Then there is the version of Galatea Powers whose life changed dramatically after her far-future alternate self changed things. Her whole life is changed down to the genetic level and she is also given a new life to live. She even gains a twin “sister” in the form of Leona Powers, the “original” version of Galatea as her supervillain genetic father designed her to be. Leona was even seen in a flashback in “Future’s Guardian” #13.
We can’t forget her Praetorian counterpart, Furia Powers. Not only did she make her way into the world of the City of Heroes, but she even had her own comic series; “Furia and the Guardians”.
And with “Future’s Guardian” #14, we are introduced briefly to a whole new “Galatea”… Galatea Quantum, captain of the U.S.S. Starreach in the world of Star Trek Online.
Sufficient to say, we have plenty of other alternate versions of “Galatea” just waiting in the wings to share. As long as there is an infinite number of universes, there are potentially that many women named “Galatea” waiting to be seen.
But for right now, we here at Battlerock Comics are curious as to which “Galatea” is your favorite. Since Galatea Quantum was only seen briefly in one issue (as of this post), we’ve excluded her from consideration. Same for Leona Powers.
The choices are between Galatea Future, Galatea Powers, and Furia Powers. You can vote below.
As of this posting, the poll has no set end. If it does end, you’ll see it in the poll window.
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