Spotlight on … Starblaze

Starblaze, aka Derek Stephenson

Occupation: Student

Marital Status: Single

Group Affiliation: Guardians, Crusaders

Base of Operations: San Diego, CA

Height: 6′ 1″ | Weight: 180 lbs

Eyes: Green | Hair: Blonde

History: Derek grew up thinking that because his mother lived near a nuclear power plant that he developed amazing energy powers. In fact, he was possessed by an extraterrestrial being made of starlight (the knowledge of which he would find out much later). Early on in his career, he joined a group of other young heroes called the Guardians, led by the first superhero, Blackwing. Later, after helping to expel the alien Krolan invasion, he joined the Crusaders, under the leadership of Warhawk, Blackwing’s protege. Starblaze was last seen over San Diego Bay, battling a being who called himself Corona.

Powers: Starblaze has the ability to generate energy blasts from his hands, create a protective force field around himself, create a blinding flash of light, and fly at a speed near Mach 2.

Background

Starblaze was my very first superhero that I created. While not terribly original, I nonetheless chose this character to be the star of my very first work of superhero fiction back in the early 1980s. I would go on to create my own superhero universe developed over several years and about 30 short stories. Back then, Starblaze’s costume was mostly red, with purple gloves and boots. Later, his costume would take on more yellow, and finally ended up as the outfit seen in the picture, which was created from the MMORPG City of Heroes (CoH) character creator. Starblaze was the first character that I created and played in CoH. When I finally leveled up enough to be able to hover in the game with Starblaze, I literally teared up. I loved this character so much that I reinvented him after Derek “died” (off panel, of course) battling another human possessed by a more malevolent starlight creature (Corona). At least, that’s what the new Starblaze would have found out if I had continued the series of short stories that I wrote some years ago. I find myself wanting to get back to exploring this new version of my classic superhero and pairing him up World’s Finest style with my Batman analog, Blackwing.