Dark Jem: Part One
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| "Dark Jem: Part One" | |||||||||||||
| First published | January 27, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Kelly Thompson | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Sophie Cambell | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | M. Victoria Robado | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Robbie Robbins | ||||||||||||
| Edits by | John Barber | ||||||||||||
The Misfits look for a new singer while The Holograms discover there's something wrong with Synergy.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
At The Starlight Foundation, The Holograms sit and watch The Starlights practice. While they start off strong, they eventually fall out of sync and begin trying to pin the blame. Stepping in, The Holograms try to keep the peace, Jerrica noting that it’s going to take time for them to fall into playing as a group and that there’s no point in fighting each other when they’re all in this together.
Meanwhile, Jetta and Roxy are sitting in Pizzazz’s living room playing with Madmartigan, Jetta noting that she wants to adopt him should anything bad happen to Pizzazz. Just as Stormer calls her out on that, Pizzazz joins her bandmates still dressed in her pajamas and still barely able to speak above a whisper. Drinking the hot tea with honey Stormer made for her, Pizzazz ignores her bandmates’ questions about if she’s up for joining them at rehearsal, instead only telling Jetta to leave her cat alone. Stormer then says she, Jetta, and Roxy need to go, each of the three making up a thin excuse as to where they’re going to avoid hurting Pizzazz’s feelings. In reality, they’re all leaving to meet with Harcourt, a meeting Pizzazz wasn’t invited to. In the car, Stormer expresses regret about leaving their frontwoman alone and the three of them agree to stand together even if they’re short a member.
Arriving home, The Holograms discuss The Starlights’ performance, Jerrica and Shana noting that they were doing really well before they started fighting, something Aja blames on the bizarre January heat. On that thought, Kimber suggests they throw a pool party and gets Aja’s support, though Jerrica gives a hard no to throwing another party so soon after their last one, only backing down when her sisters agree to do all of the planning and prep work. The three of them getting to work, Jerrica watches them skim the pool from the pool house and is approached by Synergy, who asks if she’ll listen to something for her. Agreeing, Jerrica’s ears are suddenly filled with a loud, discordant noise that causes her to clutch her head in pain! Though a now black eyed Synergy notes that she doesn’t seem to like it, Jerrica eventually begins to come around to it and asks her to play some more, her eyes also beginning to darken…
At their meeting, Harcourt reveals that she’s brought The Misfits there so they can watch the auditions for a replacement singer. Though Stormer tries to put her foot down, Harcourt tells them they don’t have much choice in the matter, as they’ve already locked in tour dates and therefore can’t wait for Pizzazz to recover. As he arrives, Eric also sadly says they really don’t have a choice, as they’ll be in violation of their contract if they don’t go for this. Unfortunately, none of the people who showed up to audition seem to be good enough for them. As they send the last auditioner is sent out, Clash suddenly arrives with coffee and snacks after being texted by Roxy, frustrating Stormer since now she knows they’re looking for a replacement for Pizzazz and will tell her. With a smile, Clash tells them she’ll keep it a secret on one condition: that she gets a chance to audition.
While they let her have her shot, she unfortunately doesn’t fare any better than the people who came before her. While she leaves the booth feeling good about her audition, she’s disappointed to hear them turning her down. As Roxy tries to comfort her, noting that the three of them can't sing either, the receptionist for the auditions comes in asking if they're ready for another singer. As the receptionist introduces her, Clash is angered to learn that this latest singer is actually Blaze!
As guests begin to arrive for their party, Kimber is put on doorbell duty. With her gone letting the first guests in, Aja lets Shana know she invited someone for her: Tony, the bartender she hit it off with on their Christmas Eve double date! As Shana shyly talks with him and Aja and Craig play in the pool, Kimber sits by dipping her feet in the water with Rio feeling lonely since Stormer couldn’t make it. As she mentions that, Craig suddenly swims up to her, happy to learn that she’s the musician he’s heard so much about. Putting two and two together, Aja suddenly realizes that her boyfriend is Stormer’s brother!
While Kimber is excited to learn she and her sister are dating siblings, her enthusiasm seems to drop as she looks over her shoulder to find Jerrica, her hair suddenly cut much shorter and partially dyed black, her whole look suddenly seeming much darker than usual. Shana asks her sister if she's feeling and is reassured in a plain monotone. As the other three Holograms follow their sister as she heads towards the house, Craig expresses surprise to Rio at Jerrica's flair for the dramatic, a sentiment he returns. As they come inside, Jerrica pays no mind to her sister's concerned questioning and calls out Synergy, who plays the same noise she'd played Jerrica, causing their eyes to begin darkening as well...
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Jem and the Holograms | The Misfits | The Starlights | Others |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- It's The Starlights! With them being missing since the second issue, this issue marks the first time we've seen them together and playing.
- Shana and Tony first met back in the Holiday Special
- While it may not come as much of a surprise to those familiar with the original cartoon, it turns out the brother Stormer had mentioned in the previous issue is Craig! There were a few hints dropped along the way that you could use to draw conclusions, however. Beyond their shared dark blue hair color, issue 6 gave a prominent look at the orange lightning bolt tattoo Craig has on his neck, much like the one Stormer incorporates into her stage makeup, and their shared surname was given in issue 8, though no attention was drawn to that.
- Techrat noted that something seemed to be wrong with Synergy in issue 8. Here we begin to learn just how wrong she is.
Hasbro franchise references[edit | edit source]
One of the women auditioning to replace Pizzazz resembles a humanized Fluttershy from Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise.
Real world references[edit | edit source]
- Though you could probably guess, this issue confirms Pizzazz named Madmartigan after the character from the film Willow
Covers (7)[edit | edit source]
- Cover A: Close up on Dark Jem, by Sophie Campbell
- Cover B: Dark Jem, by Sophie Campbell
- Cover C: Dark Shana, by Sophie Campbell
- Cover D: Dark Aja, by Sophie Campbell
- Cover E: Dark Kimber, by Sophie Campbell
- Subscription cover: The Dark Holograms, by Jen Bartel
- Giant Robot Comics cover: The Misfits playing outside the Town Clock in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Exclusive to Giant Robot Comics (who are based in Halifax), by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove.
- Deluxe Metallic Foil Collectible Box Cover
