KALLA DREADSTAR
KALLA DREADSTAR
Real Name: Kalla Dreadstar
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Reality-8116) extraterrestrial (Byfrexian/?? hybrid) mutant/mutate
Occupation: Adventurer, warrior
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Cookie, Vanth Dreadstar, Erron, Iron
Angel, Oedi, Skeevo, Tuetun, Willow, the power within Vanth Dreadstar's sword
formerly the Lord Papal, Shandor'kan;
formerly worshipped by the Shakilians
Enemies: Bettina, Thorn, Tokailian race, Zon race
Known Relatives: Vanth Dreadstar, Iron Angel (Claudia Zirco, whose body housed the spirit of Willow)
Aliases: The Holy One
Base of Operations: Formerly the planet Shakil
First Appearance: Dreadstar II#1 (April, 1994)
Powers/Abilities: Kalla may have had superhuman strength, durability, speed, reflexes, longevity, and/or healing. She could absorb energy through the sword, using it to enhance her own physical powers. She is a skilled swordswoman.
At least in the past, the power within Kalla (derived her father, the sword, and Iron Angel (who had dwelt in the realm of the Dark Gods)) subconsciously influenced those around her to assist and protect her.
History:
(Dreadstar II#3 (fb) - BTS) - As their ship traveled -- limited to sub-light speed
-- traveled toward the realm of the Dark Gods to retrieve the spirit of Iron
Angel, Willow (the blind telepath who had uploaded her mind into a computer and
later downloaded it into the cyborg body of Iron Angel) expressed her love for
her longtime fellow adventurer, Vanth Dreadstar, and she became pregnant.
Skeevo listened through the wall, hearing everything.
(Dreadstar II#3 (fb) - BTS) - As they approached their goal, Willow/Angel began having contractions. Dreadstar and Company (Cookie, Dreadstar, Izak, Oedi, Skeevo, Willow/Angel) encountered Bettina, the sole survivors of an attack by a group of insectoids. The insectoids then arrived and attacked Dreadstar's ship. Unable to fight off the insectoids, Dreadstar directed Oedi to pilot their ship on a collision course with the nearby star, at which point Junior (the manifestation of the Dark gods) manifested himself through said star
(Dreadstar II#4 (fb)) - Dreadstar and Willow/Angel's child was born, but she wasn't breathing, and the cat-man Oedi began CPR.
(Dreadstar II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Kalla was stillborn, but Iron Angel sent her spirit into the infant's body.
(Dreadstar II#4 (fb)) - As the baby took her first breath and cried, Junior apparently sensed Iron Angel within the infant. While Junior was distracted by this realization, Dreadstar -- who (with Angel's aid) had used his sword to absorb the power of the star -- skewered him with his sword, ending his threat, though Junior screamed that it wasn't over yet!
(Dreadstar II#4 (fb) - BTS / Dreadstar II#5 (fb) - BTS) - ) - There was a flash of light and a burst of lost time, and the crew members were apparently separated and either slain or sent to different locations.
(Dreadstar II#6 (fb) - BTS) - A portion of the power within Vanth's sword combined with a portion of Vanth's power (both fractured in the explosion), as well as Iron Angel's power, hid within Kalla, nurturing her.
(Dreadstar II#6 (fb)) - Tuetun, who had been using his tracking ability to locate Dreadstar and the others for the Lord Papal, suddenly lost his trail. Exploring the area he had last been sensed, the Papal found Dreadstar's infant daughter lying on a planetoid, suffused in a glow from Dreadstar's sword.
(Dreadstar II#6 (fb) - BTS) - The Papal instinctively knew her identity. On one level he plotted to train her for the purpose of destroying her father, but at the same time the power within Kalla caused him to feel a need to care for, help, and protect her.
(Dreadstar II#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Lord Papal arrived on the planet Shakil with the infant Kalla and Tuetun, claiming himself and Kalla to be divine and impressing the natives with their god-like powers. They were believed and worshipped.
(Dreadstar II#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Papal's wisdom settled disputes and he protected the Shakilians.
(Dreadstar II#2 (fb) - BTS) - At 1 year old, Kalla never wished to nap, no matter how much she needed it. The Papal would hold her as she kicked and screamed until she would finally pass out from exhaustion.
(Dreadstar II#2 (fb) - BTS) - The Papal told Kalla that Tuetun was the only one of her father's band to survive.
(Dreadstar II#1 (fb)) - The young Kalla was trained in the art of combat by the Lord Papal, who showed her that she could sense someone's heart beating in their chest from some distance away.
(Dreadstar
II#1) <Two decades after their arrival on Shakil> - As
Kalla enjoyed a romance in the woods with her lover, Erron the Shakilian, but
savage aliens known as the Zon came across them, picked up Kalla's sword, and
beheaded Zon. They threatened her with the sword as well, but she took it and
slew the Zon, though one of them managed to slash her in the face with a dagger.
She cursed herself for forgetting the first rule of combat: never lose track of
an opponent. With the battle's conclusion she realized she had lost her lover
and then screamed loud and long. Leaving her sword behind, she eventually
returned to the village, carry a bloody head in a bag, and collapsed. Tuetun
took her inside and nursed her back to health.
The Shakilians were irate over Kalla's behavior, which had
resulted in the death of Erron, and they demanded vengeance. When the Papal
explained that Kalla has killed all of the Zon involved and prevented them from
attacking the village, Erron's mother denounced Kalla and the Papal as not being
gods. When the other Shakilians nodded in agreement, the Papal told them they
would not be so quick to condemn himself and Kalla if they could hear what he
heard: the arrival of a fate that would make the doom that overtook Erron seem
merciful in comparison.
Awakening from a fevered dream, Kalla found the entire
village slaughtered and in flames.
(Dreadstar II#2) - Kalla began digging a grave for the hundreds of dead Shakilians. The Papal and Tuetun returned from retrieving her sword in the jungle, and Kalla questioned whether it was the Zon who had destroyed the village or the Papal. The Papal claimed to have been in the jungle when the Zon airstrike had taken place, warned that they would likely be back, and further stated that the attack was likely precipitated by her earlier slaughter of several Zon.
(Dreadstar II#6 - BTS) - The power within Kalla urged her to impale herself with the sword.
(Dreadstar II#2) - Kalla attempted to impale herself on her sword, but the Papal
stopped her, reminding her that he had trained her to be an engine of
destruction. The Papal brought Kalla and Tuetun to the ship he had hidden below
the desert floor years before, and then flew them into space. He commented on
her new scar over her left eye, noting that she was lucky they didn't take an
eye out.
Apparently seeking to gather forces to oppose the Zon, the
Papal flew his ship to commerce Planet Skeevo, run by one of Vanth Dreadstar's
former allies, Skeevo. Kalla was irate that the Papal had lied to her, but he
slapped her, telling her that he had been protecting her from Skeevo, who was
not trustworthy. They fought their way into Skeevo's base, with Kalla subduing a
trio of women-warriors less fatally than the Papal took out his opponents.
Skeevo recognized the sword as Vanth's and embraced Kalla, and he was happy to
see Tuetun, as well, but he fainted upon running into the Papal.
(Dreadstar II#3) - With light coercion from the Papal, Skeevo agreed to aid him and Kalla, and Skeevo told Kalla of her mother.
(Dreadstar II#4) - As Skeevo finished his tale, Shandor'kan of
the Zon arrived to meet with Skeevo. Wishing to maintain his planet's
neutrality, Skeevo had Kalla, Tuetun, and the Papal hide behind a one-way mirror
during the meeting, but Kalla noticed that Shandor'kan wore a pendant that
matched her sword. As the meeting proceeded, Kalla slipped away and sneaked
aboard Shandor'kan's ship, which subsequently took off. Following orders from
his commander (Thorn), Shandor'kan brought the ship to a planet to exterminate a
pair of women -- Cookie and Willow (still in Angel's body) -- living on a harsh
planet. As Shandor'kan and his men confronted the women, Kalla attacked and,
with the women's aid, defeated them. Kalla stopped Cookie from killing
Shandor'kan so they could get information from him. As Kalla introduced herself,
Willow rushed out and embraced her.
From a distant, Vanth observed this through a crystal ball.
(Dreadstar II#5) - Willow identified herself, and she and Kalla shared their fates after the separation. As the Papal had Tuetun track Kalla's location, Kalla questioned Shandor'kan and learned he had been given his necklace by Bettina, the empress of Tokail, who was allied with the Zon via Lt. Thorn. Shandor'kan shared details of their alliance and claimed to have been previously oppressed, but Kalla vowed to slay Thorn as vengeance for the death of the Shakilians. Surpisingly, Shandor'kan agreed to help Kalla, and Willow telepathically confirmed that he was not lying. Possibly under Kalla (or someone else)'s influence, Shandor'kan helped the women slaughter his crew and then used his ship to fly them to Thorn; Kalla refused her mother's request that they take some time to relax as mother and daughter, though she did shed a tear afterwards.
(Dreadstar II#5 - BTS) - Willow told Kalla that her sword could be used to absorb energy blasts.
(Dreadstar II#5) - As they neared their destination, Kalla found her sword glowed when she pointed it in the direction of the imperial palace, while at the same time, the Papal began to feel a fog lifting off of his own mind, and his old memories returning. With the women cloaked as his guards, Shandor'kan brought them to Thorn and Bettina, calmly announcing his own betrayal. Kalla, Willow, and Cookie fought the guards, and Kalla confronted Thorn, but then Vanth Dreadstar himself, the long-time emperor of Tokail whose mind and spirit had long been fragmented, sensed the sword. Feeling his heart and soul coming together at last, he reached for the sword. He was cloaked, and Kalla tried to drive him away by slashing his hands, but when he continued to advance on her, she stabbed the sword through his chest. As he was collapsed, Kalla was shocked as Willow announced him to be her father.
(Dreadstar II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Distressed, Kalla collapsed and was imprisoned, as were Cookie and Willow.
(Dreadstar II#6) - Shandor'kan regained his wits too late to stop
Thorn's firing squad from killing him. Anyone who tried to pick up Kalla's sword
was destroyed.
Willow broke through the wall into Kalla's cell, and the
three of them broke out of the prison. As they were confronted by Thorn and his
guards, Kalla collapsed again. The spirit of Iron Angel then appeared to Skeevo,
explaining the truth about Kalla and telling him Kalla had to die. Skeevo picked
up Dreadstar's sword and hurled it to Kalla as she stood before Thorn's firing
squad. Kalla caught the sword, which absorbed the blasts the squad and the Papal
(now mostly freed of Kalla's influence) fired at her. As the energies threatened
to overwhelm her, she understood at last what she must do, and she stabbed the
sword through her chest. The power of the sword and that of Vanth himself,
having received the final needed burst of energy to empower them, reached their
full potency and emerged from Kalla as a god-like being.
The energy being noted that she was now something new and
that she could go wherever and do whatever she wished, but Willow urged the
entity not to take Kalla away from her, noting that the being had done
everything for love, for Vanth, and for life. The being commented that mortals
were a pathetic little species and there was another bright flash of light.
When the light faded, Kalla stood (holding the sword)
alongside Vanth (who wielded a conventional sword), and Willow, with Thorn and
his army ally laying dead at their feet from a massive sword fight. Vanth had
regained her find, and Willow explained how the power had compelled everyone
around her to act as her guardians. Kalla questioned whether what the Papal had
felt for her was real or not, and Willow assured her that the Papal was
incapable of love; but the Papal was then seen departing in his ship, crying.
Comments: Created by Peter David and Ernie Colon.
I ain't got me no Dreadstar fix in about 13 years now!
C'mon...where my Dreadstar at?
I did by the recent hardcover special edition, but I'd love
to see new stories.
I'll have to do a profile on Iron Angel next, b/c I can't recall what her native race was, though she was humanoid.
The exact final relationship b/t Kalla, Iron Angel, and the power within the sword (and/or the sentient energy being that emerged from Kalla when she impaled herself with the sword) was left uncertain. I can't begin to imagine why there's not been a sequel, but I would love to read a follow up, by either Jim Starlin or Peter David.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:
images: (without ads)
Dreadstar II#1 cover - by Jim Starlin
#2 (face)
Appearances:
Dreadstar II#1-2 (April-May, 1994) - Peter David (writer), Ernie Colon (artist),
Dan Danko (line editor), Kara Lamb (associate editor), Jim Starlin ("spiritual
leader")
Dreadstar II#3 (July, 1994) - Peter David (writer), Ernie Colon (artist), Dan Danko
(line editor), Kara Lamb (associate editor), Jim Starlin ("spiritual leader")
Dreadstar II#4-5 (September-October, 1994) - Peter David (writer), Ernie Colon
(artist), Dan Danko (line editor), Kara Lamb (associate editor), Jim Starlin
("spiritual leader")
Dreadstar II#6 (January, 1995) - Peter David (writer), Ernie Colon (artist), Kara
Lamb (editor), Larry Reynosa (assistant editor), Dan Danko (line editor), Jim
Starlin ("spiritual leader")
Last updated: 10/02/07
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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