Zodiac Starforce: By the Power of Astra was first released back in May 2016. — **Zodiac Starforce: By the Power of Astra** was first released back in May 2016.

By Danielle L. — For Trade Rating this week, I’ll be delving into the Magical Girl genre with the comic Zodiac Starforce: By the Power of Astra. Created by writer Kevin Panetta and artist Paulina Ganucheau (doing double duty as both artist and colorist), Zodiac Starforce, much like its main inspiration Sailor Moon, is the story of a group of teenage girls chosen by a celestial entity to fight evil with magical powers. Much of the plot in this particular story, however, takes place long after the team has defeated said evil, which is known as Cimmeria. Action is all well and good, but most importantly, one of the central themes of this story is accepting life as it comes, rather than fighting reality and denying yourself necessary feelings such as grieving.

At the beginning of this story, the Zodiac Starforce team consists of Emma (who is the leader), Molly, Savannah, and Kim. In our story, the team also gains a fifth member in Lily, who at the end becomes known as Libra. One of the central emotional conflicts pushing the story forward here is that Emma feels grief for her mom, who died two years prior to the story. She died during a battle that Emma and the team had against one of Cimmeria’s shade monsters. Up until the final issue of the trade, Emma carries that grief with her, and it manifests itself through outbursts, along with being poisoned by a shade that slowly kills her. A contrast is also provided for Emma in the form of Diana, a former member of Zodiac Starforce who tragically lost her team in the past and allied with the evil Cimmeria out of grief and rage. Emma nearly falls into the same pattern Diana did when Cimmeria offers her the chance to have her mother back. Having seen the consequences of what Diana has done, however, Emma turns down the opportunity...thereby enabling herself to fully accept her mother is gone, which heals her from the poison she has battled from the start.

This pointed contrast and Emma’s character arc serves one of the series’ main themes: you cannot deny yourself the chance to grieve over a loved one. It is a message I missed when I first read the series back in 2016. Reading Zodiac Starforce again now after catching onto that theme certainly makes for a much more rewarding experience overall.

Cimmeria herself also exemplifies the theme of grief in Zodiac Starforce during her proposal to Emma. In both her words and the expressions seen on the panel, Cimmeria displays denial, anger, bargaining, and depression — stopping just shy of acceptance. By doing this, Panetta and Ganucheau are saying that Cimmeria is the conclusion of what Emma is experiencing currently and what may happen to her should she accept Cimmeria’s proposal of bringing her mother back.

On the flipside is Astra, who embodies acceptance. She rightly, yet harshly, admonishes the team for attempting to use Astra’s powers to save Emma’s life after she is poisoned, telling them “You were given these powers to protect your world. You are soldiers. I will not allow you to endanger others to serve yourselves.” The story importantly does not portray Astra or the team to be completely in the right or the wrong when facing such difficult choices and situations. While oncoming death obviously can’t be avoided, it should be a priority for the living to not make the dying miserable before the inevitable happens. In essence, this book suggests something we all know but have trouble facing — death is inevitable — but there are healthy ways to process this, and those ways beget better outcomes than ignoring reality or denial.

Zodiac Starforce: By the Power of Astra
Writer: Kevin Panetta
Artist/Colorist: Paulina Ganucheau
Color Flats: Savanna Ganucheau, Kristen Acampora, Tabby Freeman
Chapter Break Art: Marguerite Sauvage, Kevin Wada, Jacob Wyatt, Babs Tarr
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 31, 2016

Danielle L. likes to write about comics. Follow her on Twitter @eldritchlesbian.