Issue 39: The King of Rock

The King of Rock is the thirty-ninth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
The Winx befriend a rock star celebrity whom they discover is living a less than luxurious life.

Plot
That night, in the nightclub at the center of Magix City, Sifelius is performing for another public concert. Everyone is seemingly in a trance as they enjoy Sifelius' performance, including the Winx who sit in the far back. Soon, Sifelius ends his performance and everyone responds with cheers, applause, and pleas for an encore. Musa is amazed by Sifelius' harmonious performance as Stella is surprised by how well the young audience received the classical piece. Musa claims that it is because everyone will respond positively towards true beauty and then Flora asks Musa how her business is going. Musa explains that thanks to the pavilion being rented out by aspiring musicians and bands, more public concerts like Sifelius' can be enjoyed. That is when an announcer appears on stage to applaud Sifelius on his performance and introduce the next band playing: The Black Devils. It turns out that the Specialists' band is performing, which causes the Winx girls to become more excited over how cool the boys are on-stage.

Soon enough, the concerts contest ends with the boys coming in second place. Timmy is upset by how close they were to winning first but ended up losing to another band, but Brandon thinks that the band that practiced the most was able to win out naturally. Musa agrees with this until Riven hugs her from behind, joking about how she only thinks so because the more a band practices, then the more they will pay to rent out the pavilion. Stella then claims that if the boys practiced more, then they would have less time to spend with them. Brandon picks Stella up, cheering at how they got second place and then he proposes that they go spend the rest of the evening with the girls. The next morning, Stella complains about how it should be against the law to have to attend classes after the wonderful night out they had with the boys. Bloom agrees, adding the fact that they returned to Alfea rather late at night, so she has not gotten enough sleep. Stella catches Tecna getting off of her cellphone and asks who she was talking to. Tecna claims that it was Timmy telling her that thanks to the success of their concerts contest last night, the owner of the club has requested someone named Destiny Boy to perform some time. Musa realizes how famous Destiny Boy is and asks Tecna if what Timmy said was true, to which Tecna confirms. Stella comments on how popular a Destiny Boy concert will be and that is when Tecna reveals to the girls that Destiny Boy's concert will be held next Friday night. Stella accepts the invitation, claiming that they cannot miss a concert that just about everyone in Magix will be attending. Soon, Friday night comes around and everyone in the concert hall is going crazy over Destiny Boy making an appearance. Brandon comments on his showmanship and Musa comments on how Destiny Boy looked taller on TV. Destiny Boy then begins performing with his band, causing the crowd to go into a frenzy over his performance. The Winx, however, cannot seem to enjoy it as his music sounds more like senseless noise to them. So much so that Flora does not even want to stick around for the whole show. Stella and Bloom agree that the boys sound a lot better than Destiny Boy and his band, and Sky cannot believe that the rest of the crowd is still cheering. The Winx and the Specialists decide to leave and, when they are finally outside, the group talks about how nice it must be to be rich and famous. Timmy even reveals that Destiny Boy owns a villa that is 2,000 square meters long, with three swimming pools! Tecna asks why he would need three of them, to which Timmy claims that one is filled with hot water, one is filled with cold water and one is empty for when Destiny Boy does not feel like swimming. Sky tells the group that Destiny Boy had rented out an entire hotel in the city, as he will be staying in Magix for a few days. Stella claims that they will be stuck having to sit through more people acting crazy over Destiny Boy, until she changes the subject by talking about how she would prefer Brandon over Destiny Boy any day. As the group prepares themselves to hop on the boys' hoverbikes, Sky offers to take them to the White Horse. Bloom declines, claiming that they need to go straight back to Alfea to study for a lesson on Wednesday, and Stella begins to panic as she had completely forgotten about the exercise, which is one whole day in Selvafosca. Brandon asks Stella if she would still "suffer at the mercy of the elements" if the weather turned out to be pleasant, to which Stella claims that she would still suffer since he would not be there with her. Brandon laughs as he claims that he will make sure to have Codatorta assign them to their group and Sky clarifies that, even though they will not be together for long, they will still try to do whatever they can. The boys then ride off towards Alfea on their hoverbikes.

The next morning, the girls are attending DuFour's class as Stella begins to sleep as she teaches. Musa tries to wake her up so they do not get in trouble, but Stella insists that it is fine since they got back late last night. Bloom then tells Musa that Greta had just called her, telling her that the party being held in Destiny Boy's honor at the White Horse was canceled. Musa asks why but Bloom does not know and she seems a bit upset at the fact that she will not be working.

Soon enough, the bell rings, signifying the end of class. As the girls head out, they overhear two girls talking about Destiny Boy. One of them is excited for another upcoming concert until the other girl tells her that Destiny Boy canceled. Her friend asks why he would cancel, to which the girl claims that maybe Destiny Boy does not like Magix. Bloom tells Musa that Destiny Boy seems to have canceled all of his engagements and asks her if she thinks it is strange. Musa, however, does not care all that much due to the fact that Destiny Boy's first concert was a total flop in her mind. Bloom asks if she disliked it that much, to which Musa claims that she did find it to be rather theatrical, but there was barely any music as they only played loud noise. She further claims that she would rather spend an afternoon with the rest of the Winx and the boys instead of getting caught up in all of the Destiny Boy commotion. Bloom then expresses her excitement for tomorrow's exercise as she cannot wait to see Sky again. Tomorrow quickly comes as the Winx and the rest of their class watch as Specialist shuttles land on the Alfea Courtyard. Brandon comes out of his shuttle to greet the Winx until Stella bounces into his arms. As Brandon tells Stella that he talked Codatorta into setting them up together, Timmy tells Musa that Destiny Boy has disappeared according to the latest news. He claims that he got the news from a friend's cousin who happens to be working with the police and that they still have not publicly reported Destiny Boy's disappearance as they do not want to alarm the masses. Tecna suspects that he was possibly kidnapped, but Musa claims that he could have just canceled all of his engagements on a whim. Stella claims that he probably just got a stomachache and did not want to embarrass himself, which makes Brandon laugh. He then tells the group to focus on the mission at hand as they will be dropping the girls off in their forest training area and will return within three hours to pick them up.

The group quickly arrives at the forest training area where Brandon sees the girls off and has Timmy fly the shuttle away once they have all gotten off. Bloom guesses that they are in the forests in order to train themselves into sensing the magic within it, to which Flora confirms, marveling at the wonder of the forest and its creatures. As she explains that they need to concentrate and learn to be capable of getting in tune with nature, Flora spots a boy in a red hood just beyond the trees. She tries to ask the boy for his identity but he starts to run away. Flora tells Bloom that someone beyond the trees is escaping, which causes them to give chase. They find the red-hooded boy climbing into a purple car and as the girls get closer, the boy climbs into his care and speeds off. Bloom wonders what he would be doing in the middle of the forest if he has a car with him, and Flora claims that he is driving too fast. He is, in fact, driving too fast, which causes him to crash through the guardrail and speed into a lake.

The Winx catch up to the crash and transform into their Enchantix forms in order to rescue the boy. Since the bottom of the lake is covered in algae, Flora uses a spell that causes the algae to lift the car out of the lake. Once they have gotten the car out, Flora takes the boy out, where she confirms that he is still breathing but he is freezing. That is when Stella uses a spell to dry the boy and his clothes faster, which causes him to start regaining consciousness. As he comes to, the girls get a better look at his face and realize that the boy they rescued was none other than Destiny Boy himself! Destiny Boy begins to panic at the sight of the Winx, shouting about how he does not want to go back. Bloom assures him that they are not here to take him away and asks him what he is doing in the middle of the forest. Stella asks Destiny Boy why he ran away at the sight of them earlier, to which Destiny Boy reveals that he does not want to go back to the life he was living; that he wants to stop being a rock star. Stella and Musa tell Destiny Boy that he should not give up a life that just about everyone in Magix wants to have, but Destiny Boy claims that the only reason why people think that is because they do not know what it is really like. He then claims that he is being held prisoner of his own success, thanks to his agent, Mister Fantasy.

Mr. Fantasy supposedly runs Destiny Boy's life! Organizing everything he does everyday, telling him how to dress, what he should say and even how he talks! Destiny Boy claims that Mr. Fantasy has him appear as as arrogant and defiant teen star because that is what the Destiny Boy the sponsors want. He further adds that he is not really like Destiny Boy: the rock star, but he cannot act like his true self and he has no say in what he has to do. Stella asks Destiny Boy if he still enjoys being rich since he makes so much money, but Destiny Boy claims that all of the money he makes ends up disappearing because of all the expensive things Mr. Fantasy makes him get in order to keep up his rock star image. He then reveals to the girls that he ran away because he could not take the pressure anymore and when he saw them in the woods earlier, he thought that they were agents sent by Mr. Fantasy. Bloom asks if Destiny Boy stole the car he used to escape, to which Destiny Boy clarifies that it is his but his chauffeur would always drive it for him and he only crashed because he is out of practice. He apologizes to the girls for making them feel as if they were responsible for his accident but, just then, a helicopter arrives with Mr. Fantasy inside. Mr. Fantasy has the helicopter land, where he scolds Destiny Boy for running away as his disappearance is costing him a lot of money that he would have been making had Destiny Boy just did what he was told. Destiny Boy shouts about how he does not care about making money, but Mr. Fantasy tells him that his behavior is also making him lose money. Bloom steps in, telling Mr. Fantasy that if Destiny Boy does not want to do anything then he should not have to, which is when Mr. Fantasy asks why she is butting into their business. That is when Stella also steps in by telling Mr. Fantasy that they happen to be the people who saved Destiny Boy's life, so they would have every right to get involved. Mr. Fantasy thanks them for saving Destiny Boy, but he still believes that the Winx have no right to get involved, until Tecna threatens to notify the police since he is forcing Destiny Boy into doing things without his consent. Mr. Fantasy begins to panic at the thought of another scandal until he gets an idea. Stella tries to step in again, but Mr. Fantasy shoves the Winx away as he tries to talk with his client privately. The girls reluctantly decide to leave him and Destiny Boy alone.

As the girls storm off, Stella tries to find a good spot to hide in so that she can eavesdrop on their conversation. Bloom tells Stella that they are too far away to hear anything, until Stella reveals that she learned a spell that will make it possible for them to hear what is going on without having to get too close. She uses the spell on a blank piece of paper, which causes the winds to carry the voices of Mr. Fantasy and Destiny Boy towards them. Mr. Fantasy plans to pay off a few street thugs in order to have Destiny Boy kidnapped. Once the news of Destiny Boy's kidnapped gets out, Mr. Fantasy will tip off the police with an anonymous phone call. That way, Destiny Boy will gain widespread publicity to make up for skipping out on all of the concerts he had planned. Destiny Boy objects to this as the people who will be pretending to be criminals might be sent to jail as if they were actual criminals, but Mr. Fantasy shrugs this off by claiming that they could stand to spend a few years in prison with the money he will be paying them. He then tells Destiny Boy to just do whatever he is told to do as he urges him onto the helicopter.

The Winx hear everything from beyond the trees. Bloom suggests that they notify the police but Stella claims that they will be taking a big risk in doing so without definitive proof. However, Mr. Fantasy's plans are about to take an expected turn.

The police arrive just outside of a small cabin on another side of the forest some time later. The two officers break the door down, only to find that the cabin has been completely vacated. One of the officers manages to find a note on a desk near the door.

Later on, the Winx are watching a news broadcast in their dorm, reporting in that the police were unable to locate and rescue Destiny Boy. Stella wonders how that could be possible because the thugs had an agreement with Mr. Fantasy, but Bloom suspects that the thugs changed their minds as they might not have been satisfied with the amount of money that Mr. Fantasy was going to pay them. Tecna claims that they were wrong not to report Mr. Fantasy's plan to the police from the beginning and Bloom agrees, however, they will have to act on their own if they want to save Destiny Boy. Tecna then asks how they will be able to track the thugs, to which Bloom asks for Lockette to help them. She tells Lockette to spread the word to the other pixies in order to get their help in finding the thugs so that they may rescue a friend of theirs. As Lockette flies away to do what she has been told, she tells Bloom and the Winx that they can count on the pixies' help. And so, the very next day, the Winx make it back to Gloomy Wood Forest, where they meet up with the pixies. Bloom asks Lockette if they were able to find anything out, to which Lockette reveals that they learned that the thugs are riding out in a cave behind a waterfall just right of the Great Pink Rock. Bloom thanks the pixies for their help and sees them off as she and the Winx look for Destiny Boy.

As they are flying, Flora spots the Great Pink Rock and Bloom spots the waterfall over to the right of it, suspecting that that may be where the thugs are hiding out. Just as they approach the waterfall to see if there is a cave behind it, a man carrying a rifle spots them and begins shooting at them. The Winx manage to dodge the shots and Tecna shields them all with her Energy Shield as Flora uses a spell that causes a nearby tree to attack. The tree grabs the man's rifle as more monster trees begin popping up from the ground around him and his accomplices, causing them to flee in a panic. It later turns out that the monster trees were an illusion Flora created in order to drive them away. The Winx then check on the cave and find Destiny Boy inside. He tells the girls that the thugs broke their agreement with his agent and kidnapped him, demanding a real ransom. Bloom reveals to Destiny Boy that they were afraid of that possibility and came to rescue him if it turned out to be true. As the girls lead Destiny Boy towards Magix, they advise him to go to the police and tell them that he managed to escape on his own. Destiny Boy thanks them for rescuing him a second time as they fly away. As they are flying out of the forests, Stella suggests that they return to Alfea to catch the news.

That evening, the Winx catch a news broadcast that reports that Destiny Boy was able to return to Magix after escaping his captors. It is also stated that Destiny Boy had Mr. Fantasy fired as he will now be organizing his own concerts from now on. The Winx cheer at how Destiny Boy had finally shaken Mr. Fantasy off, however, Musa is tired of having to hear about Destiny Boy all of the time and claims that they will spend a nice day tomorrow without anyone mentioning him around her. Stella agrees as she cheers at the thought of spending the whole day with Brandon by her side. The next day, the Winx are enjoying the Specialists' practice performance in the pavilion until Stella sees a white limousine parking just outside of the villa gates. Mr. Fantasy comes stomping inside, accusing the Winx of being directly responsible for Destiny Boy firing him. Bloom insists that they had nothing to do with it, but Mr. Fantasy is not convinced. Bloom then tells Mr. Fantasy that she is glad that he got fired since Destiny Boy can live his life how he wants to. Mr. Fantasy is about to threaten Bloom until he notices Brandon finishing his performance. He offers to meet with Brandon tomorrow but Brandon is not interested in becoming a rock star. Just then, two police officers enter the pavilion after tracking Mr. Fantasy's limousine. They place Mr. Fantasy under arrest for falsifying a crime and being an accomplice to Destiny Boy's kidnapping, revealing that the kidnappers they arrested confessed to Mr. Fantasy being a direct accomplice. Stella laughs as Mr. Fantasy is escorted out and then she expresses her surprise with how Brandon turned down the chance to become a rock star. Brandon then claims that he turned down Mr. Fantasy's offer because he already has a star in his life so he does not need any others.

Spells Used

 * "Grow enormous, plant of water. Lift him up, that's an order!" - Used by Flora to help get Destiny Boy out of the lake.
 * "Shine and give warmth, oh Star of Gold, to the one in pain, whose heart's grown cold!" - Used by Stella to help stop Destiny Boy from freezing.
 * "Bring us a light breeze, a sound and a voice concealed so that the deepest secrets of these woods may be revealed!" - Used by Stella to find out what Mister Fantasy was saying to Destiny Boy.
 * Energy Shield - Used by Tecna to protect herself and the Winx from the guard who was shooting at them.
 * "Let's create a diversion! Here's something that'll keep them busy!" - Used by Flora to create an illusion that drives the guardsman away from the cave.

Mistakes

 * On page 5, as the Winx excitedly watch the boys' performance, Flora gains green eyeshadow that she never had on beforehand.
 * Throughout the issue, whenever Stella is in her Enchantix form, her gloves are a bluish-white instead of being their usual pink color.
 * After page 22, Musa's hair retains its dark blue color whenever she goes into her Enchantix form, instead of her hair becoming a more purplish blue.
 * On page 36, as the Winx meet up with the pixies, the long arm-length gloves that Bloom wears while in her Enchantix form do not cover up her hands as they should.
 * On page 40, when the Winx find Destiny Boy inside of the cave, the bottom pair of Enchantix wings for Bloom are missing.

Debuts

 * Destiny Boy
 * Mister Fantasy

Characters

 * Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Musa
 * Flora
 * Tecna
 * Aisha
 * Specialists
 * Sky
 * Brandon
 * Helia
 * Timmy
 * Riven
 * Pixies
 * Lockette
 * Tune
 * Chatta
 * Alfea Staff
 * Professor DuFour
 * Humans
 * Destiny Boy
 * Mister Fantasy

Trivia

 * This is not the first time the Specialists have performed as a band, however, their band name has been changed from "New Magix Sound" to "The Black Devils."