Books by author: J. Michael Straczynski

Rising Stars Compendium

by J. Michael Straczynski

Top Cow Productions/Image Comics (1280 pages)
Keyword(s): Graphic novel
Dates read: January 31, 2010, Rating: ***

Rising Stars is a lot like the TV-show "Heroes". The premise — a small number of individuals endowed with super powers by a celestial event — is the same (though JMS wrote this long before "Heroes" aired). Both series start out compellingly, and both fall apart in the middle act. JMS pulls things together with a reasonably satisfying conclusion, but the overall series suffers from too many characters and selective attention to the consequences of the superpowers.

This was fun, but not lasting.