Rising Stars
Rising Stars is a 24-issue comic book series published by Top Cow Comics - a division of Image Comics - under the Joe's Comics imprint.
The story follows the lives of 113 people who were in utero when a mysterious "flash" hit their town. As the children grow up, they demonstrate different supernatural powers. Straczynski approaches the story from a real world perspective. What good is being invulnerable if you can't do anything else? How do you get paid if you want to be a costumed crime fighter? What if you just want to be normal? How does the government protect normal people without trampling on the civil rights of those with powers?
The story is told in three eight-issue acts. Straczynski also wrote a Preview issue, an Issue 0, and an Issue 1/2.
Joe Straczynski was involved in a dispute with Top Cow because he was locked out of the script writing process for the Rising Stars feature film. He demanded an apology, confirmation that the Joe's Comics title belonged to him, and the return of Dream Police, which Top sat on for three years without publishing. This dispute was eventually resolved, and the final three Rising Stars issues were finally released after a delay of nearly two years.
A graphic novel titled Rising Stars: Born in Fire collects the first eight issues. The second graphic novel, Power, collects issues 9 - 16. Visitations collects all of the special and stand-alone issues.
Characters
The Rising Stars Characters Section provides data on the characters of the story.
Timeline
The Rising Stars Timeline tracks the events of the story.
Issues
| Issue | Title | Release Date | ||
| #0 | "Rising Stars" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 0 reprint | "Initiations: A lost tale of the Specials" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 1/2 | Synopsis | Review | ||
| Preview / Prelude | "Visitations & Midnight Thoughts" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 1 | "Nova Placenta" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 2 | "Can't Touch This" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 3 | "Whatever Happened to Lee Jackson?" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 4 | "Masques" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 5 | "The World Between" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 6 | "Things Fall Apart, Part One of Three" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 7 | "Things Fall Apart, Part Two of Three" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 8 | "Things Fall Apart, Part Three of Three" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 9 | "Choices Made" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 10 | "Reversals of Fortune" | Synopsis | Review | |
| 11 | "What Goes Around..." | Synopsis | Review | 08 November 2000 |
| 12 | "A, B, C, and D" | Synopsis | Review | 20 December 2000 |
| 13 | "Stalingrad" | Synopsis | Review | 07 February 2001 |
| 14 | "Things Change" | Synopsis | Review | 25 April 2001 |
| 15 | "Power" | Synopsis | Review | 20 June 2001 |
| 16 | "Selah" | Synopsis | Review | 15 August 2001 |
| 17 | "Time Passes" | Synopsis | Review | 09 January 2002 |
| 18 | "Fire and Ash" | 17 April 2002 | ||
| 19 | "Terminal Error" | 07 August 2002 | ||
| 20 | "Blood Calls Out for Blood" | 02 October 2002 | ||
| 21 | "Conversations on the Hill of Dreams" | 18 December 2002 | ||
| 22 | "Phoenix in Ascension - 1 of 3" | 03 November 2004 | ||
| 23 | "Phoneix in Ascension - 2 of 3" | 08 December 2004 | ||
| 24 | "Phoneix in Ascension - 2 of 3" | 02 March 2005 |
Other Resources
Rising Stars: Bright
Rising Stars: Bright is a three-issue spin-off series written by Fiona Avery and illustrated by Dan Jurgens. It tells the story of Matthew Bright's time living as a normal person and working as a police officer. Rising Stars: Bright has been collected into a trade paperback.
| Issue | Title | Release Date |
| 1 | "Bright" | 26 February 2003 |
| 2 | "Authority" | 26 March 2003 |
| 3 | "Civilian Casualties" | 30 April 2003 |
Rising Stars: Voices of the Dead
Rising Stars: Voices of the Dead is a six-issue Rising Stars spin-off miniseries written by Fiona Avery with pencils by Stanz Johnson and inks by Wayne Faucher. This story features Lionel Zerb, the Special who can commune with the recently deceased. He serves as a Ghost Interpreter to help those still living, and explores the spiritual world beyond death.
| Issue | Title | Release Date |
| 1 | "Voices of the Dead #1" | 04 April 2005 |
| 2 | "Voices of the Dead #2" | 20 July 2005 |
| 3 | "The House on Stansbury Lane" | 24 August 2005 |
| 4 | "Psyche" | 08 September 2005 |
| 5 | "Deals with Karma" | 05 October 2005 |
| 6 | "Echoes" | 14 December 2005 |
Rising Stars: Untouchable
Fiona Avery's second-announced, but last-to-be-published Rising Stars spin-off series is titled Rising Stars: Untouchable. This series focuses on Laurel Darkhaven's years as a CIA-sanctioned assassin. The five-issue series has finally reached publication.
Here is Top Cow's description: "Laurel Darkhaven was a girl who's power seemed pretty inconsequential growing up. She had the ability to manipulate small objects with telekinesis and the smaller the object, the easier it was for her to manipulate it. The CIA recruited her after high-school, promising she would serve her country with pride, but what she discovered in her work in the shadows was anything but honorable. Forced and blackmailed into performing wet-works operations, Laurel's one purpose in life became discovering the true identity of her dishonorable employer at the CIA for a justified revenge. This is her story, from high school to the CIA and at the end of her life, when she dies in Poet's arms after bringing the Middle East back to life.
| Issue | Title | Release Date |
| 1 | "The Smallest Things" | 22 February 2006 |
| 2 | "Promotion" | 29 March 2006 |
| 3 | "The Puer" | 19 April 2006 |
| 4 | "Bindings" | 01 June 2006 |
| 5 | "Starting Over" | 21 June 2006 |