Rising Stars: Visitations

Rising Stars #0

by J. Michael Straczynski

Rising Stars is the story of the Pederson Specials, a group of 113 people empowered by a single event.
In the late Sixties a fireball struck the town of Pederson, Illnois granting fantastic powers to the 113 children who were in utero at the time of impact. They grew up as the world watched. Labeled the "Specials" by the Media, their powers were monitored and catalogued by the United States Government. Public perception of them changed often. Were they the future of mankind? A scourge? A random occurrence? Heroes? Villains? Role models or simply caricatures? What would be their impact on culture and society? They were a waried as kids and adults ever are; some were more powerful, some less. As adults they became many a policeman, a corporate symbol, a singer, an assassin, a writer, a painter, a thief, a preacher. Some found celebrity, some notoriety, while others simply went to work and raised families like everyone else. But they all carried inside them a seed of something great. Something special. Something that made them stars.
As their epic stories unfolded, there were other stories as well...of their lives and the lives of those around them. This book is about those stories. Collected here are the short stories about the Specials, a bit about their beginnings, a bit about their middles and just a little bit about their end.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.

Reviews

[Jamie Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. If youre gonna read the main story might as well read this too.

[glass.curtain · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've read the rest of the Rising Stars series, this might be worth the little time it takes to read, but otherwise there's really not all that much to it.

[The_J · Rating 4 out of 5]

So Much potential .. with multiple views in small slices shared here.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rising Stars was a remarkable attempt to do a story about a realistic world into which superheroes suddenly appeared, after a cosmic event in 1968. The event only affected unborn babies, near the event, so nothing happened until those babies were born, and started to grow up. Then, some could fly, some were strong, some could set things on fire, and others were simply frightening, for other reasons.
Visitations was a collection of short stories spun off from the main threads. You will need to read the other stories first, but then these will be a delightful supplement. The one which stands best alone is the story about a clown, welcoming a group of "special" kids to the government facility which will be their home, as they learn to use their powers and abilities. Imagine Krusty the Clown having to deal with superpowered kids, and you won't be far off...

[Adam Duclos · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting idea, but what looks great in a comic book doesn't always translate well into novel format. For example, if a guy in a comic book has light powers that his unscrupulous father uses to awe the masses into thinking he's a new messiah, you can draw some cool picture of the guy glowing surrounded by awed faces and move on. In a novel, you have to describe all that in such a way that it doesn't seem completely ludicrous that a light show, no matter how good, can hoodwink thousands of people when they know about super powered humans. Come on, its just light, not even mind powers! The whole book is like that.

[December · Rating 4 out of 5]

The protagonists of the graphic novel are superheroes, yet they are kept at a "human" level. Straczynski's Visitations is an engaging introduction to the series Rising Stars, and I recommend it to those who would like to know more about the background of the main characters.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent aside to the (amazing) Rising Stars series. Not worth reading if you haven't read the others and unfortunately you won't be missing much if you don't read this one.

[Samra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible but not having known who these characters are disconnects you. but i did like each story.

[Danny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lame