Rising Stars, Vol. 5: Untouchable/Visitations

Rising Stars #5

by J. Michael Straczynski, Fiona Kai Avery, Gary Frank (Illustrator)

Collecting Rising Stars: Untouchable #1-#6, plus Rising Stars: Visitations a collection of the Rising Stars Prelude, plus issues #0, #1/2 and "A Lost Tale of the Specials" illustrated by Gary Frank. This trade paperback collection delivers the untold stories of the Pederson Specials from J.Michael Straczynski's groundbreaking series!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thriller, Action

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

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

[Robert Noll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Focused stories on one of “The Specials,” one of the 113 children from Peterson, Illinois born with otherworldly talents and abilities. I think the character is Darkraven or something, with the ability of object manipulation. She becomes an agent of the American government.

[Jamie Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story. Up there with midnight nation as his best work that I've read. 5 stars.

[glass.curtain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading if you're a fan of the comic series.

[Carl Timms · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid if not spectacular intro to the Rising Stars universe. Definitely made me want to read the rest of the main story. The prelude stories were all short but engaging. The Untouchable story was interesting and quite dark in its portrayal of government machinations but it gets lost a bit in its own worthiness and the final chapter loses impact by being a bit too rushed and vague. Worth a read though, however I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I read the rest.

[Christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this on accident trying to buy the first volume to re-read. It was still pretty good, if heavy-handed at times.
I got into it enough to not realize I was getting on the wrong train and to not realize until Fruitvale that I was going the wrong direction. I guess that says something.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting view of what the world would do to and how it would view superhumans born suddenly into the population. A scary view of human prejudices and the cause and effect of these prejudices. Fantastic art and one of the best comic storylines I have ever read. High recommended

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories peripheral to the main story line of "Rising Stars," some by J. Michael Straczynski, some by other authors. Pretty good stuff, but not as good as the main story, really.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved Babylon 5, you'll love this series.

I hope the rest of the series comes out on kindle soon.
Beautifully drawn and well written!
Well worth it.

[James Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, having read this I now know to avoid any further releases in the Rising Stars universe. The only good thing I can say about this book is that the art is generally decent. Whup-de-do.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic series. Much like the television series "Heroes".