Review of the graphic novel 'Rising Stars: Born In Fire'

Rising Stars is a 24-issue comic from Top Cow Universe. This Born in Fire comic-book collects issues 1 to 8, for which writer is J. Michael Straczynski; pencilers are Keu Cha, Christian Zanier, Ken Lashley; inkers are Jason Gorder, Livesay, Edwin Rosell, Victor Llamas, Marlo Alquiza; colourists are Liquid! (if you are allowed to have a name with an exclamation mark, you shouldn't miss the chance), Matt Nelson, Brett Evans, Tyson Wengler, John Starr, Drew Pasada, Jimmy Yu, Steve Firchow, Nathan Cabrera, Sonia Im; letterers are Dennis Heisler, Dreamers Design's Robin Spehar (is that his or her full name?), Dennis Heisler; covers are by Keu Cha, Jason Gorder, Liquid!, Peter Steigerwald, Chrisitian [sic] Zanier, Livesay, Tyson Wengler, Matt Nelson, Steve Firchow; Series Editors are David Wohl and Renae Geerlings; Associate Editors are Sonia Im and Renae Geerlings; Inkers Assitant [sic] is Steve Nelson. For the comic-book, Peter Steigerwald is Designer and Collected Editions Editor; Managing Editor is Renae Geerlings, Editorial Assistant is Mike Salter, Editor in Chief is Matt Hawkins, Production is by Nick Chun, Annie Skiles, Alvin Coats, Rafael Duffie, Beth Sotelo; Cover is by Gary Frank and Peter Steigerwald.

The story is narrated from the future, and spans sixty years. Following the impact of a meteorite, on the town of Pederson 113 children are born with special abilities that start to show up as they grow up. The abilities are different for each one, though several of them can fly. The government is concerned early and takes care of them as well as readies itself in case they become a threat. Dr. Welles is in charge of helping the Specials, as well as secretly figuring out a way to kill them in case of necessity – which for some of them is not so easy.

An undetermined number of years after, when the Specials are adults and Dr. Welles is an old man, things start to go awry. Special Lee Jackson dies, and that triggers an event only the rest of Specials are able to notice: their power increases. Some time after, two Specials are found murdered. Police requests Dr. Welles' assessment, who in turn secretly reports to Poet, a Special he prepared from his youth to watch over the others. Poet, which much in the tradition of Straczynski's protagonists is named John, starts his own investigation on the matter. It is revealed that it is indeed a Special murdering Specials just for the power boost that comes with their death, but as it becomes more and more evident the murderer starts a conspiracy with government officials in order to get an excuse for murdering more Specials as well as for avoiding being exposed as a murderer.

The story is narrated in first person by Poet, which can be quite the petulant type. Straczynski's writing has quality and the dialogues are sharp, though the beginning as narrated by Poet is slow and full of self-importance. The story starts at a very slow pace, then keeps rising from there. The best quality of the plot is being clever – whatever developments happen, there is always someone prepared for them. The twists are coherent.

Art is good. In spite of the many hands involved in these eight issues, the comic maintains an uniform look. Brilliant drawing, just about colouring.

All in all, an excellent beginning of the story, with tension constantly rising. But of course, providing a proper evaluation to the story would require reading its resolution as well.