Customer Reviews

Rising Stars Volume 2: Power (Rising Stars (Image Comics))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rising Stars continues to be one of the better comic book series out there. This second act of the story continues to develop the specials and drop more hints on what's really going on. Also you'll start to get a better idea of how (and why) the story ends the way it does, as was seen in the very first issue of the first book.

When it comes to telling stories over a long period of time, JMS is easily one of the best. His planning and foresight is exceptional, and as the story unfolds you'll want to go back and reread the previous issues to see all the foreshadowing.

As I've come to expect, the story ranges from the most intimate character development, to intense action, to very broad dramatic themes. This really is a comic to look for.

On a whim one day, while browsing amazon.com, I decided to pick up both this and the first volume in the Rising Stars series. I had never heard of the series, but I've always been impressed by JMS's story-telling ability, so I thought they were worth a shot. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

The story is one of the most imaginative re-workings of the superhero genre I've ever read. Engaging characters and superb artwork make this series a great read. I can't wait for the third (and final) act to be available in collected form.

Great characters and fantastic writing. My only little beef is that a new artist took over the last few chapters. While not as good as the original, still solid. I really enjoy consistency with artwork, which is a rarity for any comic these days...

With J. Michael Stracynski you know you're going to get something good, and he doesn't let you down. The story is fantasic, and the artwork is really good. I don't read as many comics as I used to when I was younger, but after Babylon 5, I've been looking for other things JMS has done. This was amazing, highly recommended - story telling at it's best. I can hardly wait for the third (and apparently final) volume.

I liked his work with the Supreme Power and related titles, but this collection was just poor quality.
It was like a rough sketch of where he'd go in SP, but pretty half-arsed. Everyone was sulky in the same way, except bad guys, who were all psycho in the same way. The storyline meandered, the powers and characters blurred together as the long-haired emo kids kept bickering over...Their Destiny! or whatever the hell they were whining about. Every woman in the series was a supermodel unless they were very old or very fat. Seriously, look at the background people in the war zone...perfect hair, full plump lips, and (if they weren't old, fat or THE NERD GIRL), their breasts were comically large even for a superhero book. The art was adequate most of the time beyond that (since that's a writer distinction as well), until the points where it became ungodly impossible, such as when one of the MIGHTY SPECIALS was putting on a comic pose and suddenly couldn't have still been alive because their kidneys would be in their throat, or their waist couldn't hold their torso up, or one arm apparently sprouts from their ear.

I'd seriously pass this up, as it was so bad, it has made me reconsider how I felt about his other works.
I'm not going to write up for vol. 1, since that'd make me look like I was going out of spite (which is tempting), and I don't want to waste time writing two reviews when the entire run sucked.

This the conclusion to one of the best written comic graphic novels I have ever read.

Solid continuation of the initial collection, "Rising Stars: Born in Fire". I liked stories that go off in unexpected directions and keep you guessing. This volume does that. We get some final business with the "Who is killing the Specials?" storyline from volume 1; a short arc involving the Specials undertaking a mission to take down a renegade Special who's taken over an entire city; surprising revelations about the true nature of the killer in that first "Rising Stars" storyline mentioned at the outset; and the beginning of the epic storyline where the Specials decide to solve all the world's problems, up to and including ridding the world of nuclear weapons (in other words, writer J. Michael Straczynski re-visits the plot of "Superman IV", only with better creativity, quality, and, well, talent). With its combination of a traditional superhero story "feel" and not-seen-a-million-times-before story developments and characterizations, "Rising Stars: Power" is a winning collection, and one that will immediately have you seeking out the big close in volume 3.

As more Specials die, the power consolidates into those that are left. This actually makes things worse as these more powerful people go into battle over the city of Chicago, and the resurrectionist power of one of their own.

Michael and Randy have to try and work out how to stop one of their number, a schizoid who has one psychotic personality, from causing a war.

This is Rising Stars Vol 2. Chapters 9-16
The 2nd of a 3 part series.

The world made its choice and now you have to make yours, Will you and your kind join to change the world and make it better or to destroy it.
We all make mistakes... What kind of mistakes a person with superpowers can make? and what can you do to fix them? In the end they are only human.

I highly recomend the series.

For some reason i remember this comic getting really knocked, but i'm looking again at the reviews (only 4?) and they're uniformly good. Huh, maybe my memory is slipping.

i'm not going to describe the book because it's the second half of the Power duo. Read the first, see the cliffhanger, read this story which starts 10 years later.

i thought i heard reviews claiming this book wasn't as good as the first one. i suppose that's true, although this is one really good book. i also remember reading that people thought this was kind of cliche comic book stuff, and it really isn't. It's still in the Moore/Miller adult theme where the characters have insecurities and make mistakes and all that. It's good stuff.

My one complaint is this - the book completely wimps out in the end. And by end i mean the very, very end. All this build up about complex politics and factions and ideas and conspiracies and in the very end we find out who the real villan is and it's... lame. Really lame. Standard comic book villan stuff. Nothing interesting or realistic or insightful or novel. That was a let down. But i'm still glad i spent the money to read this whole series