Customer Reviews

Rising Stars: Visitations (Rising Stars (Image Comics))

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

 

 

This teensy, teeny book (note the cheap price) contains four articles about the Rising Stars. Well, three of the four do. The 4th is about a kid who claims to have powers to escape his mom and schoolmates. No, these are not plot-important stories. These stories are in no particular order and take place outside of the timeline and story arc of the other two Rising Stars books. Personally, i'd read this after Rising Stars 1 (Born In Fire). The stories here are character studies, mostly while the kids are young, so don't expect much action.

If you read Rising Stars, this is mostly worth reading, although hardly as gripping as the story arc stories in the other two volumes. If you don't read Rising Stars, there's no sense in reading this one.

This is a series of four vignettes set at various points during the regular series of Rising Stars, but is well worth it for any fan of the series. It gives further insights into the lives of the Specials.

The first simply contains some musings of Daniel ("Poet"); a piece out of the journal of the Special's psychiatrist; and a Supreme Court decision basically denying one of the Specials the right to remain with his parents, and the right to not be restrained while being physically examined by the Government.

The second vignette shows a government-hired "clown" introducing the child Specials to their new living quarters, a compound which includes schoolrooms, living quarters and frightening medical examination rooms. Although the "clown" is obviously intended to lull the children into a false sense of security, they quickly see the truth of the matter.

The third story is about an ordinary child who tries to pass himself off as "Special," because he feels ignored at home and abused in public school. The Specials quickly realize he's not one of them, but the story takes a surprising turn.

Finally, Jerry, the pyrokinetic "Pyre," who has played super-villain to Jason's "Flagg" superhero for years, returns home to the Special's psychiatrist, to discuss why he has played the reluctant villain all these years.

The artwork is as good as the rest of the series, and while this is a very small book -- 64 pages -- it makes an excellent coda to the series.

Rising Stars: Visitations tells the story of some of the Specials when they were younger. So, this fills in some of the background of the characters that you see in the main series, and is not at all necessary for your enjoyment of the rest of it. You can pretty much guess who, of course. Probably for completist types only.

All of the Rising Star books are perhaps at the top of the art form. I have all of them, and they are gripping reads, and I've read them over and over again

It fills in some of the spots in the story told in Born in Fire & Power. I want more!!