J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars Review: Prelude Last update: 27th September 2000

Although I can't stand Babylon 5, I still picked up this comic; on the idea that maybe it would be more to my tastes. It is. It's got emotion and realism, which is something that's usually lacking in a comic about superpowered people (unsurprisingly, I suppose. After all, you tend to lose realism the moment you have a comic containing someone who can fly, move faster than is huamly possible or whatever).

So I was pleasantly surprised by this comic. It's really good but, at 16 pages of actual story, it's overpriced ($2.95, about £2.30. 2000 AD is larger, has no adverts and has more pages for £1.40...) but we can overlook that because it's got great dialogue and characters that you can really get a feeling for.

The artwork is top-notch. There's a lot of use of shading here, which is no bad thing, and the detail level is higher than I've come to expect in American comics. It's still not up to 2000 AD standards but it's pretty good nevertheless. Page 11 took my breath away when I saw it, as did Flagg's costume on page 10 - they both look like they've been painted in oils, although on closer inspection it's clear that they're computer-coloured. This is the standard all computer colourists should be aiming for. Unfortunately, most fail to achieve it.

Bad colouring - far too murky and very reminiscant of David Bircham's stint on Slaine in 2000 AD. The script isn't too bad, but there are some very 'Babylon 5'-esque moments of dialogue that bring it down. Overall, a rather poor attempt.