You've read Rising Stars, right?

[Proteus4]

ive just posted in the Crisis thread and it reminded, via New Statesman, of Joe Straczynski's Rising Stars. Simply the best superhero story of them all. Thing is, I'm not sure anyone else read it. As far as I'm concerned its better than anything DC ever did, and is up there with watchmen, or Zenith, or whichever you care to name.

Just sayin
Dave 

[The Adventurer]

I read it while it was coming out.   It was good, but not 'best evar'.

[Colin YNWA]

Must admit that I've never heard of it, though given that it started in my wilderness years there's a lot still out there like that.

I generally find JMS (his comics I've never watched Babylon 5) to be ... not to my tastes ... and though his work is often lauded and I've tried a lot of it and found it pretty week. What is it about this you love so much? I'd love to find something that explained to me why he's held in such high regard.

[Proteus4]

I read it as TPB's as they were released and this intensified the epic feel of the story - which it is, as it spans the lifetime of its superheroes. The dynamics of the relationships between all the main characters works very well, giving you a real sense of cameraderie or enmity where appropriate.  The superheroes all have specific powers - mind reading, clairvoyance, flying, etc - and these powers are particular to only certain individuals. So they have strengths and vulnerabilities which adds to the dramatic tension. And because these guys all grow up together it actually feels at times more like a family drama than a superhero comic.

Lastly I thought JMS's writing throughout was great. Not the words per se (anyone who's watched an ep of B5 knows his dialogue can be woeful, although thankfully not so prevalent here) but the plotting, the twists and turns, and the motivations of each character, all makes sense within its own world. There are some genuine hairs on the back of your neck moments too, like when you realise what's really going on with the girl [spoiler]With no powers at all[/spoiler], or [spoiler]the scene where poet enters another superheroes dream by using a a clairvoyant and a dream walker[/spoiler]

And if you want to know why I love JMS - watch B5 seasons 1-4. Simultaneously awful (zero budget, dodgy sfx, ropey dialogue) and awesome (Babylon squared, the coming of shadows, the shadow of z'ha'dum, the list goes on).

Dave

[Professor Bear]

It was alright, but I do recall laughing like a drain at the ending of the main series (when it eventually came, years later through a different publisher), as it was identical to the end of [spoiler]Jason X[/spoiler], though I imagine the superhero comics equivalent would be the fate of [spoiler]Darius Dax in Alan Moore's Supreme[/spoiler] run, or the ending of [spoiler]Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son[/spoiler], and if we're going to count episodes of Twilight Zone or Outer Limits to which it also bears a passing resemblance, I'll be here all day.

I recall my problems with it were the central conceit being too similar to Dwayne McDuffie's Static Shock comic book and GRR Martin's Wild Cards series of novels, though there was the problem of diminishing returns, too, as I was reading the monthly books at the time and it kind of lost its way a bit after the time jump in the story, and then when JMS fell behind schedule and blamed his artist (later artists, after some of Joe's collaborator's walked off the title for some reason), his editor(s), his publisher(s), then finally turned on the book's fans for nitpicking - although I think this was a one-off and he's never done anything like that before or since.