Rising Stars #24 Straczynski, Anderson, Buccellato and Dreamer

So Rising Stars is done. Gee, that's just, great. I guess. It's only been, what, a hundred years since it started? And that's only one of the problems. When the book first came out it was fresh and new. Now it reads and looks like every other super-hero team book out there. Hint #1: strike while the iron is hot.

It was a great high concept book that also was very strongly based in the characters. It's something Straczynski excels at, in the beginning anyway. You see, it's also something he completely forgets about when he comes to the end of the story. He did it at the end of Babylon 5. He did it to a lesser degree in Midnight Nation. Don't even get me started on what he did to Amazing Spider-Man. He's done it again in Rising Stars, in spades. He arrives at the big finish, rushes the climax and completely forgets about the characters. They become puppets acting out the high concept. He always starts out strong and then blows it in the end. Hint #2: take a deep breath before you throw what is working on the character front out the window for the sake of plot.

Now his next big gig has been announced. Fantastic Four. I'll pass. He's just going to do it again. I'll get all excited about his take on the FF and all the new cool ideas and how well he handles the characterization. Then he'll pull some completely boneheaded move out in left field for the sake of high concept and plot, dump any semblance of solid characterization and just leave a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. No thanks.