ust an update on the latest RISING STARS news:

I've now seen the inked and colored final pages on issue 1, and I have to say
that I'm very, very pleased by the final result. It took a bit of doing to get
there, but the result is quite nice. It has the *feel* of a very different
sort of book than everything else out there, something a bit special.

That first issue of RISING STARS, "Nova Placenta," will debut at the Chicago
Comic Con in two weeks, where I'll be attending and signing stuff and talking
and the like. (The main presentation I'm scheduled for has been moved from
Sunday to Saturday at, I think, around 5ish.)

It will hit comic stores/newsstands around the 28th of this month.

Advance orders have already topped 100,000 (before re-orders) and it looks like
that may not be enough.

This is a comic that I feel very strongly about, it's something I've wanted to
do for a long, long time. I think it's something that will appeal to most B5
folks, because it has some of the same elements in the sense that it treats the
genre seriously, tries new and different approaches to characterization, has an
overall story arc with a beginning, middle and end (24 issues from now), and so
on. It also proceeds from a genuine love of the form. I think it'll appeal
equally to non-comics fans and those familiar with the form. It's also
something that I think can be read by a variety of age ranges, all of whom will
get something different out of it.

In any event...I'm very happy with the thing, and wanted to put the word out
there about it.

I'm especially pleased that the first issue will have a forward by Neil Gaiman,
a name that should be familiar to both B5 folks ("Day of the Dead") and comics
readers around the planet.

The book is being published by TOP COW (a division of Image Comics, publisher
of SPAWN), also the publishers of FATHOM and DARKNESS. It should be available
at any goodly-sized comics store, and there are several places on-line where
one can find comics.

It's gonna be a fun book.
jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com