When Hayden Panettiere passed, a lot of us went straight back to 2006 — that first season of NBC’s Heroes that felt like Lost with superpowers. Comic shops were packed. Tim Sale’s artwork was everywhere. Jim Lee and Alex Ross did the hardback covers. For one year, the show could do no wrong.

But if you were reading comics at the end of the ’90s, you already knew this story.

Top Cow’s Rising Stars, written by J. Michael Straczynski and launched in 1999, is the book a lot of people pointed to the second Heroes hit the air. Same DNA: a single cosmic event creates a generation of powered people, the government moves in, the moral lines get blurry, and the story stretches across decades. JMS has always said he never read it. Watch both and you’ll see why so many of us still raise an eyebrow.

Rising Stars had the ambition of Watchmen and the sales heat of a Top Cow book at the peak of the studio. Then delays and a legal fight with Top Cow killed the momentum. By the time the last issues finally shipped, the hype train had already left the station.

This Top Cow Tuesday is a reminder episode. I talk the overlap between Rising Stars and Heroes season one, why the first season of Heroes was so good for comic shops, the artists who showed up for both, and why Rising Stars still deserves to be in the conversation whenever people talk about the great American superhero comics.

Hit play. Then go find the Rising Stars compendium if you never finished it.

The Impact of Heroes and Rising Stars on Comic Book Culture and Storytelling

Summary

This video reflects on the cultural significance and artistic impact of the Heroes TV series and Top Cow’s Rising Stars comic book series. Triggered by the recent passing of actress Hayden Panettiere, the host revisits Heroes’ groundbreaking first season and its synergy with Top Cow’s Rising Stars, noting how both works elevated the superhero narrative with intricate storytelling and mystery-box techniques. He highlights the way Rising Stars—often referenced as a spiritual predecessor and possible inspiration behind Heroes—embodied a mature and complex superhero saga that resonated deeply with audiences, rivaling seminal works like Watchmen. The video also touches on the challenges Rising Stars faced with publication delays and legal disputes, which ultimately hindered its industry momentum, despite its high-quality storytelling and creative acclaim. The host emphasizes the collaborative efforts of top artists like Tim Sale, Michael Turner, Jim Lee, and Alex Ross in these projects, underscoring how Heroes helped revitalize interest in comic stores and superhero narratives in the 2000s.

Highlights

• 🦸‍♂️ Heroes season one was a landmark for mystery-box storytelling, captivating audiences and rivaling shows like Lost.
• 📚 Top Cow’s Rising Stars debuted in 1999 and is often cited as a major influence on Heroes.
• 🎨 The series featured artwork and contributions from acclaimed creators like Tim Sale, Michael Turner, Jim Lee, and Alex Ross.
• ⏳ Publication delays and legal issues slowed Rising Stars, causing it to lose industry hype despite its storytelling merits.
• 📈 Rising Stars is considered a worthy successor to Watchmen for its complex narrative and cultural impact on comics.
• 🛍️ Heroes drove foot traffic to comic shops and revitalized interest in graphic novels and superhero stories during its heyday.
• 💔 Hayden Panettiere’s unexpected passing reignited nostalgia and reflection on the influence of Heroes and related comic properties.

Key Insights

• 🧩 Mystery-box storytelling as a double-edged sword: The success of Heroes season one and its narrative style followed the model pioneered by Lost, which requires a strong payoff to satisfy audiences. The host observes how Heroes struggled to maintain momentum in later seasons, reinforcing that intricate mysteries need careful resolution to sustain engagement. This serves as a lesson for creators leveraging mystery-box narratives: initial intrigue must be matched by compelling conclusions.
• 📖 Intertextual influence and industry cross-pollination: The direct comparison and alleged inspiration connection between Rising Stars and Heroes reveal how comic books can function as proof-of-concept mediums for TV adaptations. Even if the creators behind Heroes did not formally study Rising Stars, the thematic and tonal overlap demonstrates how ideas circulate between media, influencing storytelling trends and audience expectations.
• 🎨 Importance of top-tier artistic collaboration: The involvement of legends like Tim Sale, Michael Turner, Jim Lee, and Alex Ross in Heroes and Rising Stars elevated these projects beyond typical superhero fare. Their work not only brought visual appeal but also credibility, attracting a broader audience and setting a benchmark for artistic quality in comics and related media adaptations.
• ⏳ Impact of legal and publishing difficulties on narrative momentum: Despite Rising Stars’ strong initial reception, production delays and disputes with Top Cow disrupted its release schedule, allowing public and industry attention to wane. This underscores how external business factors can critically affect creative works, sometimes more than the content quality itself, influencing overall legacy and audience retention.
• 🔗 Role of comic adaptations in sustaining comic shops: The host points out how Heroes generated excitement that drew readers into comic stores, benefitting the broader comic-book economy. This highlights how successful adaptations can serve as vital gateways for both new and existing fans, ultimately supporting the industry’s ecosystem through increased sales and engagement.
• ⭐ Rising Stars as a spiritual successor to Watchmen: The video presents Rising Stars as a significant entry in the “great American comic book” tradition, comparable to Watchmen due to its mature storytelling, cultural resonance, and the medium’s evolving narrative ambitions. This comparison reflects the ongoing quest in comics to create landmark works that push the form beyond conventional superhero myths.
• 💭 Nostalgia’s role in re-engagement with older media: Triggered by Hayden Panettiere’s death, the host’s return to Heroes spotlights how significant life events or losses can prompt fans to revisit formative cultural experiences. This phenomenon fuels renewed appreciation and critique, often bringing lost or underappreciated works back into the conversation.

00:00:13
Here we go, my AKA patters. Quick one today, it’s a top cow Tuesday or into Wednesday. I know Look, you can’t blame me. My work schedule’s been upside down. Even today, I got two meetings, two separate floors. Uh there’s just not enough time in the day, so I’ve been having early nights and early mornings for about 2 weeks now. But yeah, we’re we’re getting through it. We’re doing a lot of things. And I’m here for you cuz I love comic books. Recently So this this connection here.

00:00:50
A little bit more of a reminder episode. But recently, because of the And I always butcher her last name. Sometimes it’s on purpose, sometimes it’s I just never remember how to pronounce it. But Hayden Panettiere, right? Or Hayden Panettiere. The cheerleader from Heroes. So she recently passed. Absolute shock to everyone because she had a a memoir that was coming out. She passes suddenly. It just got me thinking about the Heroes TV show. And as soon as I started watching Heroes, two things happened. Number one,

00:01:30
my mind Like I haven’t watched Heroes since it first aired. I know it it was it was a time where I Like I’m not even sure how I watched it because I really didn’t have cable at the time. I must have watched it at friends’ houses or Yeah, it it must have been any anywhere but where I lived. But I haven’t seen it since it it first aired. With her passing, I got back into the show and just remembered how [sighs] hyper of a time and how it was just like Heroes could do nothing wrong for

00:02:09
that first season and you know, WildStorm, they were they published two hardback graphic novels. That was everything that was like a web series and season two hits and the whole thing goes to kind of like downhill from there. But that initial like first season and like all the Tim Sale artwork, but the story and like these characters and every like the mystery that they were teasing and you just couldn’t get the next episode. And it was Heroes season one was like the best competition to what Lost had

00:02:45
because Lost changed network television. The the I guess they call it the mystery box storytelling. Really like really cool stuff, but it’s so engaging. It’s it’s hard to pay it off and it’s hard to do a season two once you start the the mystery box. So, Lost in my opinion still had the longest run of that. Say what you want about that final season. So, I’m watching Heroes just having these like flashbacks almost. And I remember this series. Rising Stars which is Top Cow’s. It’s Rising and and

00:03:25
I recently re-engaged in it. Now, Rising Stars for this channel was something that was just way more down the road because it’s to me it’s giant, complex, intricate. Top Cow Productions has lawsuits of its own, by the way. But Rising Stars was immediately compared to Heroes or Heroes was immediately compared to Rising Stars when when that aired and I remember this and I remember you know you know cuz I was like more uh I I had the internet at this time and there’s there’s an interview somewhere

00:04:06
where I I don’t even know his name the creator of Heroes uh like admits to having Rising Star comic books that one of the producers or his like maybe the co-creator of the show mailed to him. He never read it and it’s a weird it’s a weird excuse. >> [snorts] >> But if you read Rising Stars and then watch Heroes you immediately see the overlaps the tone the the what the direction is and in a way and I and I do feel like this happens you can use someone else’s work and property

00:04:45
to push like a proof of concept uh to your group like if it’s a a network or producers or production company or a collaborator you you can pull something from here and say look like this this is the road map that we’re going to follow and a lot of times you know like people call BS on it. I think in this case when it comes to Top Cow’s Rising Stars J. Michael Straczynski during I believe in epic run like throughout the 2000s and 2010s I think Rising Stars first published in 1999. I didn’t look any of

00:05:23
this up cuz I got to work but I just was like let me let me just sit down and talk to you guys about this. Uh but then Rising Stars itself within Top Cow within J. Michael Straczynski gets into somewhat of a back and forth or feud delaying the release of Rising. I they might have been delayed by four years the last like five or six four or five issues of Rising Stars. Uh the Rising Stars absolute like hype wagon passed over the industry by the time they settled this this back and forth. And and I that too I don’t have details

00:06:04
on cuz at the time I wasn’t reading like Wizard magazine or or any other of the publications. Like I said, I was absolutely disconnected. Before we leave, I will remind you guys. You guys know how much of a Watchmen head I am, right? Watchmen, the greatest American comic book like ever of all time. It’s like you you have Watchmen and Maus. Like that’s that’s your somewhat It’s not really a two-headed dragon cuz superheroes have to be the greatest American comic. You can’t surrender

00:06:39
that. But Maus is is a good number two. Watchmen uh is the crown jewel. If there is a successor, something that stepped up to the plate that caught the attention, caught the lexicon, right? Rising Stars immediately, if you guys need like examples of this, immediately had collected editions, trade paperbacks, always a good sign of something that connects to to the audience. But also action figures and like not statues, but there was like busts cuz Bowen was Bowen Designs were like created the bust boom of the 2000s

00:07:18
as well. That’s what she said. The audiences immediately attached themselves to to Rising Stars and it was uh high-level just written storytelling with artwork of the time. So it was like Top Cow and Top like the entire studio was like stepping up to get this. If there is a successor to Watchmen, it is Rising Stars. 24 issues I There is a giant compendium that I had at one time. I should have bought it. I saw it in Midtown Comics about two summers ago in in New York City. Should have bought it then. I think they

00:07:57
only had it for like 12 or 15 bucks. I just didn’t want lug it back to the hotel and and and you know, like lug it home. Not not that I was carrying it. I just sometimes you just don’t want something heavy on your persons. But yeah, AK Peters Rising Stars, Heroes, what a amazing time. I and I also imagine every cuz I think I was I might have been like at the tail end of the comic shop at this point. But Heroes like every every book that they put out immediately sold. Like that’s how much hype and and

00:08:36
and attention. I think even like Michael Turner did like chapter one for the the web comic. Like I said, they got like like some of the best in the comic book industry. Like Jim Lee did the cover of one of the hardbacks. Alex Ross did the cover of one of the hardbacks. Like like I said, like the best of the best of of American Comics ascending onto the show. Heroes was so good for comic shops. It just got people excited. It got people through the door and Top Cow had like the book to buy as Heroes was like

00:09:12
like shooting you know, shooting to the moon. I don’t know what you call that. But guys, yeah. Heroes, Rising Stars, Top Cow Tuesday, Peter A. DeLucia here. Sorry, no comics today. I love you. Rock and roll.

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.