Working out a timeline for Rising Stars is not easy. There are a few fixed dates - the Flash happened in 1968, the Specials graduated high school in 1986. There are some guidelines - Act Two takes place ten years after the showdown in Colorado, Poet speaks of six decades as covering the lifespans of the Specials, and there are a few 'a year ago' and other such internal relative dating. After, however, we're on our own.
There are no visual cues - the art tells us next to nothing for dates. There are no cultural references - the clothes, the cars, the physical environment are totally generic and contemporary to us instead of to the time they are supposed to be depicting. Nobody's wearing bell bottoms or flowered skirts in the 1960's and 1970's, no male adults are sporting mutton chops or even facial hair, and the Specials themselves, when shown in their childhood, are dressed generic contemporary. I'm only a few years younger than they are and I have photo evidence of having spent the 1970's in brown, orange, and green velour and corderoy. It's an unfortunate side effect of the generally inconsistent and aggressively mediocre art that has plagued the series, but that's a story for another day.
I've tried to use a combination of fixed dates, internal indications of time passing, and plain common sense to piece this puppy together. Justifications where necessary, citations only when the information is relatively obscure.
1968
The Flash: a fireball appears over Pederson, Illinois late one night. The Specials will be born over the next nine months, 113 in total number, with John Simon presumably being the last.
1974
Matthew Bright's hoisting of a reinforced concrete chunk reveals the existence of the Specials.
1975
25 March: The date on the Supreme Court decision in the matter of Bright v. Forrester that allowed the Specials to be raised by their parents. [Wizard #0]
Spring/Summer: The Specials are temporarily moved to Camp Sunshine for testing. Lee Jackson incinerates the counselor who molested him on a prior occasion. [Ideally, this should come before the Supreme Court decision, not after, but that makes the kids five and six years old and that's too young - some of them may be mature for their ages, but no five-year-olds use the sort of sentence structure Randy, Willy, and Lee use in their lunchtime chat. [RS #1] They act closer to eight, but, well, this is the far end of the wiggle room.]
1977
Lee Jackson's parents killed in a motel fire; Lee missing and 'presumed' dead.
[Randy tells John [RS #3] that the Jacksons were on the run for "about two years" before the accident.]
1997
Lee Jackson exacts vengeance upon the murderers of Eleanor Hamilton. He suicides at the completion of it and his portion of the force energy is redistributed among the 112 others. Lee Jackson's fate was unknown to the rest of the group for twenty years.]
Events of Act One: Stephanie/Critical Maas taking control of Jason Miller and effecting the deaths of Joey Drake, Peter Dawson, Clarence Mack, and David Mueller; Jason, Jerry Montrose, and Matthew Bright chasing down the rest of the Specials; John Simon revealed as the most powerful of the Specials; the showdown in Colorado.
2007
A newsmagazine does a feature on the tenth anniversary of the events that led to the Colorado showdown. The surviving Specials (the tally has them at somewhere between ninety-seven and one hundred two) are living either in exile or in hiding; the conspiracy charges have not been dropped.
Randy tracks down John in Pederson; he's got an agreement with some federal types to get pardons for anyone who can bring down Critical Maas's empire in Chicago and has brought Chandra along to goad John into joining. John hasn't been heard from in "more than a year", but it seems unlikely that Randy didn't know where he was - he's a Batman-like detective and his method of tracking John through power surges isn't time sensitive. The mini-siege on Chicago commences and Critical is brought down. Doc Welles suggests a change of worldview for John and the Specials and their new phase, as world players, commences.
2027
Jerry Montrose and Jason Miller are killed; Matthew Bright emerges from his twenty-year coma. Randy gets John to take him to see Lionel and the three go to Washington, DC in pursuit of the fodder Randy needs to run for president.
