Interest has been expressed in a Planetary discussion so I guess I'll start one and see where it goes. I have never read it before. I don't plan to do in-depth summaries because those who expressed said interest have, and some have committed to reading along with me. I bought the omnibus edition, which doesn't have a table of contents but it does have an introduction written by Alan Moore. It collects Planetary #1-27, Planetary Preview, Planetary/Batman, Planetary/JLA and Planetary/Authority. Issue #1 begins with a woman named Jakita Wagner recruiting a man named Elijah Snow into a organization called "Planetary." The third member of the group calls himself "The Drummer." She has been with the team for four years, but knows nothing about it before that, including whether or not it even existed. She explains that Planetary is always a three-person team, but when Snow inquires about the third person before him she responds, "Tell you some other time. When we've worked it out for ourselves." There is also a mysterious "fourth man" who finances the group.
Their first mission takes them to a base in the Adirondacks in search of a man named Dr. Axel Brass (basically Doc Savage) who was born on January 1, 1900 and disappeared on January 1, 1945. They find him a a headquarters filled with trophies (such as "The Hull of the Charnal Ship," "Vestments of the Black Crow King," "The Murder Colonels," etc.). They find Brass still alive. He has been awake since 1945; he eliminated the need for food and sleep in 1942; stopped aging in in '43; learned to close wounds with the power of his mind in '44. He and his collegues (basically Tarzan, the Shadow, etc... a sort of latter day "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") created a quantum computer which opened the door to the multiverse where they discovered a team of super-powered individuals (basically the original Justice League of America) who attacked. Everyone except him was killed, and he has remained guarding the gateway ever since.
"It's a strange world," Snow remarks.
"Let's keep it that way," Jakita agrees.
Planetary is written by Warren Ellis and drawn by John Cassaday. Earlier today I finished reading #37-47 of Stormwatch, also by Ellis, but it really didn't grab me. Some of his stuff I like, some I don't, but Planetary drew me right in.
Replies
I'm really sure that DC has not attempted to merge Planetary into anything else.
Just re-read this issue.
Gotta say, I love the last two panels. The panels preceding them are beautiful for their own reasons as well. More about that later on.
Wilder is superbly realized in this issue. It is him in the cover. He feels like he just arrived by stepping out of the cover of some sci-fi oriented cover of "Argosy" or a similar title. Even his personality is unmistakably idealistic and larger-than-life. I have seen actual preview issues that gave far less effort at making the new character worth following in other book.
ISSUE #5:
Okay, now this logo is definitely patterned after the James Bama-era "Doc Savage" paperback covers (whose depiction of Doc's "skull-cap hair" was always too literal, I thought, which is why I prefer the covers of Walter Baumhofer).
Snow has no scent. I myself wondered what happened to Brass's legs, but I figured all would be revealed in time. If you guys don't know... Jenny Sparks is mentioned for the first time. I'm not sure who "John Cumberland" is supposed to be (although his costume is a bit like the original Captain Marvel's original one. I don't know if it was this way in the original comics, but each chapter in the omnibus is prefaced with a quote from the issue. This one is: "You want to know the secret of the world? It's this: Save it, and it'll repay you, every second of every day." But if it were up to me, I'd've picked another line from the same conversation: "You want to know everything all at once, five seconds after taking your first look at it." I try to keep that in mind as I am reading Planetary.
I'm a bit behind, catching up on issue #4:
I feel as if I should recognize the font and layout of that cover, but it's not quite coming to me. Paging ahead a bit in the omnibus (which I try not to do), I see that some of the cover layouts are quite definitely homages to other publications. I'll try to point out those I recognize, but if I miss any (such as the cover above), please feel free to jump in with an assist.
I don't know that the title logo of this issue emulates any specific previous work, beyond having very evident pulp inspiration.
I don't know of anything in particular, so I'm inclined to go with Luis' "inspiration from pulp novels." The interior of the shiftship also puts me in mind of the art styles of the '20s and '30s, especially art deco, carried to the Nth degree. That would also suggest the pulps, as they were the comic books of the time. Someone who is fluent in pulp might recognize a particular issue of a particular title, but I'm Captain Comics, not Captain Pulps.
And once again I want to note that Warren Ellis is a Brit, and may be referencing English boys' adventure material few Americans have seen (as Alan Moore did in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which in later issues had me constantly Googling). Also, I just looked up John Cassaday (who is American), and his Wiki says one of his influences is "classic pulp magazine-culture iconography," so there's our guy who is fluent.
One thing I've been meaning to mention is that I appreciate that the stories have so far been "done-in-one." Too often these days (and I have complained about it a lot), new series begin with a decompressed, six-issue "arc" which takes about as long to real as a single "actual" comic book.
I knew you'd like it. The art, too, is a lot of work in a few pages.
This issue begins to make clear the blurb from the cover of the first issue: "Archaelogists of the Impossible."
Yes! Again, I didn't want to spoil it going in, but now it should be obvious. The Planetary team investigates strange events and rumors, like The X-Files. Only instead of those rumors and strange events involving cryptids, aliens and conspiracies, our team is investigating -- almost exclusively -- nerd culture. It's like Bob's thought experiments where everything in our area of expertise actually happened, but in this case was somehow buried and forgotten. So far the team has investigated pulp heroes (who really existed!), kaiju, and a type of Japanese yokai called onryō and now something that bears a vague resemblance to the Nautilus gussied up in exaggerated art deco. This is written FOR US.
Early on in this issue, Snow complains, "Do we ever get to see anything when it happens, instead of mopping up after it or digging it up?" By the end of the issue, he decides, "It's time Planetary stopped watching things and started doing things." Up until this point, Snow has been content to let Jakita lead, but this decision signals a change in the status quo.
Yes. It jumped out at me on first read that it took until the third issue for someone in Planetary to act instead of being investigators and observers. Jakita jumped into action in the second issue -- finally giving us a clue as to what she can do -- but stopped when the poison gas came out and returned to observer status. In the third issue she finally took some action against some crooks. What other comic book postpones "action, action, action in the mighty Marvel manner"? And I wonder if Ellis himself began to feel chafed by the restraints of the concept and decided to change it.
But given future revelations, I think he had it in mind all along. You can decide as we go along.
The terrorist group "The Snowflake" hearkens back to the "Theoretical Snowflake" of #1.
The Snowflake endures. Also, the bombing was aimed at a Hark Corporation building, and Hark was the name of the Fu Manchu guy in Doc Brass' crew.
This issue also introduces the concept of "The Bleed," which is similar to my own personal theory of comic book cosmology. So far, it's difficult to imagine this group existing within the DC Universe, but I'm curious to see how Ellis pulls that off. (Or am I confusing Planetary with Stormwatch?)
Really? The Bleed was introduced in The Authority #1 in 1999, so it's been around for a quarter century. The Authrority live/headquarter in a shiftship in the Bleed, and come to Earth through doors (that look like the ones the TVA uses in Marvel movies and TV shows) that the ship makes. The process is that one of the characters says "Door" and the shiftshift makes one opening to their intent. They get from A to B via the Bleed.
The Bleed was part of the infrastructure of the WildStorm universe, frequently referenced and/or used. It's also been used in some DCU comics guest-starring WildStorm characters. I could swear it's been used in regular DCU comics on occasion, but I wasn't watching for it, so I could be wrong.
One of the conceits of the concept is that it's been in DC Comics since 1963, when the JLA and JSA went into the void between dimensions. They just didn't know that it already had a name, and neither did we. I wonder if Boom Tubes work like the Doors, and I have no idea how Flash's vibrations go into the mix.
But the Bleed is now DC canon, as far as I can tell.
I'm really sure that DC has not attempted to merge Planetary into anything else.
See above. But also, Jake Fox and Batwoman have teamed with the latest Drummer to investigate "the secret history of the DC Universe" in the latest iteration of Outsiders, currently at issue #10 or so. That's Planetary in all but name. I haven't read it, but I assume they travel about by the Bleed.
Really? The Bleed was introduced in The Authority #1 in 1999, so it's been around for a quarter century.
What I meant by "my own personal theory of comic book cosmology" is that all comic book universes fall under the umbrella of "infinite Earths," but I take it you're questioning that I've never heard of "The Bleed" before. I don't think I have, but maybe I have and it didn't stick. Every day I read another issue I become increasingly incredulous that I have remaimed more or less oblivious to Planetary for 25 years. To me it's fresh and new.
I am a bit surprised you've never heard of The Bleed, because I could swear that it's been in some non-WildStorm DC comics. But like I said, I wasn't particularly noting when that happened, so I just have a vague memory of it (which could well be wrong).
Anyway, if you pick up any of the other WildStorm books that launched at DC in 1999, you'll get a face full of Bleed.
The Bleed was mentioned by name and explained in some mainline DC books circa 2007, particularly "Ion" #10 (that would be Kyle Rayner). Captain Atom blew up in "Superman/Batman" #6 (2004) and ended up in the Wildstorm Universe, establishing that travel between the two universes was possible and leading to a series of Wildstorm events. But I believe that it was only in Flashpoint/The New 52 that there was a true merger.
Now see, I have read Superman/Batman #6 and Ion #10, so I'm leaning toward my "didn't stick" theory.
I also have some of the stuff from when Mr. Majestic and Superman swapped places for a time...
That's Wildstorm, isn't it? (rhetorical question)
Wait, I forgot some stuff:
There was a page where the panels are shaped like Captain Marvel's chest symbol. And Jim Wilder ends up with a similar symbol on his chest. In some way Ellis is referencing Captain Marvel. Is he implying the subway car in Whiz Comics #2 was a shiftship? I'm sure there are parts I'm not catching. Clearly, though, there's some connections, as when the lightning bolt scar lights up to transport people to the Rock of Eternity -- excuse me, I mean the shiftship.
I tried to look up "Jim Williams" as a pulp character, but failed. There's a Jim Williams pulp writer who complicates the search.
What do you suppose happened to Doc Brass' legs? “Not needing to eat” may have been an over-simplification.
The book shows the immediate aftermath of the battle with the Justice League, and Doc's legs already look like all the muscle has been sucked off them. There's another panel immediately after showing the same scene when Planetary arrives, and his legs do look a little more diminished, but that may be the eating thing. Or maybe it's just that more tissue died.
Maybe we'll find out next issue, which stars Doc Brass. (Yes, I read it 25 years ago, but I didn't memorize it! Thats why I love this thread -- making me re-read a title I remember greatly enjoying.)
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 6 Next