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.
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Some time ago, I regretably moved my Doc Savage collection off the shelf and into a box due to lack of shelf space. (All of the volumes fit in one longbox exactly, BTW.) But recently I bought not one but two new shelves, and last night I moved my Doc Savage collection out of the box they were in and back onto the shelf where it belongs. I made one erroneous statement above (which I have just corrected), and thought I'd share a couple of items about Nostalgia Ventures' reprint series you may find of interest facts while I'm here. The volumes are now out of print, but still available through secondary sellers online. Cover prices was $12.95, but i found some for sale as low as $6.95.
Incidentally, although Siegel and Shuster drew a certain amount of inspiration from Doc Savage, the early Msan of Steel did not start out as much of a direct imitation of the Man of Bronze as he would later become. The man responsible for that was not Jerry Siegel, but Superman editor Mort Weisinger. According to Will Murry in his introduction to Fortress of Solitude: "Weisinger was a young pulp writer whom Lester Deny met in 1934, probably through Weisinger's roommate, W. Ryerson Johnson. Better known as 'Johnny,' Johnson was one of the first writers a busy Dent turned to for help writing the monthly Doc novels. when Johnny plotted his first one, Weisinger was at ghis side pitching in ideas. Weisinger and dent decame friends, sometimes going on day trips on Dent's schooner, Albatross."
Authority, WildCATS, Gen13 and StormWatch... I still haven't read all those books.
I've read a fair amount of WildCATS myself. WildCATS 3.0 that Cap mentions was such a departure. They weren't even really a team, with Spartan running Halo Corp, and tying to using their alien technology to make the world a better place. It was written by Joe Casey who I think often has interesting, entertaining ideas.
I remember when people were telling me that some of these revivals that Image was doing on these series were actually good it kinda shocked me. It was just inconceivable at the time, I got caught up to The Authority through the first 2 trades, and then started buying it monthly.
ISSUE #6:
The secret history of the space race. I'm not even going to try to summarize this one.
#6 is a very important one, though.
It was very rewarding to read it again after so long.
The Captain was right, Ellis has a talent for writing colorful, flowing prose that hides key revelations in plain sight.
The last few panels are also very relevant, even if I don't entirely remember what is being raised.
Funny how there are a couple of good action scenes, yet they are the least exciting part of it all.
The summary is easy. It's the the thousands of questions that are hard!
Yes, Randall, Jakob, William and Kim might as well be called Reed, Ben, Johnny and Sue. Both quartets went on a clandestine space flight in 1961, and became more than human. Randall, like Reed, is a polymath. Jakob, like Ben, is a Jewish fighter pilot who flew in WWII. William and Kim are younger blonds.
The resemblance ends right about there. Some questions:
There are more questions, but that will do me for now.
#6 is a very important one, though.
I gathered as much. That's why I didn't want to take a stab at it. I was hoping that "someone" with a broader overview would step up. ;)
Somewhere along the way, I acquired Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. I was intrigued by the concept of the Wold Newton Universe (that some meteor fell somewhere in England and its radiations somehow affected numerous pulp heroes, their associates and descendants). But not enough to seek out any more Doc Savage books.
I may be mistaken, but I think that Doc Brass group from the past few issues is a direct homage to the Wold Newton movers and shakers. Interestingly, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (by Alan Moore) debuted just the month before Planetary #1. Maybe Ellis and Moore decided to launch the two ideas at the same time?
I have just reread #6, then #7, and now #5. In that exact order. I like #6 just fine, but in a way it is almost a distraction from the very direct, very meta hints of the other two issues. Loved Doc Brass pointing out to Elijah in #5 how ridiculous it is that he is seeking answers about the world from a guy who spent fifty years at a mountain. The tone is just about perfect, particularly Elijah's silent realization that Doc Brass is quite right.
I have researched a bit, and I am fairly certain that the only place where we saw Elijah Snow before #1 was in the Planetary Preview that was published in a couple of issues of other series in late 1998 (Gen 13 #33 and C-23 #6). In the real world (TM) he debuted in this series and for this series, despite a lot of references to past continuity in #5, including meeting Jenny Sparks and John Cumberland. We are also told that Doc Brass' gang once fought the Daemonites, usually seen as foes of the WildC.A.T.s.
We never saw those stories. That, in itself, is also very meta and furthers the (well-justified) sense that what we are reading are only occasional glimpses at an ongoing story.
What is Planetary about? In a sense, it is quite obvious and plain to see. By another perspective, it is an ongoing mystery that may or may not ever be clarified. But it is not important if it ever happens. This is very much a series that acknowledges the worth of the journey and not just of the destination.
I should also mention that there is a larger-than-life quality to many of the characters that I have to assume is intentional. In #5, Doc Brass' legs are quite seriously hurt - not even skin and bones exactly; the bones themselves seem to have gone through serious damage. Yet he somehow is half-capable of walking and hardly even mentions that he is hurt. It fits that a Doc Savage homage would be impressively stoic, but there may be a subtler nuance to it.
Looking forward to Jeff's comments about #7. I wonder if others will have noticed the hint that I saw and interpret it in a way that may be compared to mine. And there will be no lack of opportunity to notice character homages there, either.
Oh, and about the Century Babies thing: reading #5 and reminding myself that this was originally a Wildstorm book reminded me that Image plays guest appearances somewhat more loosely and compartimentalized than DC usually does. We are not really expected to see fall-out from, say, a Savage Dragon guest appearance in his own book. Similarly, that Planetary #5 all but states that Doc Brass and Elijah Snow are as much Century Babies as Jenny Sparks and have indeed met her at least once (separately) is not IMO meant to imply that such an event happened or was acknowledged in some Stormwatch or Authority story somewhere - even an untold one.
Ellis may be the writer of the Authority and IIRC the creator of the Century Babies as an idea, but this book has its own plot. It will acknowledge other books and plots, but not go out of its way due to those. This is not acknowledgement to justify a crossover, but acknowledgement to show that there is no interest in a crossover right now.
Of course, there will be a Planetary/The Authority book later on (which I have not read), so maybe this will become significant at that point. I have a hunch that it will not. Ellis seems to be well aware and respectful of the limitations of the idea and to have no interest in forcing his own hand.
Great insight, Luis.
ISSUE #7:
Okay, that's a "Dave McKean" Sandman cover, which is appropriate because this issue is Ellis's take on DC's "Vertigo" line, specifically, Jack Carter is "John Constantine." "Dream" and "Death" and "Swamp Thing" and others all make cameo appearances. Metatextually, Ellis is comparing and contrasting Vertigo comics to those of an earlier, simpler age, but also the effect they have had on the field as a whiole. He seems to feel ambivalent about that, but ultimately feels it's time to move on to a different kind of storytelling.
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