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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Jacob Greene is indeed one of the Four. The stand-in for the Thing. The Human Torch stand-in is William Leather, first seen in #6 and most recently in #18. Cap named them all in the commentary to #6 (page five of this discussion). The others are Kim Suskind (seen in #9 in flashback) and Randall Dowling, who may not have been seen on panel yet.
Ah. Thanks!
ISSUE #20:
If last issue didn't make it clear enough, this issue is titled "Rendevous." Elijah Snow strands Jacob Greene aboard the spaceship. Contact with the "Angels" is lost as they remain aboard as well. I can't place the cover homage, but "A Warren Ellis/John Cassady Production" seems to be a specific reference to something.
I believe that the cover of #20 is at once a close-up of Jacob Greene's eye and an evocation of the "Illuminatti" pyramid.
PLANETARY #12
Revelations! Good thing I wasn't paging ahead; the identity of the Fourth Man came as a complete shock to me... although, I suppose if I had been paying close enough attention to the clues provided it wouldn't have. Did it come as a surprise to anyone else or had you figured it out?
I remembered from my first read. Now I can stop pretending that I didn’t know! I posted some clues along the way, like Snow already knowing that Jakita smoked, and saying that the existence of a “Planetary Guide” in 1931 ought to get you thinking.
The title of this story is "Memory Cloud" and the featured quote is spoken by Jakita Wagner: "Your memory is incomplete. You don't know what you're setting off." We learn many things about Elijah Snow in this issue, among the least of which is that he knew and was trained by Sherlock Holmes. Ambrose Chase, John Stone, Randall Dowling. ... I'm going to have to let this sink in. Perhaps it's best I've slowed my rate of consumption to an issue per day for the discussion; gives time for me to process each one. Otherwise I'd be burning through these like crazy.
Slow down and enjoy them! (Also, I’m way behind!) Because now the story goes into overdrive. Everybody is up to speed, and Snow is openly challenging the Four.
Today, what surprises me most is how well written the dialogue is. Jakita and Drummer come across as genuinely conflicted, worried and yet relieved for having their friend back.
Agreed. And, in retrospect, everything they said and did is consistent with them wanting Snow back but NOT wanting him to remember EVERYTHING. Jakita almost breaking into tears a few issues back is especially poignant now – it wasn’t Jack Carter she was crying for. It was somebody much more important. (“I changed your diapers!”) The hints were always there ... but the dialogue was no more words than they had to be. We're accustomed to being spoon-fed everything, but Planetary doesn't do that.
PLANETARY PREVIEW:
This little eight-pager was published in two other Wildstorm comics prior to the series' debut, but it takes place at some point after the current team has gelled (the omnibus places it between #12 and #13), a chilling re-envisioning of the Incredible Hulk's origin story. It's really amazing what a talented writer/artist team can accomplish in a mere eight pages.
Agreed!
And add Hulk to Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman as characters that existed briefly on this world but were snuffed out. And Fantastic Four, who are as evil as evil gets.
We're accustomed to being spoon-fed everything, but Planetary doesn't do that.
You know, I used to be a big fan of comic book footnotes, but not so much anymore. Novels don't have footnotes and neither do movies; it's up to the reader (or watcher) to follow along. If I pick up on it, fine, but if not I appreciate it that much more the next time through. In addition, the lack of a self-referential footnote helps establish that these characters have full lives and other adventures, IOW backstory. For example, in #21 (I'm reading one day ahead of the discussion), one of the characters mentions an "unusual bar in Kazakhstan." Have we seen that bar already or not? I honestly don't remember, but it really doesn't matter. If we have seen it before, I'll catch it next time through.
... one of the characters mentions an "unusual bar in Kazakhstan." Have we seen that bar already or not?
That was The Last Shot bar, where Snow met with John Stone, in issue #11.
(The Last Shot, BTW; The Last Drop is the pub in Edinburgh I posted a link to.)
Fixed!
PLANETARY #13
This cover is a tribute to The Strand Magazine, which first published Sherlock Holmes, which is appropriate because the story details the beginning of Elijah Snow's association with the famous detective beginning in 1920.
This cover is another brilliant Cassaday production.
This issue also represents Warren Ellis' take on Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, featuring as it does allusions to Baron Frankenstein and his Monster, the Invisible Man and John Carter of Mars among others.
Snow finds the Baron’s castle in 1919, meaning he is about 19 years old. He finds a glowing globe (it looks like it’s made of electricity, which would be up Frankenstein’s alley – and Jenny Sparks, too, now that I think of it. Some landmarks are raised, presumably indicating something of importance. One of those landmarks is Big Ben, which is where Snow locates Holmes.
I was unable to identifty any other landmarks, except for what looks like a telescope in south Asia. No idea what that would mean.
I caught the reference to “a man who went to Mars.” A Princess of Mars came out in 1912, relatively recently for Snow, here in 1919.
Snow references a Frenchman. Two possibilities leap to mind: Jules Verne and Robur. Verne died in 1905, when Snow was 4 or 5, so that’s probably not him – unless he faked his death and lived until Snow got old enough to meet him. Robur was the protagonist of Verne’s “Robur the Conqueror” (1886) and “Master of the World” (1904). His fate was left open at the end of the second book, so I’m leaning that way.
Snow says he tortured Griffin, i.e. The Invisible Man. That’s still a better fate than Alan Moore gave him.
It is a world in which John Griffin and H.G. Wells both exists (as, presumably, do Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley).
And Edgar Rice Burroughs, given Tarzan and John Carter. But it’s H.G. Wells that intrigues me the most. Does the time machine exist? Does the island of Dr. Moreau? How much of The War of the Worlds actually happened, and where?
I had to look up other references, such as The Steam Man of the Prairies, Robur, Carnacki and "The Sigsand Manuscript" (a fictional ancient text that Carnacki uses to protect himself from supernatural influences).
I had to look up the Steam Man, too, and discovered it was an “Edisonade” – a genre I mentioned earlier that featured kid geniuses, like Tom Swift. Wiki tells me that the Steam Man appeared in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I wouldn’t have recognized him. Maybe that’s due for a re-read, too!
I was unfamiliar with Carnacki, too. On reading his Wiki entry, I’m put in mind of Phantom Stranger; Dr. Thirteen, Ghost Breaker; Mark Merlin; Doctor Strange and his protective spells; Sargon and his talisman; Ibis and his talisman; Dr. Occult and his talisman; The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves; and many other occult detectives, including the Scooby-Doo cartoon. And now we know the probable origin of Johnny Carson’s Karnak the Magnificent.
For a forgotten character, he could be the source of an entire genre. I may try to track down the Carnacki stories online since there aren’t many. The same guy wrote Carmilla, another ancient genre novel I’ve had on my to-do list for ages.
I am envious of English educations, or at least English boyhoods, because both Ellis and Moore seem to have read a LOT more adventure fiction than I managed to scrounge up in 1970s Memphis, Tennessee, USA. I might have found them at the library, if I’d known to look.
Sherlock Holmes and the others formed an "Open Conspiracy" to make the world a better place, although they eventually "took to the darkness." Dracula actually appears in the story, but Snow defeats him (although I'm not sure how...?).
Holmes makes mention of Wells, confirming his existence. Snow says “poor ol’ Carnacki,” indicating that he might be dead. (That he is no longer in possession of the Sigsand Manuscript is further suggestion.)
Snow defeats Dracula by freezing him, and then shattering part of him. He’s done this before – in fact, he did it to Frankenstein’s creatures in this issue – so why is it a mystery?
I was wondering about Holmes’ reference to his “second life,” but I guess he just means his ilfe in the shadows, in contradistinction to his public life as a detective with Watson. At first I thought he meant he had been turned, but Snow says he died five years later of old age. Holmes does explain why Dracula didn’t turn his “colleagues” – he respected extraordinary people, but regarded everyone else as livestock.
This issue is more or less a "talking heads" story, but an interesting one nevertheless.
I found it fascinating! So many hints and references to literature! Not all of which I had read!
The dialogue points out that Dracula will recover - presumably by thawing and then regenerating, perhaps with a morphing into mist for avoiding discomfort in the meantime. ... Elijah Snow wasn't expecting Dracula to be down for good.
I assumed that Dracula was done for. Snow says he has time to behead him, and he is sticking around to be mentored by Holmes. Dracula would not approve of this, so he had to go.
...although Snow did say, "I've got time to saw off his head and all that stuff,"* and Holmes replies, "I'm not certain whether the association will survive his demise," so I left the scene with the distinct impression that Snow was going to complete the ritual later, off-panel.
What he said.
The other thing I was going to say is that Sherlock Holmes recently showed up in Nexus. Nexus used to be one the best books on the market, but apparently writer Mike Baron and artist Steve Rude have had some sort of falling out, and now Rude is trying to move forward without a professional writer, and the results, frankly, aren't very good (although the art is still phenomenal). The Holmes appearance didn't work at all and left me scratching my head as to why he included it in the first place, but now I'm wondering if maybe he wasn't inspired by Planetary.
What goes around comes around. This issue’s title is “Century,” which was the name of one of the volumes of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
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