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RTTP: Warren Ellis's Planetary

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D

Dalek

Member
This weekend I read through the entirety of the one of the most beloved comics in recent memory: Planetary.

27_full_cover-lrg.jpg


Written by Warren Ellis and illustrated (with the exception of one issue) by John Cassady, Planetary was an ambitious work that referenced at least one classic genre, comic book or motiff in each issue. The Lone Ranger, Doc Savage, Hong Kong action films, The Fantastic Four, and Isaac Asimov's Rendezvous with Rama are all referenced at some point-along with one of the most creative crossover issues featuring Batman (one of my favorite Batman stories ever).

The stories are ripe with hard science fiction, huge ideas - things that fans of Ellis would be familiar with-this is his magnum opus. I'm a bad writer, so I'll post from this CBR article on why Planetary is a masterpiece:

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/02/26/comics-you-should-own-planetary/

Planetary is a masterpiece. It’s Warren Ellis’s magnum opus (some might argue for Transmetropolitan, but I won’t) and it’s one of the best long-form comics ever. Yes, ever. It doesn’t quite reach the levels of Morrison and Case’s Doom Patrol, but it’s up there with Ennis and McCrea’s Hitman, in the rare air that most creators strive to achieve but never do. I’m not sure if Planetary gets the recognition it deserves, and that’s too bad. It’s brilliant, and it deserves to be read over and over, because it will always surprise and excite you. Unless you have no soul, that is. You have a soul, don’t you?

Ellis has often written angry, cynical comics full of bastards, but he’s kind of an old softie at heart. Nowhere is this more evident than in Planetary, which is all about hope. Sure, it’s full of evil bastards, but there’s never a sense that they will triumph. What Ellis does with Planetary (he did this with The Authority, too, but not to the degree he does here) is make it obvious that the good guys will win, but there’s never a loss of tension within the narrative. In regular superhero comics, we know that the good guy will win, but writers often try their hardest to make sure we think they might fail. Ellis doesn’t care about that. The only reason Elijah Snow and his group don’t wipe the floor with the Four is because Snow is trying to regain his memory and he’s not fully capable of going after them yet. Once he is, it’s no contest. Ellis simply doesn’t care about the superheroes-versus-supervillains paradigm that drives the vast majority of comic books (even today, in these enlightened times). Planetary isn’t about that. What Planetary is about is right there on the cover of issue #1: “Archaeologists of the Impossible.” That’s a great tagline, and it explains a great deal of the book.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the book was riddled with major delays. In fact-the "finale" of the book is
issue 26-but issue 27 was essentially the epilogue. There was a 3 year gap between these issues. Because of this, I actually missed out on this, as it came out around the time my daughter was born and I was too busy and took a break from comics. Reading it this weekend however, brought closure to this story. As a finale, I thought it was perfect and fit in with the long-arching theme and motivations of it's main character.

Speaking of Characters-The Planetary team consists of three main characters that will be your team throughout this story:

Elijah Snow
806a.jpg

Elijah Snow is initially presented as a vagrant missing many memories of his past. Snow is recruited as an investigator for the Planetary field team by Jakita Wagner. Possessing the ability of cold manipulation, Snow assists the Planetary team. S
Click to expand...

Jakita Wagner
82686-23096-jakita-wagner.jpg

Metahuman Jakita Wagner is the field leader for the Planetary team. Jakita developed superhuman abilities (e.g. enhanced strength, speed, and senses), but also possesses a very low tolerance for boredom.
Click to expand...

The Drummer
212014-23654-the-drummer.jpg

The Drummer is the information gathering specialist of the Planetary field team, with his code name referring to the drum sticks he uses to aid his concentration. He has the ability to communicate with and control electronic systems, and also gain information directly from their surroundings.
Click to expand...

I used this site after each issue-it deconstructs each issue and explains many of the references and overall story links-I highly recommend using it as a companion if you plan on reading it.
http://home.earthlink.net/~rkkman/frames/summaries/SumH.htm

So have you read Planetary? What's your favorite issue?
 
S

Secret Fawful

Member
Harrison Ford would be perfect for Elijah Snow now in a live-action adaption.

But yeah, my favorite issues are the
wuxia and Hong Kong gunplay action ones, and the ones where the Four killed the Justice League, plus the one where they meet Batman, which I felt made Bruce more relatable than any comic ever has
.
 
D

Dalek

Member
Secret Fawful said:
Harrison Ford would be perfect for Elijah Snow now in a live-action adaption.

But yeah, my favorite issues are the
wuxia and Hong Kong gunplay action ones, and the ones where the Four killed the Justice League, plus the one where they meet Batman, which I felt made Bruce more relatable than any comic ever has
.
Click to expand...

He would actually be a good fit-that said, this could really never be brought to film or TV in my opinion.
 
M

Mudcrab

Member
This comic is a love letter to everything cool, from Doc Savage to Monster Movies to high concept sci-fi.

I don't care who you are, if you're on this board you'll find something to love about this book. $41 atm for the entire Omnibus via IST. Go and know greatness.

Favorite issue though? Impossible to choose, but the first one to spring to mind is
the Sherlock Holmes issue. There's something about the way the story is told where Elijah's world feels so large and exciting but also nostalgic. You know who Holmes is but you don't expect him to be in Ellis' own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or living a life of regret after failing to make the world sane. It only lasts for a moment but I could read about that idea forever which can be said for most issues, of course.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Waiting for this issue to issue must have been torture, I read it via trades around 2007ish. This thread makes me want to go back. I don't know what issue it was in, but my favorite moment was easily
"I'm the 4th man."
 
M

More Fun To Compute

Member
There was a lot that I liked about this. It was best when it was sticking to the theme of unveiling secrets. I think that Snow was great protagonist but the main antagonists were weak as characters, not much more than a pun. They are "the four" geddit geddit?
 
D

Dalek

Member
More Fun To Compute said:
There was a lot that I liked about this. It was best when it was sticking to the theme of unveiling secrets. I think that Snow was great protagonist but the main antagonists were weak as characters, not much more than a pun. They are "the four" geddit geddit?
Click to expand...

This is a fair criticism. They are always being talked about but never seen. There is something to be said about that, and it makes sense that The Four isolated themselves from humanity-but I would have liked to have had more face time.

The actual issue that shows their space trip though is awesome. I never realized the alternate Earth was a tribute to Kirby's Apokolips:

25_apokolips-lrg.jpg
 
F

Fjordson

Member
I want to read this someday, though my knowledge of old school comics and sci-fi isn't terribly impressive. Always worried that most of Planetary would go over my head as a result.
 
S

Sagroth

Member
I also gotta hand it to Ellis and Planetary for giving us an entire issue accurately expressing a DMT trip while still moving forward the plot.
 
D

Dalek

Member
Fjordson said:
I want to read this someday, though my knowledge of old school comics and sci-fi isn't terribly impressive. Always worried that most of Planetary would go over my head as a result.
Click to expand...

It can be entirely enjoyed without knowing all the references and subtext-the story stands on it's own.

That said - just use the link I posted in the OT: http://home.earthlink.net/~rkkman/frames/summaries/SumH.htm

After every issue, give it a read and you'll have a deeper appreciation for it.
 
D

Dalek

Member
whatsinaname said:
Jakita Wagner is so damned awesome.



And the Planetary/Batman issue is easily my favourite Batman comic.
Click to expand...

Yes! Best Batman! I like how Ellis broke down in very simple terms the differences in moralities and actions each incarnation of Batman has represented.
 
P

Palette Swap

Member
This is one of my favorite books ever, and my favorite Ellis book. That release schedule left me a bit of a sour taste, but man did every issue blow my mind. I love how layered and yet accessible the book is.
Great idea for a thread.

Grizzlyjin said:
Waiting for this issue to issue must have been torture, I read it via trades around 2007ish. This thread makes me want to go back. I don't know what issue it was in, but my favorite moment was easily
"I'm the 4th man."
Click to expand...
This was a jaw dropping moment for me but at the same time, I felt like an utter moron who hadn't seen it coming.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Palette Swap said:
This is one of my favorite books ever, and my favorite Ellis book. That release schedule left me a bit of a sour taste, but man did every issue blow my mind. I love how layered and yet accessible the book is.
Great idea for a thread.


This was a jaw dropping moment for me but at the same time, I felt like an utter moron who hadn't seen it coming.
Click to expand...

I usually "get" stuff but it completely caught me off guard too. This thread is going to make me do a reread.

AND it looks like Warren Ellis is doing a James Bond comic for Dynamite, comes out in November. Sold!

TNJamesBond01CovAReardon.jpg
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
This book hooked me bad. The hunger only got worse as soon as he confronted William Leather for the first time in the series. "What are your teammates not telling you?" Compelling writing from end to end.

I don't agree that the book is hard SF. It's more of an homage to the pulpy adventure stories of yore, from dime store novel to film noir to 80s-90s Vertigo. Ellis picks fantastic characters from nearly every era and melds them together in a creation that studies a fascinating multiverse and catalogs it like an encyclopedia.
 
G

Grimsen

Member
Great comic, that I mostly caught on the tail end of my comic-buying days. This thread made me go back through what few comics I have left.

I have volumes 1-2-3 of the trades, and only issues 1, 2 and 5 of the individual books.

Time for some shopping. I might actually go get some more individual issues.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Code: 
Planetary 01:	1999 April
Planetary 02:	1999 May
Planetary 03:	1999 June
Planetary 04:	1999 July
Planetary 05:	1999 September
Planetary 06:	1999 November
Planetary 07:	2000 January
Planetary 08:	2000 February
Planetary 09:	2000 April
Planetary 10:	2000 June
Planetary 11:	2000 September
Planetary 12:	2001 January
Planetary 13:	2001 February
Planetary 14:	2001 June
Planetary 15:	2001 October
Planetary 16:	2003 October
Planetary 17:	2003 December
Planetary 18:	2004 February
Planetary 19:	2004 May
Planetary 20:	2004 September
Planetary 21:	2004 December
Planetary 22:	2005 March
Planetary 23:	2005 August
Planetary 24:	2006 March
Planetary 25:	2006 June
Planetary 26:	2006 December
Planetary 27:	2009 December

No discussion about Planetary is complete without a gripe about its release schedule. Starts out monthly, switches to bimonthly. Then 2001 hits and the irregularities begin. Then you start feeling lucky to get four issues in a year. Then the buildup to a final confrontation with The Four reaches a head and you start a long, grueling death march of multi-month waits, concluding with the single most agonizing wait for a new issue of any series ever. I've never felt so much angst about a new coming not coming out.

Planetary broke me. I swore afterwards that I'd never ever buy a comic in single issues ever again. For the last six years I've never bought a comic at all until it's collected into a trade.
 
D

Dalek

Member
Gentleman Jack said:
Code: 
Planetary 01:	1999 April
Planetary 02:	1999 May
Planetary 03:	1999 June
Planetary 04:	1999 July
Planetary 05:	1999 September
Planetary 06:	1999 November
Planetary 07:	2000 January
Planetary 08:	2000 February
Planetary 09:	2000 April
Planetary 10:	2000 June
Planetary 11:	2000 September
Planetary 12:	2001 January
Planetary 13:	2001 February
Planetary 14:	2001 June
Planetary 15:	2001 October
Planetary 16:	2003 October
Planetary 17:	2003 December
Planetary 18:	2004 February
Planetary 19:	2004 May
Planetary 20:	2004 September
Planetary 21:	2004 December
Planetary 22:	2005 March
Planetary 23:	2005 August
Planetary 24:	2006 March
Planetary 25:	2006 June
Planetary 26:	2006 December
Planetary 27:	2009 December

No discussion about Planetary is complete without a gripe about its release schedule. Starts out monthly, switches to bimonthly. Then 2001 hits and the irregularities begin. Then you start feeling lucky to get four issues in a year. Then the buildup to a final confrontation with The Four reaches a head and you start a long, grueling death march of multi-month waits, concluding with the single most agonizing wait for a new issue of any series ever. I've never felt so much angst about a new coming not coming out.

Planetary broke me. I swore afterwards that I'd never ever buy a comic in single issues ever again. For the last six years I've never bought a comic at all until it's collected into a trade.
Click to expand...

I was actually going to go back and add this to the OP. The release schedule was brutal. It's much much better to read it now collected.
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
my second favourite comic book of all time. Just endlessly enjoyable, rereadable, and with the worst pieces of shit as villains in comic history. Planetary is so good
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Hey if you are gonna wait ten years for a comic to finish, it might as well be amazing.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
That release schedule is brutal. The similarities between Planetary and The Venture Bros just keep growing haha

Honestly, I think I might have ended up reading the series because people were excited about it finally being done. Almost positive I jumped on around the time #26 would have been coming out.

I know a lot of factors play into staggered comic releases, but waiting issue to issue when there are years between releases is rough. I love how Brian K Vaughn is handling Saga to prevent scheduling like that. He just has breaks between arcs, and lets you know ahead of time the comic will be taking a few months off, then it comes back with a consistent release of the next arc over the following months. It almost feels like a TV show, with pre-planned winter and summer breaks. Way easier to digest than what happened with Hawkeye
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
Currygan said:
goddamned well said. Some comics are a treasure

shit mate, I bought the collection three times because I had an itch and couldn't find the books in my house
Click to expand...

HAH! No shit, the trades I have now I bought for basically the same reason - I'd lent them to a friend to read, and like, 3 weeks later I was like "Damn, I wanna read 'em again" So I said fuck it and trooped on down to the LCS and got em again.

Did the same with Infinite Kung Fu just recently.

I gotta stop lending books out, I guess.
 
P

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
Gentleman Jack said:
Code: 
Planetary 01:	1999 April
Planetary 02:	1999 May
Planetary 03:	1999 June
Planetary 04:	1999 July
Planetary 05:	1999 September
Planetary 06:	1999 November
Planetary 07:	2000 January
Planetary 08:	2000 February
Planetary 09:	2000 April
Planetary 10:	2000 June
Planetary 11:	2000 September
Planetary 12:	2001 January
Planetary 13:	2001 February
Planetary 14:	2001 June
Planetary 15:	2001 October
Planetary 16:	2003 October
Planetary 17:	2003 December
Planetary 18:	2004 February
Planetary 19:	2004 May
Planetary 20:	2004 September
Planetary 21:	2004 December
Planetary 22:	2005 March
Planetary 23:	2005 August
Planetary 24:	2006 March
Planetary 25:	2006 June
Planetary 26:	2006 December
Planetary 27:	2009 December

No discussion about Planetary is complete without a gripe about its release schedule. Starts out monthly, switches to bimonthly. Then 2001 hits and the irregularities begin. Then you start feeling lucky to get four issues in a year. Then the buildup to a final confrontation with The Four reaches a head and you start a long, grueling death march of multi-month waits, concluding with the single most agonizing wait for a new issue of any series ever. I've never felt so much angst about a new coming not coming out.

Planetary broke me. I swore afterwards that I'd never ever buy a comic in single issues ever again. For the last six years I've never bought a comic at all until it's collected into a trade.
Click to expand...

god damn, was it really 10 years?
 
M

mechashiva

Member
I treasure my Absolute editions. Made sure Ellis signed volume 1 when it was out of stock so i wouldn't be tempted to sell it for 300 plus.
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
Bobby Roberts said:
HAH! No shit, the trades I have now I bought for basically the same reason - I'd lent them to a friend to read, and like, 3 weeks later I was like "Damn, I wanna read 'em again" So I said fuck it and trooped on down to the LCS and got em again.

Did the same with Infinite Kung Fu just recently.

I gotta stop lending books out, I guess.
Click to expand...

man, I never lent a comic book, my friends never gave a shit about them, luckly i'd add. Anyway I solved the case of disappearing books by saving a shelf only for the untouchables (Top 10, Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Whedon's X-Men, Watchmen, Fury MAX etc) . A locked one, just to be sure
 
P

Pau

Member
Probably my favorite comic. Just goes through a lot of themes that I love, particularly anything about fiction and storytelling. And love the tone of it. There's this prevailing feeling of loss that isn't too cynical, just kind of sad and wanting. But there's hope too.

slTOcCV.jpg
Click to expand...
Favorite issue has to be #18: The Gun Club. Kind of exemplifies what I was saying before. There's all this hope for exploration and knowledge, but this loss and yearning. Bittersweet almost success but mostly failure and waiting for closure that won't happen in your life time. People leaving and knowing they won't ever come back alive.

Also a shout out to Planetary: Night on Earth. Totally gets to the point of Batman. I also love, love the touch of showing a Dick Grayson who was never raised by Bruce. It's so heartbreaking to see him awkward and somewhat incompetent and no where near his potential. I don't know if we ever found out what happened to the Bruce in that world?

mechashiva said:
I treasure my Absolute editions. Made sure Ellis signed volume 1 when it was out of stock so i wouldn't be tempted to sell it for 300 plus.
Click to expand...
Same here. Well, except my aren't signed. :p But I'd never sell 'em. I really should re-read them.
 
D

Dalek

Member
Pau said:
Probably my favorite comic. Just goes through a lot of themes that I love, particularly anything about fiction and storytelling. And love the tone of it. There's this prevailing feeling of loss that isn't too cynical, just kind of sad and wanting. But there's hope too.


Favorite issue has to be #18: The Gun Club. Kind of exemplifies what I was saying before. There's all this hope for exploration and knowledge, but this loss and yearning. Bittersweet almost success but mostly failure and waiting for closure that won't happen in your life time. People leaving and knowing they won't ever come back alive.

Also a shout out to Planetary: Night on Earth. Totally gets to the point of Batman. I also love, love the touch of showing a Dick Grayson who was never raised by Bruce. It's so heartbreaking to see him awkward and somewhat incompetent and no where near his potential. I don't know if we ever found out what happened to the Bruce in that world?


Same here. Well, except my aren't signed. :p But I'd never sell 'em. I really should re-read them.
Click to expand...

Great picks. Those stand out for me too. I never picked up on that Dick Grayson issue-I didn't catch that he was sad, and didn't meet his potential. It was odd seeing the Joker there though.
 
P

Pau

Member
Dalek said:
Great picks. Those stand out for me too. I never picked up on that Dick Grayson issue-I didn't catch that he was sad, and didn't meet his potential. It was odd seeing the Joker there though.
Click to expand...
I don't know if he was sad exactly, well, in the "pathetic" sense yes, I think. You go from being an heir to one of the greatest superhero mantles to... some scrub in an office who awkwardly and unsuccessfully hits on one of your bosses? Granted, Bruce's kids are pretty much favorite characters so I fixate on any cameos. :p

I don't know how I feel about the Joker being there since I'm not a fan of the idea that Bruce is responsible for him being evil or whatever, but it does show side by side Bruce's greatest accomplishment (Dick, or him as a stand in for all the kids, but I don't even know if Ellis cares about the rest of them honestly) and Bruce's worst failure (Joker). Nice and efficient for a little side story.

Shame that the JLA crossover wasn't anywhere near as memorable.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Parallax said:
god damn, was it really 10 years?
Click to expand...

Imagine going to a comic shop every month from 2005 to 2007 and be heartbroken at no new Planetary four out of five times. 2 years of that, then giving up because 'where's issue 27?' just kind of becomes a running joke at the comic shop.
 
D

Dalek

Member
Pau said:
I don't know if he was sad exactly, well, in the "pathetic" sense yes, I think. You go from being an heir to one of the greatest superhero mantles to... some scrub in an office who awkwardly and unsuccessfully hits on one of your bosses? Granted, Bruce's kids are pretty much favorite characters so I fixate on any cameos. :p

I don't know how I feel about the Joker being there since I'm not a fan of the idea that Bruce is responsible for him being evil or whatever, but it does show side by side Bruce's greatest accomplishment (Dick, or him as a stand in for all the kids, but I don't even know if Ellis cares about the rest of them honestly) and Bruce's worst failure (Joker). Nice and efficient for a little side story.

Shame that the JLA crossover wasn't anywhere near as memorable.
Click to expand...

The art could be the reason for that. Sadly it's my least favorite issue.
 
S

Skittles

Member
Still need to read the last volume. The wait for it was so beutal i forgot about it until i saw the omnibus release a while back. Super good comic, i still say transmetro is the best ellis work though
 
R

Remmy2112

Member
I loved Planetary but I was a late adopter, not a reader when it was actually coming out. I thought the release schedule for Ultimates volumes 1 and 2 were bad. Sheesh.
 
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