Description
The creator of the acclaimed series Transmetropolitan, Warren Ellis delivers Planetary, hailed as a timeless story that turned modern superhero conventions on their heads. This collection features the adventures of Elijah Snow, a hundred-year-old man, Jakita Wagner, an extremely powerful woman, and The Drummer, a man with the ability to communicate with machines. Tasked with tracking down evidence of super-human activity, these mystery archaeologists uncover unknown paranormal secrets and histories, such as a World War II supercomputer that can access other universes, a ghostly spirit of vengeance, and a lost island of dying monsters.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
160 p.; 6.59 inches
Publication
WildStorm Productions (2000), Edition: Volume 1 One, 160 pages
Pages
160
ISBN
1563896486 / 9781563896484
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User reviews
LibraryThing member artturnerjr
Uncle. I'm Hooked.
Picked this up volume after perusing information about it on the Internets that got my spider-sense tingling. Good ol' spider-sense.
What do we have here? Pulp heroes. The Justice League of America (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). Giant Japanese monsters. The Fantastic Four (or
Yes, this sort of thing has been done before (Phil Farmer's Wold Newton tales being the most obvious antecedent). Yes, it could be hopelessly cornball and banal (and could certainly turn out to be - I've only just read Vol. 1, y'know). But it really seems that Messrs. Ellis and Cassaday are doing their own thing with this one, and I certainly plan on tuning in for future installments.
PS Did I mention the artwork's really great? No? Oh. The artwork's really great. Thought you might want to know.
Picked this up volume after perusing information about it on the Internets that got my spider-sense tingling. Good ol' spider-sense.
What do we have here? Pulp heroes. The Justice League of America (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). Giant Japanese monsters. The Fantastic Four (or
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a reasonable facsimile thereof). The Secret History Of The Twentieth Century. What's not to love? (Assuming you're not one of WildStorm's lawyers; they were probably kept rather busy with this one.)Yes, this sort of thing has been done before (Phil Farmer's Wold Newton tales being the most obvious antecedent). Yes, it could be hopelessly cornball and banal (and could certainly turn out to be - I've only just read Vol. 1, y'know). But it really seems that Messrs. Ellis and Cassaday are doing their own thing with this one, and I certainly plan on tuning in for future installments.
PS Did I mention the artwork's really great? No? Oh. The artwork's really great. Thought you might want to know.
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LibraryThing member jawalter
Comic books, especially, seem to be obsessed with retelling the same stories. Planetary just happens to do this particularly well.
Much like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Planetary postulates a world where the characters and ideas of popular fiction are actually real, coexisting in a wild
So, Ellis isn't just interested in encountering Doc Savage; he's interested in the fact that Doc Savage has been trapped in an underground complex for decades. Similarly, the existence of an island of Japanese movie monsters, or the Spectre showing up as the ghost of a John Woo character, is subordinate to the effort being put forth to keep the world from finding out about them.
This volume ends with the introduction of Ellis' best idea: the Fantastic Four are the evil masterminds behind the conspiracy. Their homespun wholesomeness has always concealed just how terrifying they actually are, wielding enormous power and led by a supergenius inventor. Having them turn out to be the ones collecting and concealing the existence of alien technologies and superpowers is kind of silly, but weirdly fitting, as well. Elijah Snow looks at this in terms of technology and scientific advancements being withheld from humanity, but for the reader, it is narrative itself which must be unearthed.
Much like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Planetary postulates a world where the characters and ideas of popular fiction are actually real, coexisting in a wild
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potpourri that somehow manages to cohere. But while Moore seems to revel in merely the existence of such a world, Ellis shifts his focus to the idea that such a world would have to be concealed from the masses. He sacrifices the teeming exuberance of Moore's ever-larger world for a tightly constrained and controlled conspiracy.So, Ellis isn't just interested in encountering Doc Savage; he's interested in the fact that Doc Savage has been trapped in an underground complex for decades. Similarly, the existence of an island of Japanese movie monsters, or the Spectre showing up as the ghost of a John Woo character, is subordinate to the effort being put forth to keep the world from finding out about them.
This volume ends with the introduction of Ellis' best idea: the Fantastic Four are the evil masterminds behind the conspiracy. Their homespun wholesomeness has always concealed just how terrifying they actually are, wielding enormous power and led by a supergenius inventor. Having them turn out to be the ones collecting and concealing the existence of alien technologies and superpowers is kind of silly, but weirdly fitting, as well. Elijah Snow looks at this in terms of technology and scientific advancements being withheld from humanity, but for the reader, it is narrative itself which must be unearthed.
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LibraryThing member drewandlori
Holy crap, this book blew me away. So many great ideas in so little space.
LibraryThing member NoirSeanF
A unique imaginative trek into the secret history of the world. Ellis and Cassaday create a pastiche/critique of some of the best in comics and pulp fair. Planetary being a variation of "Challengers of the Unknown".
LibraryThing member ragwaine
Read this a couple years ago and just read it again because I wanted to be ready to read volume two. It still holds up to the 5 stars I gave it then. This is some amazing shit - Ellis possibly at his best (haven't read everything he's read). Each comic is a separate story with the same main
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characters and each one is incredibly original. The art is also absolutely fabulous. Can't wait to see what happens in volume 2 when the big picture starts coming together. Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
A collection of comics about a trio of super-powered "mystery archeologists" who travel the world on behalf of a shadowy organization, seeking to map out "the secret history of the world." Apparently the secret history of the world is very pulp fiction-y: we've got a Japanese island full of
So now I'm debating about whether to continue on with this series. This volume didn't leave me with a burning desire to read the rest of it, but it is only three more collections, and there are at least hints here that things might get a bit more involved, so maybe I'll give it another chance.
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(now-dead) monsters, a ghost cop bent on vengeance, a team of astronauts who came back from a secret journey to the moon as something not-quite-human... That sort of thing. It's a terrifically fun concept. And the artwork is excellent, the characters at least potentially interesting... And yet, it just really didn't feel very satisfying to me, mainly because the stories themselves are so very, very slight. Mostly the team shows up, sees something interesting, goes, "Hey, that was interesting!" and leaves again without ever doing much. (Author Warren Ellis is clearly aware of this flaw, too, as he has one of the characters constantly complaining about it.) So now I'm debating about whether to continue on with this series. This volume didn't leave me with a burning desire to read the rest of it, but it is only three more collections, and there are at least hints here that things might get a bit more involved, so maybe I'll give it another chance.
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LibraryThing member questbird
Planetary was praised by comics luminaries such as Alan Moore and Joss Whedon; I thought it would be better than it is. Probably it's one for the fans. It is like X-files meets superheroes. The Planetary organisation is super rich and staffed by a few cool superheroes: kickass Jakita Wagner (think
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of Molly from William Gibson's Neuromancer, or Trinity from The Matrix), data hound Drummer, and the white-suited, white-haired Snow, the latest recruit. Planetary sniff out various mysteries and deep conspiratorial truths about the world in a series of stories based on old and new comics. Unfortunately, the characters don't seem very active in the investigation process. They are put into each situation and the story is just narrated to them. They are too hip and cool to really have any personality. I suspect the attraction of this series are the many visual references to comics of yore. Most of those references were lost on me though, and they weren't enough to compensate for poor storytelling and weak characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member salimbol
Reasonably interesting twist on Golden Age superhero stories, though it's a little too self-consciously hip for me to feel genuinely invested in it.
LibraryThing member beth.t.goldstein
Somewhere, in the middle of all the genre acrobatics and beautiful art, I may have fallen in love.
LibraryThing member regularguy5mb
Planetary, an organization of "mystery archaeologists," seek out the truth behind the secret history of the world. A three-person team, along with a fourth invisible financial backer, travel the globe looking into the stories that might bring some form of revelation towards their mission. If that
The Planetary investigative team is just as much a mystery, when we meet them, they don't know how long their organization has even been operational, much less the full purpose of it.
As they investigate, we see Ellis' world, based around the classic pulp heroes of the 30s, classic Japanese kaiju, Hong Kong action, and even Golden and Silver Age comic heroes, with a unique twist that makes this world absolutely fascinating to learn about just as the Planetary field team does.
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doesn't get you interested, how about the fact that Ellis blends some of the greatest pulp and comic characters of the past into the story as the reasons for this history being a big secret.The Planetary investigative team is just as much a mystery, when we meet them, they don't know how long their organization has even been operational, much less the full purpose of it.
As they investigate, we see Ellis' world, based around the classic pulp heroes of the 30s, classic Japanese kaiju, Hong Kong action, and even Golden and Silver Age comic heroes, with a unique twist that makes this world absolutely fascinating to learn about just as the Planetary field team does.
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LibraryThing member MuzLibrary
I love this series. Ellis always manages to see things just askew of the norm and break it open.
LibraryThing member mrgan
I've heard that this gets better, but volume 1 really didn't make me want to find out for myself.
LibraryThing member emeraldreverie
I think I'll like it more if I ever read more. It was fine. Art ok, colors good. Kept me entertained. Intriguing enough. Not a personal wowzer.
LibraryThing member eilonwy_anne
Planetary is good on many layers, like a Gobstopper. First of all, it's beautiful. Cassaday's art is consistently lovely, and brings to the page the actual wonder that the story demands. Planetary is also a great story; it's intriguing, well-plotted, and has interesting characters. On another
It's fun to geek out over the references, the in-jokes and allusions in Planetary, but they are actually serving a greater narrative purpose. Planetary is about a world more wonderful than ours, but just as dark. It's using those shining visions to show us how disappointing and flawed humanity can be. Along with an adventure or two, beautiful vistas, and more than a soupçon of hope.
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level, it's also about stories, especially comic books, but other popular media as well; about what those stories tell us about ourselves, and the way we use those bright myths to lie about our world.It's fun to geek out over the references, the in-jokes and allusions in Planetary, but they are actually serving a greater narrative purpose. Planetary is about a world more wonderful than ours, but just as dark. It's using those shining visions to show us how disappointing and flawed humanity can be. Along with an adventure or two, beautiful vistas, and more than a soupçon of hope.
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LibraryThing member slothman
Warren Ellis constructs a secret history for the Wildstorm universe, giving it a rich depth and answering the old comic-book-universe question: with all these wonders, why isn't the world a better place?
Ellis draws on everything from nineteenth century fiction (not bothering to disguise characters
Ellis draws on everything from nineteenth century fiction (not bothering to disguise characters
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who are out of copyright) to modern comics (with recognizable variants of famous characters, each seen in their own twisted mirror). The plot on its own is gripping, but the references to other works will tickle anyone who enjoyed Anno Dracula or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Show Less
LibraryThing member bdgamer
Warren Ellis is a freaking genius. I loved Transmetropolitan to bits. Trees was amazing as hell. And now I finally got around to reading his best work ever - Planetary. And I am absolutely blown away by it.
Planetary begins a bit slow and takes the amnesiac route to familiarize the reader with the
It’s also a stupendously awesome and different take on superheroes. I won’t spoil it for you here; I highly suggest you read and find out yourself. The characters aren’t immediately likeable, but that’s how they’re designed: with flaws and everything. Once you break the surface, though, you’re in for a wild cast of characters that you’ll learn to love and hate.
The writing is sharp and superb. No moments are wasted. The art complements the writing, drawing the characters in a realistic fashion while maintaining the standard comic book feel. It’s a brilliant package that must be enjoyed first-hand.
If I had the chance to wipe my memory and read this again, I’d do so in a heartbeat.
Planetary begins a bit slow and takes the amnesiac route to familiarize the reader with the
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protagonist’s universe. What a wonderful, weird, glorious universe it is. Ellis uses some truly fantastic ideas here: a machine that creates realities out of fictional narratives and lets those characters cross over, a brilliant post-Gojira tribute, World War II supercomputer that can access other universes, and so on.It’s also a stupendously awesome and different take on superheroes. I won’t spoil it for you here; I highly suggest you read and find out yourself. The characters aren’t immediately likeable, but that’s how they’re designed: with flaws and everything. Once you break the surface, though, you’re in for a wild cast of characters that you’ll learn to love and hate.
The writing is sharp and superb. No moments are wasted. The art complements the writing, drawing the characters in a realistic fashion while maintaining the standard comic book feel. It’s a brilliant package that must be enjoyed first-hand.
If I had the chance to wipe my memory and read this again, I’d do so in a heartbeat.
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