“Yesterday’s” Comic> Planetary #1

“None of us are named ‘Terry’ and what’s ‘Star Comics’?”

Planetary #1

WildStorm (April, 1999)

WRITER/CO-CREATOR: Warren Ellis

ARTIST/CO-CREATOR: John Cassaday

COLORIST: Laura Depuy

LETTERER: Bill O’Neil

EDITOR: John Layman

The long-lived Elijah Snow, who apparently also makes things around him cold or something–he doesn’t get along with the woman at the diner he keeps eating at despite hating the food and coffee–is recruited by Jakita Wagner to join the organization Planetary, which investigates the unusual. Also on the team is “The Drummer”, a technomancer from the way she describes it, while Wagner is apparently superstrong and indestructible. It’s not long before the Fourth Man, the last and unseen member of our cast, sends them to the Adirondacks after Drummer picks up strange signals in a man-made cave. There they find Axel Brass, who somehow willed himself to immortality to keep invaders from another universe from returning. Doc Brass and his friends managed to create a supercomputer in the 1940s that solved equations by…destroying the multiverse to find the one true answer or something. Brass is taken away and Planetary takes over monitoring the “snowflake” gateway to the multiverse.

What they got right: The 90s had a bad habit of dropping you in the middle of the story and explaining nothing. Since Snow isn’t being told anything and is rather annoyed by it (and this appears to be either Planetary’s style or just Jakita’s) it feels like this is intentional rather the usual impatience to get going. We’re introduced to the cast and the most basic of concepts, which I suspect was filled out in later issues.

What they got wrong: Being introduced is pretty much all they do. The other half is Brass’s group destroying the multiverse with math to gain the answer to life, the universe, and everything, while Jakita and Elijah stand there and listen. It’s not the most boring exposition dump as we see Brass and friends before they’re all killed off so the presentation is fine. It’s just our heroes don’t really do much in the first issue of their own comic.

What else is there?: The Grand Comics Database has this interesting notation about the cast: “First introduction of the Snowflake. The seven costumed invaders are reminiscent of the original Justice League or America. The Secret Society are analogues of the following characters: Axel Brass (Doc Savage); The Aviator (G-8); Hark (Fu Manchu); The Spider (The Shadow/the Spider); Kevin Sack (Tarzan); Edison (Tom Swift); Jimmy the Secret Operator (Operator #5).”

What I think overall: The idea is interesting. Our trio grabbed my attention more than other teams like this, but it may or may not be a good introduction to the series. I haven’t read it and I don’t currently have the option, but there is some merit to the first issue and it was an interesting read.