Planetary - cover of first issue
In 1991 Warren Ellis first came to the attention of the world of comic readers (albeit a small portion of it) with Lazarus Churchyard, a cyberpunk comic illustrated by D’Israeli. He was 23.
17 years later, Ellis has worked for Marvel, DC, Avatar, WildStorm and Image (among others, if you’d believe it). His most important accomplishment is probably his Transmetropolitan, collected in no less than 10 trade paperbacks. But his most enjoyable work, for me, is Planetary.
Elijah Snow is sitting in a diner the middle of the desert, drinking shitty coffee and hating the world, when in walks Jakita Wagner. Unlike Snow, which is dressed all in white, Wagner is wearing a skin-tight black and red one-piece. But they do seem to share a certain lack of enthusiasm for the human race, and, more importantly, a burning desire to uncover the secret history of the 20th Century. Joined by The Drummer, a smug and unbearable super-geek, the three travel the world in search of the glories behind its scenes. They discover a secret society of super-people from the 1930s, a semi-alien ship that crashed into the planet long ago, and many other wonders just a small shift away from drab, ordinary reality.
Cassaday and Ellis go full throttle on this one, both demonstrating they are masters of their respective trades.
Ellis, renown for his crazy technological innovations, throws a new wonder at the readers every few pages, and yet, manages to keep them from seeming eclectic. The dialogue is effective, if sometimes unrealistic, and the characterization is wonderful – we have few characters, but each one is well defined. In his other works, Ellis’ biggest problem was his inability to create suspense and mystery: things are usually revealed too soon and resolved too quickly. Planetary avoids this nicely by having an ongoing backstory that unfolds slowly, along with shorter self-contained story arcs. Tension towards a final climax is built, but steady doses of adventure, technological innovation and revelations are also supplied.
Jakita tells us why she does what she does
John Cassaday, on his part, makes the story come to life with beautiful, detailed art. Exquisite backgrounds serve as the perfect backdrop for the action in the foreground; panel size and allocation changes to serve the story without becoming distractingly experimental; flashback sequences become dark and gritty. This is all impressive enough, but Cassaday also manages to pull off a harder stunt: making realistically drawn characters seem to move and interact. When an artist draws realistic characters – as opposed to more abstract or cartoony ones – they often seem frozen is mid-action, the panels distinct from one another, broken moments in time. Planetary’s protagonists, on the other hand, are full of life and energy. Laura Depuy’s bright colors certainly help, but it’s mostly Cassaday’s attention to detail and body language that does the trick.
Planetary is a rare treat: solidly mainstream yet intelligent, without literary pretensions but well-crafted, not groundbreaking but demonstrating the full potential of the medium.
[Important note: Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories is the first trade paperback in the series, collection issues 1-6 of the monthly series. It's an enjoyable read, but doesn't contain a complete story-arc or stands well on its own. It's a necessary beginning and a good way to see if you like the series, but if you do, you'll need to buy the rest of the trade paperbacks (and the last one isn't out yet) to see how the story develops.]
