BDcomics: Planetary

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Planetary

Planetary are an organization billing themselves as "Archaeologists of the Impossible", tracking down the world's secret history. Funded by the mysterious Fourth Man, who it is said could be anyone from Bill Gates to Adolf Hitler, the field team consists of three superhumans: Jakita Wagner, who is strong, fast and nearly invulnerable; The Drummer, who can talk to computers; and the new recruit Elijah Snow, who can control temperature.

The series occurs in the Wildstorm Universe, along with other titles such as Stormwatch, The Authority and Gen13. For instance, Snow was born on January 1, 1900, as was Jenny Sparks of The Authority, and the two know each other. Despite this, Planetary intersects only a little with other Wildstorm series.

Planetary's field team travels the world investigating strange phenomena: monsters and other beings, unusual relics, other superhumans, and powerful secrets which certain individuals are trying to keep hidden from the rest of the world. Their purpose in doing this is partly curiosity, and partly to use what they learn for the betterment of mankind. There are, however, groups who oppose their goals, and the organization has a substantial history which is gradually revealed during the series.

In later issues the plot becomes increasingly related to The Four, analogues of Marvel's Fantastic Four whose goals run in direct contrast to that of the Planetary team.

One of the series' main hooks is that it portrays alternate versions of many well-known (and obscure) figures from popular culture. At various times we are shown versions (sometimes multiple versions) of John Constantine, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Nick Fury, the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Godzilla, Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage (as Doc Brass), Tarzan and other pulp fiction heroes. There is even a pastiche of the modern League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not to mention Japanese monster movies, 1950s horror/science fiction movies, Hong Kong action movies and more. This provides a rich backdrop for the ongoing story, and is similar to Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton family.

(In general, the public domain characters such as Holmes appear as themselves, while those still under copyright appear in altered but recognizably similar form. In some regards the series is thus similar to the series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.)

// posted by Niloy @ 9:54 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

BDcomics

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Planetary

contact us

links

posts

archives