2/5/2006
Warren Ellis and Planetary
I’ve been a fan of Warren Ellis’ writings since I gave a little book called Transmetropolitan a try. Rarely have I seen a writer rant as masterfully as Ellis did through his proxy Spider Jerusalem, the spiritual (if illegitimate) offspring of the late Hunter S. Thompson & Doonesbury’s Uncle Duke. But while his rants got me hooked, it was the power of his scripting and imagination of his storytelling that kept me coming back for more, so much so that I ended up purchasing all of the Transmetropolitan graphic novels.
While I haven’t yet had the opportunity to read all of Ellis’ work, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories he wrote when he was at Wildstorm. His run on Stormwatch transformed a cookie-cutter super- team book from the original Image line into a worthwhile read. When he killed off Stormwatch and spun off some of the characters into The Authority, I gladly went along for the ride. The only thing that kept me from being depressed about him leaving The Authority was that Mark Millar was the guy that took over for him. Then I found out that he had done another book for Wildstorm called Planetary. Needless to say I was intrigued….
Planetary tells the tale of an organization (called, appropriately enough, Planetary) dedicated to uncovering the secret history of the world. They investigate instances of the strange & unexplainable all across the Wildstorm universe in the hopes of finding artifacts that can benefit all of humanity. The main characters of the book are Elijah Snow, a century-old man with cryonic abilities (he freezes stuff), Jakita Wagner, a woman with enhanced strength, speed, toughness and a “pathological fear of boredom”, and the Drummer, who can communicate with and manipulate technology of all kinds. Most of the issues have been collected in a total of four trade paperbacks. I picked up the first book and the art of John Cassady (current artist on Astonishing X-Men) sucked me in. Cassaday’s highly-detailed penciling style complements Ellis’ storytelling perfectly. I truly think that Cassaday is one of the most talented and versatile comic book artists around, and the skill in which he illustrates Planetary serves to drive that point home.
As a series, Planetary really only suffers from one weakness: an over-reliance on established archetypes & ideas. Like Kurt Busiek with Astro City, Warren Ellis makes frequent use of characters that vaguely resemble older, more popular superheroes. Most of the time it’s extremely effective: the Four are quite obviously based on Marvel’s Fantastic Four, but they are written so effectively as villains that despite the similarity you can actually appreciate the twist of the “Fantastic Four” as Illuminati-type overlords. <NITPICK ALERT> And then there are instances where he goes overboard, like when ersatz versions of baby Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are eliminated by the Four. It reminded me of Chris Claremont’s “borrowing” of the Legion of Super Heroes with the creation of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard early into his run on X- Men. It seemed to me like Ellis was phoning an idea in for lack of a more original one. From what I’ve read of Ellis’ work, I expect more from him. There is also a fight sequence done in the style of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that, while beautifully illustrated by Cassaday, seemed gratuitously thrown in <END NITPICK ALERT>.
The Bottom Line
Warren Ellis’
storytelling seizes upon the best aspects of more mainstream entertainment fare such
as the Indiana Jones movies and the X-Files TV show and brings them into a Sci-
Fi/Superhero setting in Planetary. Ellis is an expert at bringing out a reader's
inner conspiracy theorist, and you get the feeling that government spooks with
super-powers isn't all that far- fetched. Another Ellis strength, demonstrated
time and again in this series, is his ability to effortlessly shift from old-school
adventure tales to modern stories. The art is as extraordinary as the writing; John
Cassaday impressively proves he is one of the few artists that can keep up with
Ellis’ detailed style. Planetary is a thoroughly pleasurable read. Enjoy the
ride.