PLANETARY 465
in comics, will reveal strong representations of beautiful women, and more glamour
than pornography.
Trina Robbins
PLANETARY. A 27-issue series published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics and
written by Warren Ellis with art by John Cassady, Planetary is both the name of the
series and of the organization within the series that seeks to uncover the secret history
of the superhero world in which it is set. Th e series began publication in 1999, but has
been plagued with delays and taken multiple hiatuses over the 10 years between Planetary
#1 and Planetary #27. Besides the series proper, three stand-alone, one-shot stories have
also been published, Planetary/ Th e Authority : Ruling the World (2000), Planetary/ JLA :
Terra Occulta (2002), and Planetary/ Batman : Night on Earth (2003). While these are
not essential to the main storyline, Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth did utilize the
same creative team as that of the regular series and certainly reads as if it could be an
issue of the series. Planetary has also been released in a series of collections: Planetary:
All over the World, and Other Stories (Volume 1) collects Planetary #1–6, Planetary: Th e
Fourth Man (Volume 2) collects Planetary #7–12, Planetary: Leaving the 20th Century
(Volume 3) collects Planetary #13–18, Planetary Vol. 4 collects Planetar y #19–27, and
Planetary: Crossing Worlds collects the stand-alone one-shot stories.
Th e Planetary Field Team, a three-person group of superhumans, is funded by the
Planetary Foundation and consists of Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner, and Th e Drummer.
Snow possesses the ability to subtract heat from his immediate area, while Wagner
enjoys super-strength, super-speed, and virtual invulnerability. Th e Drummer operates
as something of an informational “black hole” in that all things, especially computers,
give him information. For instance, even a cup of coff ee indicates its temperature to
him ( Planetary #23). Th e members of the Planetary Field team have been described as
“archaeologists of the impossible.”
Planetary’s agenda of aiding mankind and making a fi ner world with the knowledge
it acquires puts it directly at odds with the four Voyagers, the secret masters of the
world. Th e four comprise four superhumans, Randall Dowling, Jacob Greene, William
Leather, and Kim Suskind, modeled after Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four. Here, Ellis
indulges in a bit of commentary on the American comics market. Th e four dominating
the world of Planetary beginning in 1961 is no coincidence; 1961 marks the year that
Marvel began publishing the Fantastic Four. It is also the year that the superhero genre
began its dominance, to the extent that virtually all other genres disappeared of the
American comics market. “Th e things these scum have cost us since 1961.. .” ( Planetary
#6) serves as a condemnation of superhero comics and the American comics market,
as well as a lament of what was lost in their dominance of said market.
Th e overriding plot structure of the fi rst 12 issues of the series concerns itself with
the mystery surrounding the identity of the Fourth Man of Planetary. Th e resolution
of this mystery changes the focus of Planetary’s agenda from that of mystery archaeolo-
gists to that of combating the four and their interests. Th is puts not only the Planetary
