Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Work All Around
Review: Planetary, a team of superhuman archelogists, is a uniformly excellent series, and an interesting take on the superhero. Warren Ellis, who has stated on more than one occassion he doesn't care for the superhero genre, weighs in with his take on the field, with vaguely familiar characters dancing in the backgrounds of his stories.

There are a lot of treats to reading Planetary. One is Ellis' sick, twisted imagination, where a group that looks vaguely like Grant Morrison's JLA is suddenly on an emergency mission of genocide, or where the Fantastic Four is re-imagined as a group of Nazis (which does get down to answering the question on why Reed Richards' inventions never seem to help anyone but himself and his family in a rather nasty way). Part of the fun is to try and guess who Ellis is ripping on at any given moment.

Another treat is the story itself. Dealing with the exploits of the Drummer, Jakita Wagner, and the amnesiac Elijah Snow as the three encounter odd phenomena after phenomena. And despite being rather formidably powered, the trio rarely gets physically involved. It's not why they're there. They're there to put together the pieces behind a grand conspiracy, and though most chapters can easily stand alone, the added effect of reading all six at once adds to the whole in ways unseen and unappreciable any other way.

A final treat is artist John Cassaday. This book is clearly as much about his excellent visuals as it is Ellis' writing, and his re-imagining of the looks of classic and recognizable characters adds to the fun, as does his detail work.

...

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Work All Around
Review: Planetary, a team of superhuman archelogists, is a uniformly excellent series, and an interesting take on the superhero. Warren Ellis, who has stated on more than one occassion he doesn't care for the superhero genre, weighs in with his take on the field, with vaguely familiar characters dancing in the backgrounds of his stories.

There are a lot of treats to reading Planetary. One is Ellis' sick, twisted imagination, where a group that looks vaguely like Grant Morrison's JLA is suddenly on an emergency mission of genocide, or where the Fantastic Four is re-imagined as a group of Nazis (which does get down to answering the question on why Reed Richards' inventions never seem to help anyone but himself and his family in a rather nasty way). Part of the fun is to try and guess who Ellis is ripping on at any given moment.

Another treat is the story itself. Dealing with the exploits of the Drummer, Jakita Wagner, and the amnesiac Elijah Snow as the three encounter odd phenomena after phenomena. And despite being rather formidably powered, the trio rarely gets physically involved. It's not why they're there. They're there to put together the pieces behind a grand conspiracy, and though most chapters can easily stand alone, the added effect of reading all six at once adds to the whole in ways unseen and unappreciable any other way.

A final treat is artist John Cassaday. This book is clearly as much about his excellent visuals as it is Ellis' writing, and his re-imagining of the looks of classic and recognizable characters adds to the fun, as does his detail work.

...

Rating:
Summary: Easily Warren's Greatest Trade Paperback out there...
Review: Planetary,planetary. What more shall I say. Warren Ellis has honed in on the blueprints to pay homage to past historical events of fiction, whether from graphic literature or films and does it with his creative excellence that he is so well respected for. Furthermore his scripts are accompanied by phenomonal art executed by the great John Cassaday. Their work compliments each other graciously. As the first six issues of a series that will only seem to get better,start the ride here and enjoy cloud 9 til the very end. I did,so join in on the fun or be left missing out.

Rating:
Summary: Part of a greater whole.
Review: Planetary: All over the World and Other Stories is O.K. This book is a series of (mostly) unconnected vignettes about a team of investigators looking into strange phenomena. It's basically X-Files meets superhero comics. The plots are decent and the art is nice. On the whole, though, it feels a little flat. Very little character development is present in these stories.

The subsequent volume "The Fourth Man," however, really picks up the pace in terms of a continuing storyline and character development. I would recommend getting both of them together, since this first volume is a little weak on its own.

Also (and this is a little nit-picky), for "mystery archaeologists" they don't seem to do very much archaeology.

Rating:
Summary: A blast of fresh air that's hauntingly familiar
Review: Thanks to this collection, I'm finally realizing what a gifted writer Warren Ellis is. Luckily, I already knew artist John Cassaday was good, but he really reaches new heights here.

Planetary is a concept I've never seen before -- that of a team of "mystery archaeologists" -- which explores concepts and archetypes seen before but observed in a new light. If you're a DC Comics buff, think of each of Planetary's missions as a tiny peak at an incredible "Elseworlds" story. Another way to look at it is as a sort of Astro City on a global scale, where familiar themes play out in jaw-droppingly new directions.

All of this may make Planetary sound somewhat heady or academic (which it is in a sense) but thanks in large part to Cassaday's beautiful illustration, even the most cerebral moments are visually breathtaking without becoming mere eye candy. Add this to Ellis's breakneck pacing and you've got a thinking person's action-adventure book.

Rating:
Summary: Revisiting childhood haunts...
Review: Those people who know Warren Ellis' work on STORMWATCH and THE AUTHORITY are already familiar with the dynamism and imagination of his storytelling. PLANETARY exhibits a lot of these same qualities, but in addition shows Ellis' ability to take some of the most hallowed territory in the pop/comic/sci-fi genres and hold it up to a skewed mirror, resulting in work that is wonderfully inventive but still true to the roots it draws from. Through his "archaelogists of the impossible," Ellis takes figures of the pop culture mythos a lot of us grew up with (Godzilla, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and more) and presents them in forms that are at once familiar and strange. Admittedly, I got a lot of enjoyment out of comparing what my perceptions of these figures were to the treatment of them in PLANETARY, but even if some of the references are lost on a particular reader, the characters Ellis creates are strong enough to carry the book on their own. Ellis' talent for dialogue is well-exercised with all the acerbic exchanges between team members Jakita Wagner, The Drummer, and Elijah Snow. Snow, in particular, bears watching - not only because he's the POV character, but also because he's very cranky...always a plus in a protagonist. All in all, this is a very auspicious start to what promises to be a very interesting ride through the secret history of the 20th century. It also bears mentioning that the artistic team of John Cassaday and Laura DuPuy does a phenomenal job in providing pictures to go along with the words - just a great leap forward for all fans of sequential art (or if you rather, comic books).

Rating:
Summary: The BEST comic available!
Review: Warren Ellis is bar none the best writer in comics today, and this collection of his PLANETARY comics just proves it. Only a writer like Mr. Ellis could take the idea of superhero archiologists and make it an exciting and fun read. There is a lot of depth to these stories, which is only enhanced by the beautiful art of John Cassaday. I dare anyone to find a better produced comic out there today.

Rating:
Summary: Clever, Deconstructionist Meta-Fiction But Not Much More!
Review: Warren Ellis is often touted as the heir of the Moore-Morrison-Gaiman throne as the new king of "mature" comic-book writing. Reading his "Planetary" comic, I have to disagree. And I'm not the only one. Check out some of the discussions going on at the Barbelith forum to see what I mean. Ellis comes from the cynical British fraternity of comic-book writers who think they are so far above "mere superhero-spandex books" but since the majority of American comics are in the category of the aforementioned "superhero-spandex" type, they are forced (reluctantly and with much disdain) to write within that genre. I'm not making this up. Ellis himself admitted to this in countless interviews and articles.

Therefore, Ellis had to struggle to acquaint himself with this whole mumbo-jumbo of the superhero esoterica. And to him, it's all about archetypes and formulaes (Batman as the Dark Avenger, Superman as the Christ-like icon, etc.) Having stripped the superhero myth down to its bare bones, Ellis attempts to write a story around them. Therefore, he introduce us to Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer in "Planetary". Three "mystery archaeologist" who set out to figure out the whole superhero esoterica. In this first volume, we have an examination of the pulp-heroes of the 1920s/30s, we visit Japan for a look at the inspiration behind its famed monster movies (e.g. "Godzilla") and finally, we end up in Hong Kong for a John-Woo-type balladic bullets work.

The whole thing is very interesting but ultimately comes off as just a clever, deconstructionist piece of meta-fiction but not much more. It's ultimately very empty. It's almost like a writer who's not really trying hard enough to write a good superhero story so he deconstruct others' works into mere formulaes. In addition to all that, Ellis presents the whole thing from a very cynical mode through the three very obnoxiously unlikable main characters. That's "Planetary". Clever, pretentious and empty. I gave the book two stars mainly because of the fantastic art of John Cassady.

In closing, I'd like to say something about superhero comics. It's not just formulaes and archetypes. I mean, you can deconstruct anything, any genre, that way and then go off to brag that you've mastered the whole thing. Superhero comics is the great American myth and its characters have been with us for decades. Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, etc. It's about the romance of chivalry. It's about the soap-opera of relationships and loves. It's about values and people who still believe in them. I'm thankful that it's far richer than the insipid stuff presented by a self-proclaimed know-it-all like Warren Ellis.

Rating:
Summary: Clever, Deconstructionist Meta-Fiction But Not Much More!
Review: Warren Ellis is often touted as the heir of the Moore-Morrison-Gaiman throne as the new king of "mature" comic-book writing. Reading his "Planetary" comic, I have to disagree. And I'm not the only one. Check out some of the discussions going on at the Barbelith forum to see what I mean. Ellis comes from the cynical British fraternity of comic-book writers who think they are so far above "mere superhero-spandex books" but since the majority of American comics are in the category of the aforementioned "superhero-spandex" type, they are forced (reluctantly and with much disdain) to write within that genre. I'm not making this up. Ellis himself admitted to this in countless interviews and articles.

Therefore, Ellis had to struggle to acquaint himself with this whole mumbo-jumbo of the superhero esoterica. And to him, it's all about archetypes and formulaes (Batman as the Dark Avenger, Superman as the Christ-like icon, etc.) Having stripped the superhero myth down to its bare bones, Ellis attempts to write a story around them. Therefore, he introduce us to Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer in "Planetary". Three "mystery archaeologist" who set out to figure out the whole superhero esoterica. In this first volume, we have an examination of the pulp-heroes of the 1920s/30s, we visit Japan for a look at the inspiration behind its famed monster movies (e.g. "Godzilla") and finally, we end up in Hong Kong for a John-Woo-type balladic bullets work.

The whole thing is very interesting but ultimately comes off as just a clever, deconstructionist piece of meta-fiction but not much more. It's ultimately very empty. It's almost like a writer who's not really trying hard enough to write a good superhero story so he deconstruct others' works into mere formulaes. In addition to all that, Ellis presents the whole thing from a very cynical mode through the three very obnoxiously unlikable main characters. That's "Planetary". Clever, pretentious and empty. I gave the book two stars mainly because of the fantastic art of John Cassady.

In closing, I'd like to say something about superhero comics. It's not just formulaes and archetypes. I mean, you can deconstruct anything, any genre, that way and then go off to brag that you've mastered the whole thing. Superhero comics is the great American myth and its characters have been with us for decades. Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, etc. It's about the romance of chivalry. It's about the soap-opera of relationships and loves. It's about values and people who still believe in them. I'm thankful that it's far richer than the insipid stuff presented by a self-proclaimed know-it-all like Warren Ellis.

Rating:
Summary: The coolest book I've read this year
Review: What makes All Over the World so cool? Warren Ellis is at the top of his game here, with dazzling ideas, deft characterization, and great dialogue all working together. Planetary is the story of the secret history of the twentieth century - or at least, the twentieth century as reflected in our fiction. Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and the Drummer are the field team for the mysterious and extremely wealthy organization called Planetary; they are mystery archaeologists, travelling, well, all over the world to find the hidden wonders in Japanese monster islands, long buried alien spaceships, and the hidden lair of thirties pulp heroes. So what we have is a roaring adventure story that doubles as a commentary on the twentieth century's adventure fiction.

What's important is that Planetary works on both levels. Each chapter of All Over the World seems like a stand alone story, full of wild action and carried by the interplay between Jakita, Drummer, and Elijah. The character interaction and inventive plots would be enough to carry the book, but through each chapter a deeper mystery - largely built around the identity and history of Elijah Snow, but also around the true nature of Planetary and its adversaries - gradually unfolds, and the book ends on a great little cliffhanger that had me eagerly anticipating new chapters.

At the same time, Planetary is Ellis' chance to play with a lot of archetypes. Planetary's main adversaries are clear analogues of Marvel's Fantastic Four; Snow's hatred of them, and the reasons for it, should inspire readers to take another look at the assumptions that allow superhero universes to function. Planetary is a thrill to read, but it's a very intelligent thrill that proves that action stories don't need to check their brains at the door.

Equal credit must go to artist John Cassaday and colorist Laura De Puy. This book looks great. Cassaday's design work is impeccable; the characters' wardrobes, for example, are highly reflective of their personality, and Cassaday makes the wondrous and strange things that Planetary encounters appear wondrous and strange. His faces convey emotion beautifully; there's a two-page conversation could be carried by the art alone. De Puy and her fellow colorists take Cassaday's drawings and make them shine with rich color work that immerses the reader even deeper in the world of Planetary.

Everything about this book works. It's intelligent, accessible, fun, beautiful, and wonderful. Read it.