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Planetary #2
Planetary, Volume 2: The Fourth Man
Warren Ellis improves on his already outstanding stories and characters in the second collection of Planetary: The Fourth Man. While scraping their way through their investigations, the three archaeologists of mystery, enigmatic themselves, deal with their own past and learn more about the creepy metahumans lurking behind practically every oddity on the planet. Ellis seems to take pleasure in turning superheroic icons inside out. Fans will find references and deconstructions from the Golden Age to the post-postmodern comics world. John Cassaday's penciling adapts itself well to the stories, giving intimate barroom chats and epic battles against giant ants equal credibility. While reading Planetary, one gets the sense that superhero comics really do have somewhere to go after being so thoroughly demolished in the '80s and '90s--and that we'd do well to keep reading. --Rob Lightner
Collecting: Planetary 7-12
Collecting: Planetary 7-12
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2001
28 people are currently reading
2486 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,959 books5,765 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 215 reviews
February 5, 2014
This volume of Planetary explores, and ultimately reveals, the secret of the mysterious Fourth Man of Planetary and also exposes the breathtaking scope and breadth of the crimes perpetrated by the Four upon the world in the name of their great game.
Issue 7 – “To be in England, in the Summertime”: Planetary attends the funeral of Jack Carter, the man everyone in the occult underworld was afraid of and owed favours to. Cute issue with plenty of nods to Alan Moore and the ‘dark and gritty’ world of magic and debased superheroes that the Vertigo line of comics, and esp. one of its hallmark titles “Hellblazer”, was known for. If you know the references you’ll get a chuckle, but otherwise a fairly unremarkable issue.
Issue 8 – “The Day the Earth Turned Slower”: Remember all of those crazy sci-fi B-movies from the olden days? Movies like “Them!”, “The Attack of the 50 ft. Woman”, and “The Incredible Shrinking Man”? What if they weren’t based on fiction? What if the government, or more accurately the Powers-that-Be, really did perform strange atomic experiments on animals and the wretched refuse of humanity that they deemed to be ‘unfit’ to live amongst right-thinking people? What if they created “Science Cities” in remote locations where these unfortunates could be put to ‘good use’, not in the name of building an army of super-soldiers or forwarding any grand plan, but simply because they could, merely to throw some science against the wall and see what sticks? Planetary's about to find out.
Issue 9 – “Planet Fiction”: This one is a flashback story where Ellis goes down a pretty weird rabbit hole. If comics look to fiction for many of their ideas for super-science why not blend fiction itself with scientific experimentation, really break the fourth wall? Why not create a "pretend" fictional world within your "real" fictional world of the comic book and then have an evil genius send a team of "fictionauts" inside it? What do you do if something comes back with them? This issue also deepens the mystery of the Fourth Man and introduces us to Ambrose Chase, the Third Man of the Planetary field team prior to the recruitment of Elijah Snow. He's a badass operator with a reality distortion field that allows him to speed up or slow down time and generally alter the physical laws in his close proximity. Think Neo from the Matrix with a brain.
Issue 10 – “Magic & Loss”: Planetary have set up a ‘dig’ in the laboratory of the Four that they found in issue 6. Their findings are not encouraging in what it reveals about the agenda and methodology of the Four. In going through some of the artefacts that are stored there we begin to glimpse the extent to which the Four have been able to control what has occurred on the planet and their utter ruthlessness in doing so. Think of the impact that three of the greatest heroes in the pantheon of comics: Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman have had on their fictional worlds. They are three whose power and outlook might have allowed them to save the world. What happens if the Four find them first?
Issue 11 – “Cold World”: Elijah’s suspicions about the actions and motivations of his colleagues grow, as does his concern with his spotty memory, so he decides to pay a call on an old friend for some advice and information. John Stone, agent of S.T.O.R.M., is the world’s greatest secret agent and if anyone can help Snow figure out who he is and what secret agenda the Four may have it’s got to be him. Memories are shaken loose and suspicions confirmed as Elijah tries to untangle the truth from the lies in the strange world he is uncovering.
Issue 12 – “Memory Cloud”: Snow confronts his Planetary colleagues with the results of his personal investigations and as his cloudy memory slowly comes back to him he reveals some of the secrets of his long life that others had wished would remain hidden. The Fourth man is revealed and a challenge is finally issued to the apparently unassailable Four in the names of all of their many victims.
All in all this was a very good volume in the continuing story of Planetary. Some of the one-off adventures were a bit weak, but the overall story arc shaped up very nicely as secrets and revelations about both Planetary and the Four are brought forward and the glimpses of the wider universe Ellis has created are tantalizing and a heck of a lot of fun. The gauntlet has been thrown and now things promise to gain momentum with every step. Lots of fun!
Also posted at Shelf Inflicted
Issue 7 – “To be in England, in the Summertime”: Planetary attends the funeral of Jack Carter, the man everyone in the occult underworld was afraid of and owed favours to. Cute issue with plenty of nods to Alan Moore and the ‘dark and gritty’ world of magic and debased superheroes that the Vertigo line of comics, and esp. one of its hallmark titles “Hellblazer”, was known for. If you know the references you’ll get a chuckle, but otherwise a fairly unremarkable issue.
Issue 8 – “The Day the Earth Turned Slower”: Remember all of those crazy sci-fi B-movies from the olden days? Movies like “Them!”, “The Attack of the 50 ft. Woman”, and “The Incredible Shrinking Man”? What if they weren’t based on fiction? What if the government, or more accurately the Powers-that-Be, really did perform strange atomic experiments on animals and the wretched refuse of humanity that they deemed to be ‘unfit’ to live amongst right-thinking people? What if they created “Science Cities” in remote locations where these unfortunates could be put to ‘good use’, not in the name of building an army of super-soldiers or forwarding any grand plan, but simply because they could, merely to throw some science against the wall and see what sticks? Planetary's about to find out.
Issue 9 – “Planet Fiction”: This one is a flashback story where Ellis goes down a pretty weird rabbit hole. If comics look to fiction for many of their ideas for super-science why not blend fiction itself with scientific experimentation, really break the fourth wall? Why not create a "pretend" fictional world within your "real" fictional world of the comic book and then have an evil genius send a team of "fictionauts" inside it? What do you do if something comes back with them? This issue also deepens the mystery of the Fourth Man and introduces us to Ambrose Chase, the Third Man of the Planetary field team prior to the recruitment of Elijah Snow. He's a badass operator with a reality distortion field that allows him to speed up or slow down time and generally alter the physical laws in his close proximity. Think Neo from the Matrix with a brain.
Issue 10 – “Magic & Loss”: Planetary have set up a ‘dig’ in the laboratory of the Four that they found in issue 6. Their findings are not encouraging in what it reveals about the agenda and methodology of the Four. In going through some of the artefacts that are stored there we begin to glimpse the extent to which the Four have been able to control what has occurred on the planet and their utter ruthlessness in doing so. Think of the impact that three of the greatest heroes in the pantheon of comics: Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman have had on their fictional worlds. They are three whose power and outlook might have allowed them to save the world. What happens if the Four find them first?
Issue 11 – “Cold World”: Elijah’s suspicions about the actions and motivations of his colleagues grow, as does his concern with his spotty memory, so he decides to pay a call on an old friend for some advice and information. John Stone, agent of S.T.O.R.M., is the world’s greatest secret agent and if anyone can help Snow figure out who he is and what secret agenda the Four may have it’s got to be him. Memories are shaken loose and suspicions confirmed as Elijah tries to untangle the truth from the lies in the strange world he is uncovering.
Issue 12 – “Memory Cloud”: Snow confronts his Planetary colleagues with the results of his personal investigations and as his cloudy memory slowly comes back to him he reveals some of the secrets of his long life that others had wished would remain hidden. The Fourth man is revealed and a challenge is finally issued to the apparently unassailable Four in the names of all of their many victims.
All in all this was a very good volume in the continuing story of Planetary. Some of the one-off adventures were a bit weak, but the overall story arc shaped up very nicely as secrets and revelations about both Planetary and the Four are brought forward and the glimpses of the wider universe Ellis has created are tantalizing and a heck of a lot of fun. The gauntlet has been thrown and now things promise to gain momentum with every step. Lots of fun!
Also posted at Shelf Inflicted
February 11, 2012
"Was that Spider Jerusalem?" was my thought when I saw the ending to the first story. And then the riffs on Hellblazer, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern... but I'm jumping around. But then that's what Ellis and Cassaday do with this strange series, Planetary, they leap from one story to another, each one seemingly unconnected, with odd glimpses into sci-fi storylines that seem faintly familiar and intriguing.
Readers who made it through the first book hoping for more clarity in the second will be surprised to see that no, unlike most series where explanations occur some ways into it, Planetary eschews this model to continue baffling the reader. This is my second time reading this series and I'm still not sure why the mystery of the fourth man is so important or who these characters are and what they're doing, but it's building to something, sometime, somehow.
In this second volume there are world famous superspies who fake their deaths to kill superheroes, giant desert ants and ghosts of Cold War experiments gone wrong, mad scientists, aliens, eye lasers, and literary allusions aplenty including alternate takes on the Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman mythol.
I find that so long as you're looking for a traditional narrative and go along with the ride that the books are more enjoyable to read. Trust in Warren Ellis and John Cassaday, they probably know what they're doing. Some of the stories are interesting, some not so, but hang in there because I know Book 3 makes the first two books make a bit more sense and a larger picture of the storyline emerges in it. Meanwhile, enjoy some whacky and abstract short comics in "The Fourth Man" and give yourself an entertaining headache.
Readers who made it through the first book hoping for more clarity in the second will be surprised to see that no, unlike most series where explanations occur some ways into it, Planetary eschews this model to continue baffling the reader. This is my second time reading this series and I'm still not sure why the mystery of the fourth man is so important or who these characters are and what they're doing, but it's building to something, sometime, somehow.
In this second volume there are world famous superspies who fake their deaths to kill superheroes, giant desert ants and ghosts of Cold War experiments gone wrong, mad scientists, aliens, eye lasers, and literary allusions aplenty including alternate takes on the Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman mythol.
I find that so long as you're looking for a traditional narrative and go along with the ride that the books are more enjoyable to read. Trust in Warren Ellis and John Cassaday, they probably know what they're doing. Some of the stories are interesting, some not so, but hang in there because I know Book 3 makes the first two books make a bit more sense and a larger picture of the storyline emerges in it. Meanwhile, enjoy some whacky and abstract short comics in "The Fourth Man" and give yourself an entertaining headache.
March 16, 2022
This second Planetary book is another fine science fiction volume which collects the seventh through twelfth issues of the original run from 2000-2001. The stories serve to deepen the history and background of the three mysterious main characters and their overall arc, while at the same time telling interesting, self-contained, and enjoyable stories for those new to their world. The art is nicely detailed and nuanced and vibrantly colored. Ellis has come under a lot of criticism for his personal behavior (ironically, the introduction to this book was written by Joss Whedon), but the work still stands on its own as an excellent read.
September 13, 2021
İlk ciltte ne yazdıysam hâlâ geçerli; potansiyel çok yüksek ama beklediğim o sıçrama yok. Buna rağmen dört yıldız verdim, çünkü bizim “What If” dediğimiz “Ya şöyle olsa,” kısmı, baskısı çevirisi gerçekten başarılı.
October 28, 2019
This series keeps getting better. The storyline is great.
February 5, 2017
I still like planetary, even its scope is pretty wide. Ellis likes to weave a big old story and intro lots of characters over the course of 75 years. Some of the issues are stand alone or minor puzzle pieces that fit later and to me they are slightly boring. Snow is a central character and is its clear his story is important as time goes on and by mid way the book picks up and gets better pushing the main plot along. Snow has memory problems and his is starting to fill in the gaps with his team. I already started vol.3 so i'm into it.
April 21, 2013
Everyone keeps telling me how wonderful Planetary is... and I'm sure it *is* wonderful when you have the contextual knowledge to get *everything* that Ellis is playing around with. My comic-universe knowledge so far is sporadic, so my enjoyment of the series (and of course rating) has to reflect that. It's very clear that it's all about the fanlove when you get right down to it. Which is, I think, good: the cleverness and jokes one *doesn't* get *do* prompt one to read widely and figure stuff out from primary material - it can be inspiring as well as frustrating, and where Ellis is concerned, usually the former. But there's still an aspect of the latter for me. I'm going to go with Sam Quixote on this one - I agree that lack of clarity isn't a barrier to enjoyment, particularly when Ellis is at the helm (I trust him to throw us the key sooner or later). But the most notable feature of the series so far is the sense of pleasant bemusement one feels upon the end of each substory. Looking forward to what comes next (with my key detector glasses firmly in place).
June 17, 2013
This second tpb of Planetary gives more clues behind the secret history of Planetary, also it has amazing stories combining science fiction and urban legends in a spectacular way. Great scenes, good dialogues, powerful images. Great episodes where you can see how super heroes myths could faced with deadly outcomes. As in the first tpb, it helps a little if you read some of The Authority, here, it helps a bit if you read some of StormWatch. It's not that you had to do it but it doesn't hurt to give you a better scope of the background of the events.
September 18, 2016
Muy bueno. Y con giros potentes de guión.
October 23, 2013
A just wrote a fairly long review about volume one, so I'll keep this one brief. Or brief-ish.
Basically, a gobbled this volume up a day and half after finishing the first volume. Talk about a second coarse, this one continues to build on the greatness that the first volume had already established. I could talk about how much I love the concept, the characters, Ellis's butcher's blade-sharp dialogue, his wonderful tributes to all things comics, old and new (we're even treated to some of my favorite 80's titles, and even some of Ellis's own works), or I could go on and on about John Cassaday's wicked pencils, where again I found myself taking long pauses just to stare at the details in worlds and in characters, looking over panels and pages a few times before finally moving on.
But mostly all I say is this, I love surprises in books, or movies, or what have you. And who doesn't? A nice twist of plot, or shocking (but not just for the sake of shock) reveal from a character's past, or something to those ends. And believe me, Planetary's got it,very much so now since we begin to explore Elijah Snow's past, as well as earlier incarnations of the team in this volume. So yes, surprises galore. But to me, even more rewarding is when I can guess some of those twists and turns ahead of time. And not because something is predictable, because that would be no good. No, I mean that Ellis rewards you for paying attention, and again even more so if you know a thing or two about comics and pulp fiction history. The whole book is about discovering something, and I felt like a bit of a detective, or perhaps an archaeologist on a character's truths and motives, and who is behind certain events, or organizations. I feel like I putting the pieces together myself, or alongside the characters, and when I took a guess at what I felt was coming together, and then turned out to be right, it just felt great. A rewarding experience. Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the rope. This book can make you work for it, but when you put it down, you can't help but smile. I feel like this one is going to stay with me for quite some time.
Basically, a gobbled this volume up a day and half after finishing the first volume. Talk about a second coarse, this one continues to build on the greatness that the first volume had already established. I could talk about how much I love the concept, the characters, Ellis's butcher's blade-sharp dialogue, his wonderful tributes to all things comics, old and new (we're even treated to some of my favorite 80's titles, and even some of Ellis's own works), or I could go on and on about John Cassaday's wicked pencils, where again I found myself taking long pauses just to stare at the details in worlds and in characters, looking over panels and pages a few times before finally moving on.
But mostly all I say is this, I love surprises in books, or movies, or what have you. And who doesn't? A nice twist of plot, or shocking (but not just for the sake of shock) reveal from a character's past, or something to those ends. And believe me, Planetary's got it,very much so now since we begin to explore Elijah Snow's past, as well as earlier incarnations of the team in this volume. So yes, surprises galore. But to me, even more rewarding is when I can guess some of those twists and turns ahead of time. And not because something is predictable, because that would be no good. No, I mean that Ellis rewards you for paying attention, and again even more so if you know a thing or two about comics and pulp fiction history. The whole book is about discovering something, and I felt like a bit of a detective, or perhaps an archaeologist on a character's truths and motives, and who is behind certain events, or organizations. I feel like I putting the pieces together myself, or alongside the characters, and when I took a guess at what I felt was coming together, and then turned out to be right, it just felt great. A rewarding experience. Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the rope. This book can make you work for it, but when you put it down, you can't help but smile. I feel like this one is going to stay with me for quite some time.
July 21, 2019
Warren Ellis is a smart writer...just not a great one. He aspires to be a heavy-hitter in the neighbourhood of Grant Morrison and Alan Moore, but is only a clever and competent comic writer of the calibre of (off the top of my head) Jamie Delano. This second volume of Planetary really shows where he is coming from and where he aspires to be, most obviously in the opening issue. In that one, he fires off at the Vertigo crowd (which brought Moore and Morrison...and Delano, for that matter...into the American comics eye) via the Planetary trio attending the funeral of a thinly-veiled John Constantine proxy. The crowd is full of fun references to the heyday of Vertigo, but just a step to the left a la the Easter egg appearances in Moore's Top 10, Vol. 1 and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1, and Ellis' final statement on the scene of that time is that it's over and time to move on. And that kind of says a lot about what Ellis is doing here. Though it is clever enough and the whole spot-the-reference thing is fun, Planetary is really just riding the coattails of the innovations that were made by the creators who came before him.
This book is as lovely to look at as the previous one, but doesn't really get any better than that one (in spite of the revelation of the eponymous Fourth Man of Planetary).
This book is as lovely to look at as the previous one, but doesn't really get any better than that one (in spite of the revelation of the eponymous Fourth Man of Planetary).
July 30, 2019
These six issues established the setting and its people, took advantage of the different sort of tales it could tell, and started to weave together its collective mythos, better than the first six did. It let me into the loop better, answered a couple questions, but... I don't know.
The whole thing about this "Fourth Man" character was supposed to be a big mystery, and the end of this volume lead into a colossal reveal that would change everything, but it never felt that way to me. It wasn't set up nearly enough in the previous volumes, with virtually no buildup and very little impression that this identity was any important to the story. I think it could have spent less time telling weird stories in weird genres, and more time setting up its own mysteries.
And speaking of which, it seems to be doing a similar kind of disservice to its own villains. Mostly everything we know of them, everything we see them doing, establishes them as humongous dickweeds - and nothing else. If we didn't know even that much of them, there could be a good mystery going on... but since we do know something, the little we know isn't nearly enough. It's like the most unsatisfying middleground.
On the whole, it's still not grabbing me all that well, not quite deserving the hype I've heard of the comic. But I'll keep reading, see where it takes me.
The whole thing about this "Fourth Man" character was supposed to be a big mystery, and the end of this volume lead into a colossal reveal that would change everything, but it never felt that way to me. It wasn't set up nearly enough in the previous volumes, with virtually no buildup and very little impression that this identity was any important to the story. I think it could have spent less time telling weird stories in weird genres, and more time setting up its own mysteries.
And speaking of which, it seems to be doing a similar kind of disservice to its own villains. Mostly everything we know of them, everything we see them doing, establishes them as humongous dickweeds - and nothing else. If we didn't know even that much of them, there could be a good mystery going on... but since we do know something, the little we know isn't nearly enough. It's like the most unsatisfying middleground.
On the whole, it's still not grabbing me all that well, not quite deserving the hype I've heard of the comic. But I'll keep reading, see where it takes me.
October 30, 2011
Wow.
What Ellis began in the first book of "Planetary", he digs us in deeper in this one.
The concept of paying tribute to all kinds of things from 100 years of pop culture and wrapping it in a mysterious plot with enigmatic characters, really... It's just amazing.
This volume shows tributes to John Constantine and all of Vertigo, 1950's films, Allison Hayes (born right down the road in Charleston, WV), Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Nick Fury, and Sherlock Holmes, among other things.
The scope, originality and just the pure vision of this book is something to behold. There are issues contained in this volume (as well as the first) which are just master strokes.
I won't go too far into detail, as I wouldn't want to spoil one panel of this series for you, but wow... Truly a one of a kind series...
*-Note: The cover shown here does not match the cover of the book I read, but the book's description matches, so I went with that version.
What Ellis began in the first book of "Planetary", he digs us in deeper in this one.
The concept of paying tribute to all kinds of things from 100 years of pop culture and wrapping it in a mysterious plot with enigmatic characters, really... It's just amazing.
This volume shows tributes to John Constantine and all of Vertigo, 1950's films, Allison Hayes (born right down the road in Charleston, WV), Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Nick Fury, and Sherlock Holmes, among other things.
The scope, originality and just the pure vision of this book is something to behold. There are issues contained in this volume (as well as the first) which are just master strokes.
I won't go too far into detail, as I wouldn't want to spoil one panel of this series for you, but wow... Truly a one of a kind series...
*-Note: The cover shown here does not match the cover of the book I read, but the book's description matches, so I went with that version.
March 13, 2013
Fun, although I saw the reveal coming from pretty far away. If you liked volume 1 this should be up your alley.
Issue #10 seems to get all the love, but as someone who mostly doesn't give a shit about old school superhero comics, it did basically nothing for me. It isn't bad or anything, but it gets a lot of praise that frankly I don't think it deserves. Top marks in this volume for issue #8 from me instead.
Issue #10 seems to get all the love, but as someone who mostly doesn't give a shit about old school superhero comics, it did basically nothing for me. It isn't bad or anything, but it gets a lot of praise that frankly I don't think it deserves. Top marks in this volume for issue #8 from me instead.
October 28, 2019
Sigue la linea de guiños y homenajes, tanto en historia principal como en detalles de fondo, diálogos. El octavo número, oda al cine de los 50s, con una protagonista semejante a Marilyn Monroe, es a mi entender uno de los mejores escritos de Ellis.
El dibujo es supremo y versátil, variado hasta el infinito.
Al final se avanza con un gran giro.
Se comienza a apreciar el mapa general de la serie.
El dibujo es supremo y versátil, variado hasta el infinito.
Al final se avanza con un gran giro.
Se comienza a apreciar el mapa general de la serie.
September 3, 2018
The Fourth Man follows the same trajectory of the first volume but there's a different current underneath. A few seemingly unconnected stories and then the exposition kicks in, trying to piece together a story that ties it all together. What's different in this volume is the underlying sadness to the different stories. There was individual tragedy before but it still amounted to pulpy fun. The stakes here turn greater, deeper, and all too real.
There's one argument, put forth by Grant Morrison among others, that we love and keep coming back to superhero stories, even as adults, because they represent an idealized version of ourselves, fairy tales for our highly imperfect world, one that we've done our best to industrialize every last bit of magic and wonder from. Another way to phrase this argument is that we love superheroes because they're not real. There's nothing at stake in dreaming of a world where altruistic deliverance can come at the hands of a demi-god whose goodwill comes at no cost to anyone. Nothing real that threatens anything or anyone already entrenched in power.
Thatcher and her cronies are ostensibly gone but they still live on like ghouls that haunt the spirit of everyone who lived through her Britain and its after-effects. The first story here, about a John Constantine figure who was a bullwark against the ravages of the 80s, is explicit about who the real enemies are. The secret histories that the Planetary team investages are not really that secret, not when you look at who the true uncounted victims are. And this is why a real, genuine superhero would never be welcome on Earth; they'd never be allowed to show their face in the first place. Another story here retells the origins of Superman, the Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, all ending in their discovery and destruction. A world with superheroes is a dream, one where there are histories that aren't necessarily written by the victors alone.
This elegy gives way to a revelation of some of the mysteries we've been looking for by the end. Still not completely satisfying but they do finally give things a clear direction. It takes a little time but it feels like we're finally at the story Ellis is ready to tell.
There's one argument, put forth by Grant Morrison among others, that we love and keep coming back to superhero stories, even as adults, because they represent an idealized version of ourselves, fairy tales for our highly imperfect world, one that we've done our best to industrialize every last bit of magic and wonder from. Another way to phrase this argument is that we love superheroes because they're not real. There's nothing at stake in dreaming of a world where altruistic deliverance can come at the hands of a demi-god whose goodwill comes at no cost to anyone. Nothing real that threatens anything or anyone already entrenched in power.
Thatcher and her cronies are ostensibly gone but they still live on like ghouls that haunt the spirit of everyone who lived through her Britain and its after-effects. The first story here, about a John Constantine figure who was a bullwark against the ravages of the 80s, is explicit about who the real enemies are. The secret histories that the Planetary team investages are not really that secret, not when you look at who the true uncounted victims are. And this is why a real, genuine superhero would never be welcome on Earth; they'd never be allowed to show their face in the first place. Another story here retells the origins of Superman, the Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, all ending in their discovery and destruction. A world with superheroes is a dream, one where there are histories that aren't necessarily written by the victors alone.
This elegy gives way to a revelation of some of the mysteries we've been looking for by the end. Still not completely satisfying but they do finally give things a clear direction. It takes a little time but it feels like we're finally at the story Ellis is ready to tell.
December 28, 2021
Sıxıcı başlayıb dadlandı sona doğru. Mən də deyirəm Elijah məllim niyə belə sıxıcı personajdı. Bir U dönüşü elədilər ki, gəl görəsən. Deyirdim ilk üçündən o yanasını oxumaram, yəqin. 3cü cild də bu cür davam eləsə, oxumağa davamm.
April 18, 2011
This is a review of the full four-volume saga, consisting of Planetary, Volume. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories, Planetary, Volume 2: The Fourth Man, Planetary, Volume 3: Leaving the 20th Century and Planetary, Volume 4: Spacetime Archaeology. I will review the companion volume Planetary: Crossing Worlds elsewhere. I'm doing this because the four books simply don't work independently. Most of book 2 is completely incomprehensible until you read book 3, at which point all the apparently random unconnected adventures in book 1 become part of a single enormous unfolding narrative about a great game whose stakes are no less than the survival of the universe.
So, where to start? At the outset we appear to have a simple story of a somewhat more exciting version of The X Files, where our team is taked by a mysterious 'fourth man' to go around and investigate anomalous events in order to discover the secret history of the twentieth century. We still have a nerd and a sexy woman, only this time the nerd is a borderline psychotic who can interface with the internet without needing boring things like computers to do it, the sexy woman is very definitely in charge, and has a taste for ultraviolence. Oh yes, and there's a third person: a grumpy old man. In the course of the narrative we learn a fair bit about these individuals, but, rather wonderfully, it's part of a greater narrative which assumes things that Ellis doesn't bother to explain to us - after, all the characters know what a 'millenium baby' is, so why would they bother to explain it to one another? And another nice example of the subtlety of approach is that it's only very gradually during book 1 that we discover that Jakita (the sexy woman) is superhuman in more than being, well, a very sexy woman. Just how superhuman she is only fully emerges in book 3, and likewise Drums (the nerd) only reveals his full awesome powers gradually.
Volume 1, then, it made up of a series of apparently disconnected stories in which the team go and investigate something. And we learn fun stuff, like the existence of a black Moon Programme which made its first launch in 1961. That's right. And it's all amusing, but seems a bit light, until near the end of volume 2 where you realise that it's been one story all along. So I'm not going to say any more about the plot, save that multiverses are involved, and Ellis makes really neat of ideas from holographic cosmology. Let's just say that volume 2, in isolation, would seem really incoherent, dotting around in time and space (with a wonderful rip-off of the whole Superman origin story, which comes to a premature end when a US soldier empties a rifle into the boy 'just to be sure') with no clear plan. Until you get the big revelation and, with that, are ready for the massive struggle that makes up books 3 and 4 (though even they play merry hell with time, place and location).
Another nice feature is that we see at work the way that apparently nice people can be seduced into doing terrible things. And I don't just mean the bad guys. Jakita, despite her affection for hitting things really hard, is clearly a very moral person, and is repelled when her mysterious boss reveals that he's been torturing people. But by a gradual wearing-down, she reaches the point where she's willing to indulge in extra-judicial killing and so on and so forth, because she's been convinced it's for the greater good. This aspect of human behaviour is, I think, one of the most mysterious of all: how good, decent people can become, if not monsters, then monstrous, and all from the purest of motives. Nobody really understands it, but it happens, and it's good to see Ellis admitting to it (the sheer uprightness of Mulder & Scully was always one of the sillier aspects of The X Files).
Is there anything bad to say? Well, at first you'll wonder what you're getting into. But that's meant to happen, because you're then put on a footing with the principles, who don't have a clue either. So plough on. On a minor point, Jakita starts out as a strong character, but by book 3 she's faded a bit, and by book 4 she's in danger of becoming 'sexy woman in black neoprene who hits things' version 94. She doesn't, but she does feel a little underwritten in the latter stages of the narrative.
So, don't be put off, and make sure you have all four volumes available for cross-referencing.
So, where to start? At the outset we appear to have a simple story of a somewhat more exciting version of The X Files, where our team is taked by a mysterious 'fourth man' to go around and investigate anomalous events in order to discover the secret history of the twentieth century. We still have a nerd and a sexy woman, only this time the nerd is a borderline psychotic who can interface with the internet without needing boring things like computers to do it, the sexy woman is very definitely in charge, and has a taste for ultraviolence. Oh yes, and there's a third person: a grumpy old man. In the course of the narrative we learn a fair bit about these individuals, but, rather wonderfully, it's part of a greater narrative which assumes things that Ellis doesn't bother to explain to us - after, all the characters know what a 'millenium baby' is, so why would they bother to explain it to one another? And another nice example of the subtlety of approach is that it's only very gradually during book 1 that we discover that Jakita (the sexy woman) is superhuman in more than being, well, a very sexy woman. Just how superhuman she is only fully emerges in book 3, and likewise Drums (the nerd) only reveals his full awesome powers gradually.
Volume 1, then, it made up of a series of apparently disconnected stories in which the team go and investigate something. And we learn fun stuff, like the existence of a black Moon Programme which made its first launch in 1961. That's right. And it's all amusing, but seems a bit light, until near the end of volume 2 where you realise that it's been one story all along. So I'm not going to say any more about the plot, save that multiverses are involved, and Ellis makes really neat of ideas from holographic cosmology. Let's just say that volume 2, in isolation, would seem really incoherent, dotting around in time and space (with a wonderful rip-off of the whole Superman origin story, which comes to a premature end when a US soldier empties a rifle into the boy 'just to be sure') with no clear plan. Until you get the big revelation and, with that, are ready for the massive struggle that makes up books 3 and 4 (though even they play merry hell with time, place and location).
Another nice feature is that we see at work the way that apparently nice people can be seduced into doing terrible things. And I don't just mean the bad guys. Jakita, despite her affection for hitting things really hard, is clearly a very moral person, and is repelled when her mysterious boss reveals that he's been torturing people. But by a gradual wearing-down, she reaches the point where she's willing to indulge in extra-judicial killing and so on and so forth, because she's been convinced it's for the greater good. This aspect of human behaviour is, I think, one of the most mysterious of all: how good, decent people can become, if not monsters, then monstrous, and all from the purest of motives. Nobody really understands it, but it happens, and it's good to see Ellis admitting to it (the sheer uprightness of Mulder & Scully was always one of the sillier aspects of The X Files).
Is there anything bad to say? Well, at first you'll wonder what you're getting into. But that's meant to happen, because you're then put on a footing with the principles, who don't have a clue either. So plough on. On a minor point, Jakita starts out as a strong character, but by book 3 she's faded a bit, and by book 4 she's in danger of becoming 'sexy woman in black neoprene who hits things' version 94. She doesn't, but she does feel a little underwritten in the latter stages of the narrative.
So, don't be put off, and make sure you have all four volumes available for cross-referencing.
November 18, 2019
This stories becomes more interesting with every volume. in the beginning the volumes are one-shot stories and later the overall story becomes clear.
November 8, 2021
Üç buçuktan dört yıldız.
Bu cildin çizimlerini ilkine göre daha çok beğendim. Hatta epey beğendim diyebilirim. Şunu fark ettim, bu janr zaten tam olarak benim primer janrım değil. Efsane olmuş bir seri olmasa belki yükselmezdim. Bir de iki cilt itibariyle bol sisli bir anlatıma sahip olması (kimilerinin hoşuna gidebilecek olsa da) benim olaylara dahil olmamı güçleştirdi. Fasiküllerde şimdiye kadar müstakil işlenen olay ve karakterlerin popüler kültürde denk düştüğü noktalara hakimiyet keyfi kuvvetlendirecektir. Bu noktada iş biraz okura ve onun “background”una kalıyor. Cildin finalinde işler hareketlendi. Bakalım devam edeceğiz.
Bu cildin çizimlerini ilkine göre daha çok beğendim. Hatta epey beğendim diyebilirim. Şunu fark ettim, bu janr zaten tam olarak benim primer janrım değil. Efsane olmuş bir seri olmasa belki yükselmezdim. Bir de iki cilt itibariyle bol sisli bir anlatıma sahip olması (kimilerinin hoşuna gidebilecek olsa da) benim olaylara dahil olmamı güçleştirdi. Fasiküllerde şimdiye kadar müstakil işlenen olay ve karakterlerin popüler kültürde denk düştüğü noktalara hakimiyet keyfi kuvvetlendirecektir. Bu noktada iş biraz okura ve onun “background”una kalıyor. Cildin finalinde işler hareketlendi. Bakalım devam edeceğiz.
June 28, 2011
Issues 7-12 of Planetary really paid off for the patient reader. A lot of hints were dropped earlier about the past team members, Ambrose Chase and the mysterious Fourth Man. Those mysteries are revealed here. Along the way Ellis devotes an issue to the Vertigo books (with a character similar to John Constantine), an alien invasion, and a Nick Fury like character with nods to Jim Steranko on the cover. You can really see John Cassaday's artwork grow by leaps and bounds with each issue.
June 18, 2020
In light of allegations against Ellis as a sexual predator , am removing my review. I don't want new readers to accidentally get attached to work of a vile man.
We deserve better art from better humans 🖤
We deserve better art from better humans 🖤
October 31, 2018
Aquí baja un poquito la cosa, como unos milímetros, nada, para coger velocidad.
January 30, 2019
Planetary: The Fourth Man
Author: Warren Ellis, John Cassaday
Publisher: Wildstorm Productions / DC Comics
Publishing Date:2001
Edition/Volume: 2
Pgs: 144
Dewey: 741.5973 ELL
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
_________________________________________________
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The mystery around the Fourth Man plays out. Who is Planetary’s benefactor? A funeral for a friend, superhuman archaeology, and human guinea pigs. The Four are moving behind the scenes to dominate all aspects of human and non-human life on the planet. The hidden past reaches out for Elijah Snow and the Fourth Man, what will stay hidden? Who will know the true past? The true future? The true present?
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Comics
Graphic Novels
DC Comics
Wildstorm
Science Fiction
Superheroes
Why this book:
Stormwatch was always my favorite. I liked the Authority all right. But I largely missed Planetary, other than recogznizing that Elijah was an asshole.
_________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Jack Carter is so Constantine.
Least Favorite Character:
The Ross Perot-like guy leading the teams capturing the space capsule and sanctioning everything that moves. Not getting his. Part of the Four. Escaping to fight another day.
Favorite Scene / Quote/Concept:
Lots of homage characters throughout. In the graveyard scene specifically, I see Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Poison Ivy, Nightshade, and the Metal Men.
Love the 1980s Herod sent to take the potential first born and instead getting himself trapped in an invisible mime box on Greek Street where he is shown to still be trapped inside the box, skeletal. That’s cool...and vicious.
Hmm Moments:
Love the characterization of the 80s via exposition of Reagan and Thatcher.
Beautiful multiple Superman analogies here. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman too. A lot of Last Son of INSERT NAME OF PLANET HERE going on in these pages.
WTF Moments:
Brutal what Captain Leather and the Four’s henchmen do to the Superman baby analogue in his rocket ship. And the Blue Green Lantern. Woof.
Wisdom:
The scary thing about Science City: Zero is that if our government could have in the 1950s, they would have.
Juxtaposition:
Truth...I like Mindwiped Elijah Snow better than Knows Everything Bully Dickhead Elijah Snow.
The Unexpected:
Sending an interdimensional exploratory spaceship through to a fictional parallel world trying to bring something back to the “real”. That is a helluva 4th wall sentence. But, what could possibly go wrong.
_________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Love “the Planetary are coming” cliffhanger. It’s a cliffhanger without being a cliffhanger.
Author Assessment:
Love Ellis’s work. I’ll always read something by Warren Ellis.
_________________________________________________
Author: Warren Ellis, John Cassaday
Publisher: Wildstorm Productions / DC Comics
Publishing Date:2001
Edition/Volume: 2
Pgs: 144
Dewey: 741.5973 ELL
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
_________________________________________________
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The mystery around the Fourth Man plays out. Who is Planetary’s benefactor? A funeral for a friend, superhuman archaeology, and human guinea pigs. The Four are moving behind the scenes to dominate all aspects of human and non-human life on the planet. The hidden past reaches out for Elijah Snow and the Fourth Man, what will stay hidden? Who will know the true past? The true future? The true present?
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Comics
Graphic Novels
DC Comics
Wildstorm
Science Fiction
Superheroes
Why this book:
Stormwatch was always my favorite. I liked the Authority all right. But I largely missed Planetary, other than recogznizing that Elijah was an asshole.
_________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Jack Carter is so Constantine.
Least Favorite Character:
The Ross Perot-like guy leading the teams capturing the space capsule and sanctioning everything that moves. Not getting his. Part of the Four. Escaping to fight another day.
Favorite Scene / Quote/Concept:
Lots of homage characters throughout. In the graveyard scene specifically, I see Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Poison Ivy, Nightshade, and the Metal Men.
Love the 1980s Herod sent to take the potential first born and instead getting himself trapped in an invisible mime box on Greek Street where he is shown to still be trapped inside the box, skeletal. That’s cool...and vicious.
Hmm Moments:
Love the characterization of the 80s via exposition of Reagan and Thatcher.
Beautiful multiple Superman analogies here. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman too. A lot of Last Son of INSERT NAME OF PLANET HERE going on in these pages.
WTF Moments:
Brutal what Captain Leather and the Four’s henchmen do to the Superman baby analogue in his rocket ship. And the Blue Green Lantern. Woof.
Wisdom:
The scary thing about Science City: Zero is that if our government could have in the 1950s, they would have.
Juxtaposition:
Truth...I like Mindwiped Elijah Snow better than Knows Everything Bully Dickhead Elijah Snow.
The Unexpected:
Sending an interdimensional exploratory spaceship through to a fictional parallel world trying to bring something back to the “real”. That is a helluva 4th wall sentence. But, what could possibly go wrong.
_________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Love “the Planetary are coming” cliffhanger. It’s a cliffhanger without being a cliffhanger.
Author Assessment:
Love Ellis’s work. I’ll always read something by Warren Ellis.
_________________________________________________
June 7, 2018
It seems as if Planetary is growing on me. The last part of Vol 2 has gotten me real interested in this series. Thank goodness my digital library has the next two volumes. Not normal superheroes, more along the lines of Indiana Jones and X-Files merged together.
August 14, 2021
Kafa karıştırıcıydı ve bol göndermeli. Polisiye-bilimkurgu türünde sanırım ama hala emin değilim. :D
February 12, 2022
Pop-culture archaeology has rarely been this fun.
February 17, 2022
OK... It's admittedly far weirder than I was anticipating. And more... "unpredictable" too. At this point I expect about anything to happen I guess.
May 8, 2018
Planetary je hodně zajímavý komiks a je velká škoda, že BB art ukončil jeho vydávání přesně v půlce (tj. po dvou dílech). I když jejich ekonomické rozhodnutí chápu - všechno to, co se mi na téhle sérii líbí, jde proti komerčnímu úspěchu.
Co se mi na tom tak líbí? Jestliže jsem u prvního dílu byl trochu bezradný z epizodičnosti, tak po druhém díle musím říct, že jde o mozaikovitost, která slouží budování proudu příběhu. Důmyslného příbehu. Teprve teď se to začíná zvolna skládat dohromady a musel jsem si párkrát vzít k ruce první díl, aby mi některé věci doklaply - velmi dobře, to se mi moc často nestává.
Marnotratný gejzír fantazie. Vím, něco podobnýho jsem říkal u Ságy. Tady to platí také, jen to není říznutý obskurností a (kapitálními) nechutnostmi. Prostě stará dobrá fantazie pocházející z imaginace (pleonasmus?).
A postavy. Jakita Wagner: sexy mrcha (cold bitch), leader a badass. Elijah Snow: tajemství samo, amnézie a když na to přijde, nepříjemný a hustý týpek. A Bubeník: geek, který nasává informace z prostoru, jak Neo z Matrixu. Taková hodně netypická trojka. S netypickým způsobem práce. Palec nahoru!
Mluvit o grafice je nošením sov do Athén - profesionální americká klasika. Bezchybná.
Zbytek série asi dočtu v angličtině na Kindlu.
------------
Recenze Planetary 1 ★★★
Recenze Planetary 3 ★★★
Co se mi na tom tak líbí? Jestliže jsem u prvního dílu byl trochu bezradný z epizodičnosti, tak po druhém díle musím říct, že jde o mozaikovitost, která slouží budování proudu příběhu. Důmyslného příbehu. Teprve teď se to začíná zvolna skládat dohromady a musel jsem si párkrát vzít k ruce první díl, aby mi některé věci doklaply - velmi dobře, to se mi moc často nestává.
Marnotratný gejzír fantazie. Vím, něco podobnýho jsem říkal u Ságy. Tady to platí také, jen to není říznutý obskurností a (kapitálními) nechutnostmi. Prostě stará dobrá fantazie pocházející z imaginace (pleonasmus?).
A postavy. Jakita Wagner: sexy mrcha (cold bitch), leader a badass. Elijah Snow: tajemství samo, amnézie a když na to přijde, nepříjemný a hustý týpek. A Bubeník: geek, který nasává informace z prostoru, jak Neo z Matrixu. Taková hodně netypická trojka. S netypickým způsobem práce. Palec nahoru!
Mluvit o grafice je nošením sov do Athén - profesionální americká klasika. Bezchybná.
Zbytek série asi dočtu v angličtině na Kindlu.
------------
Recenze Planetary 1 ★★★
Recenze Planetary 3 ★★★
August 8, 2017
To the secret history of the world, this brings in several characters from DC Comics… and then does nothing with them. It imports pretty much the entire universe of John Constantine; who kills someone who looks a lot like Miracleman (on Moorcock Lane, which is probably the coolest bit in the book) and then disappears with all his entourage.
There’s a neat bit where some secret organization or other
1. creates fictional worlds
2. imports things and people from them
3. dies because the imported people go awry
4. profit???
Wonder Woman is brought in to be killed on her first trip from Paradise Island; the Green Lantern (sorry, Blue Lantern) is killed in some as-far-as-I-can-tell unspecified way, and Superman is killed in Dallas (or somewhere in Texas, maybe) as an infant as soon as his ship lands. None of this is spoiler, because it’s just introduced and dispensed with. Presumably it means something later, which would be great if something mattered to me right now as well.
There’s a neat bit where some secret organization or other
1. creates fictional worlds
2. imports things and people from them
3. dies because the imported people go awry
4. profit???
Wonder Woman is brought in to be killed on her first trip from Paradise Island; the Green Lantern (sorry, Blue Lantern) is killed in some as-far-as-I-can-tell unspecified way, and Superman is killed in Dallas (or somewhere in Texas, maybe) as an infant as soon as his ship lands. None of this is spoiler, because it’s just introduced and dispensed with. Presumably it means something later, which would be great if something mattered to me right now as well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 215 reviews