Planetary
Planetary is an American comic book series by comic author Warren Ellis and comic artist John Cassaday from the Wildstorm publishing house.
Planetary has been firmly integrated into the Wildstorm universe by author Warren Ellis . Since the series also takes place many times in the past, a great deal of sensitivity was required in order not to interfere with the continuity of the other series. There are always overlaps with other series, such as a crossover with The Authority . Their leader Jenny Sparks is directly or indirectly present several times in other parts of the series and other characters from the Wildstorm universe also appear - mostly indirectly. One could even use the agents of the Planetary as observers, as documentarists of the activities of the other super creatures in the wild storm- Describe the universe. However, they generally stay in the background while the other characters act.
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But Planetary doesn't just follow an extraordinary concept in terms of content . As a kind of mystery series within the superhero genre, the Planetary is something like an archaeologist / detective / task force organization, the protagonists of which are the focus of each issue or sometimes rather on the edge of rather short stories similar to the TV series The X-Files - The FBI's Creepy Cases Put the jigsaw puzzle together for a whole. The creators of the comic series deliberately cite or imitate various motifs or characters from fantastic literature and film history in each issue. The individual stories also contain variations of comic characters from the major publishers DC Comics and Marvel (such as JLA or the Fantastischen Vier ), a story takes place on the island of Japanese cult monster films such as Godzilla , and there are references the works of Jules Verne , typical US horror / SciFi films of the 50s or the cinema classic 2001 and others. The title page motif of the respective issue, which varies greatly from issue to issue, is based on the content and its influences.
The Planetary
“This is Planetary: Three people walk the earth looking for oddities and wonders. They bring things to light that would have been better left undiscovered. They are archaeologists of the impossible who dig out the deepest core of the earth and map the most secret borders of a fantastic world. This is Planetary. "
This is how the author Warren Ellis himself describes it in the introduction that precedes each issue.
Elijah Snow founds the Planetary as a documenter of strange events, as a chronicler of the Sense of Wonder . The organization has unlimited financial resources. The field team travels all over the world and is supported by permanent teams all over the world - who are often on their own for years. Most of the time, the planetary just observes , documents and collects information, but sometimes the organization intervenes actively.
The protagonists
- Elijah Snow
- Elijah Snow is the “Fourth Man,” the one who founded Planetary and is responsible for funding it, with what appears to be an unlimited fortune. He is a very special person. Born on January 1st, 1900 , he belongs to a group of superhuman beings who - all born on January 1st, 1900 - represent a kind of immune system of the world. Most of these people act in the background, only rarely - as in the case of Authority founder Jenny Sparks, these people emerge and become conscious of the world. Elijah Snow's ability is to influence the temperature of his surroundings. He can be found as an agent, adventurer and researcher at many hotspots in 20th century history. However, on incidents that normal mortals rarely notice. As a final teenager, he apprenticed to Sherlock Holmes for five years - until his death . He is inspired by being a detective and exploring miracles. In 1925 he begins to write an annual book about what happened to him: The Planetary Guide . This book becomes a kind of guide for the underground super creatures. By founding the Planetary , Snow created a basis for his further work.
- For the first time, however, the reader meets him in 1999 in a fast food shop somewhere in the American desert. There he meets Jakita Wagner, who heads the Planetary field team . She asks Snow - who can no longer remember the Planetary at the time and otherwise has immense memory gaps - to become the third man in the Planetary's field team . Snow accepts. As a condition, he demands that all reports about him be removed from all archives in the world. Snow quickly realizes that not everything is going well and that his two team-mates are keeping information from him. Who is the financier of the Planetary ? Who is the ominous fourth man?
- Snow likes to dress in white, expensive designer suits. His hair is white and his eyes look like shards of ice.
- Jakita Wagner
- Jakita Wagner gives the impression that she is in her mid to late twenties. However, she was born in 1934 as the daughter of Kevin Sack , the Lord of Blackstock and Anaykah , a member of the Opak-re , a mysterious African people. Since a connection between the opaque and whites is forbidden, Elijah Snow must rescue the infant from the jungle. He brings her to the German Wagner family, who give her the name Jakita . Snow becomes their sponsor and a kind of second father.
- Jakita grows up and develops superhuman abilities, which is not surprising with her parents, after all, her father is one of the supermen born on January 1st, 1900. It is very fast, reaching speeds of up to 80 km / h. She also has extremely keen senses. She prefers to dress in black, tight leather costumes that are strongly reminiscent of Catwoman and Emma Peel . She wears her hair in the shape of a Louise Brooks bobsleigh. She detests boredom and is happy when she can kick someone in the ass. When Snow joins the team (again), she first leads it.
- The drummer
- The drummer ( "first name of , surname Drummer ") is early 20s, the youngest member of the team. He is responsible for obtaining information. His ability to communicate with computers and technology of all kinds helps him to do this. You could say that technology speaks to and to him. Unlike his team members, the drummer does not rush into every battle. He mostly acts from the background and is a rather calm guy. His constant companions are two drum sticks . He's been with the Planetary since he was 15 . It certainly has its secrets too, but they have not yet been revealed.
- Warren Ellis describes his style like this: “His taste in fashion is totally pissed off. Ewan McGregor in a superhero book. "
- Ambrose Chase
- He is the "missing" member of the group (to make the four people complete) and died under circumstances that were not mentioned before.
The history
Book 1: To the end of the world
It all starts with Jakita Wagner and Elija Snow meeting in 1998 in a diner in the middle of the desert. Snow has stayed here for the past few years. He can no longer remember many incidents from his past. Wagner makes him the offer to work for a secret organization, the Planetary . He will receive a million dollars a year for the rest of his life, no matter how long he works for the organization. Snow accepts, but primarily because he is assured that all references to his person in all archives and databases of the world - including the secret ones - will be erased.
After the somewhat shabby Snow has been turned into a decent person, he meets the third man on the team at the headquarters of the organization (Snow: Drummer? Are we using code names here? What's your name, boy? - Drummer: The drummer. First name Der, Surname drummer ). The first job can be done without much preparation. In the Adirondacks , an apparently man-made cavity was discovered in a mountain range during exploration work, but access to which cannot be found. The team finds access. It turns out this was the headquarters of a secret society of superman from the 1940s . To the surprise of the team, they find the leader of this association, Doctor Axel Brass, still alive. He tells them that he has been waiting for rescue here since 1945 .
He tells them about their last meeting, which took place here in January 1945. They have been using computer technology since 1940 . However, they have now developed a possible new technology in which a quantum computer was created that can compute simultaneously, not serially as in the previous binary technology. This then created quantum brain could include all possible realities in its calculations. When the computer is switched on, a kind of virtual image of reality is created: a snowflake in 196.833-dimensional space. Each of the elements there rotates and with each rotation new worlds are created and disappear in rapid succession. It is the multiverse. Saving the world would be a trifle now. But they didn't consider one thing: In the created parallel worlds there is also life. And from one of these earths, which is on the verge of extinction, they are attacked by super beings. You can fend off the attack with the last of your strength, and everyone except Brass dies.
Brass is moved to a Planetary hospital and the organization now has the computers and new knowledge.
Remarks
The author of the maxi series, which was originally made up of 25 issues, is the British Warren Ellis. He supplements his previous work in the Wildstorm universe StormWatch and The Authority with a completely different kind of story. John Cassaday is responsible for the drawings and inking , who immediately accepted the offer to draw Planetary, as he was looking for exactly such a project. Most books are from the main colourist of Wildstorm -Verlagen, Laura Depuy colored.
The German licensed edition of the US-American magazines was published up to number 21 by comic publisher m / g publishing . However, this became insolvent in 2005 . Neither the successor publisher Infinity Paperwerk nor the comic publisher Infinity (publisher) , which originally wanted to continue the series, received the license to continue the series in Germany, since the parent publisher of Wildstorm , DC Comics , in Germany only issued licenses to the major publishers Panini , Ehapa or Carlsen forgives. By the end of m / g publishing , the first 21 issues and a crossover with The Authority had been published. Christian Langhagen's translation met with positive reactions . How things will go on with Planetary in Germany has long been questionable. Panini finally published the missing issues # 22-27 in one volume in 2011 on the occasion of the Comic Action in Essen.
A very important stylistic device and distinguishing feature of the series are the covers of the comics. In contrast to the usual practice, each cover is designed individually. If a booklet is played in Japan , a manga-like style is used , if a booklet is played in Australia , the booklet is reminiscent of Aboriginal art , if a booklet is played in Hong Kong , the cover motif is reminiscent of a poster for a Hong Kong film. Not only is the cover motif adapted, the lettering is also variable and never the same. Sometimes they do without it completely. The recognition effect of this series should be that the covers are so individual that they are automatically assigned to Planetary .
