The Planetary Omnibus

The Planetary Omnibus by Warren Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Elijah Snow is recruited for Planetary, a secret group of archaeologists uncovering the secret history of the 20th century. But who is the mysterious Fourth Man of Planetary? And why are there gaps in Snow's memory?

I read the first few issues of Planetary in singles as they were published. Frankly, I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have, probably because I didn't get a lot of the references. Now, almost twenty years later, I'm reading the big honkin' omnibus I've had in my possession for at least a couple years.

Planetary is both a love letter to comics and an examination of what super beings with access to advanced technology would do in the real world. Why isn't Reed Richards using his knowledge to change the world? Maybe he is and you're just not aware of it. There's a conspiracy behind everything and the super humans are pulling the strings. That's the core premise of Planetary, as I see it as of the 35% mark. There might be changes farther down in the review since I'm cobbling this one as I go. There's a lot of shit to keep track of in almost 900 pages.

Planetary takes place in the Wildstorm Universe, so The Bleed is prominently featured. Stormwatch is mentioned but I think that's pretty much it. Planetary is largely its own animal, a tangled web of conspiracies going back a hundred years.

There are analogues and homages galore, starting with the first issue. Planetary finds a secret cavern in the Aidirondack mountains with Doc Brass, a Doc Savage analogue, inside. Brass is crippled and has been awake for over 50 years, watching the gate some of his mystery man companions created in the 40s. Brass is straight out of the Bama cover Doc Savage books, complete with widow's peaked hair resembling a skull cap.

From there, Planetary keep digging and Snow keeps getting more and more suspicious. I noticed references to all sorts of characters: Fu Manchu, The Shadow, Tarzan, the Fantastic Four, Constantine, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman, Nick Fury, and the Hulk, and that was just in the first third of the book. Sherlock Holmes, Captain Nemo, Carnacki, and others were also in attendance. I'd read an annotated version of Planetary just to see all the references I'm missing. The Planetary has things in common with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton universe, and the X-Files.

Many of the issues were self-contained, a rarity in this day and age. Then again, the series did start almost 20 years ago. There's some decompression but nothing like today. John Cassady's art is decent but nothing I'd compose a sonnet about. Ellis' writing shows a love for comics and their progenitors, the pulps, but also an exasperation that super beings would spend so much time punching each other instead of fixing the world. The weirdness level is high but it's a coherent weirdness, more or less.

As Snow gets closer and closer to going up against the Four, things pick up and I had to restrain myself from going into seclusion to devour it. When the Arthur C. Clarke by way of Jack Kirby event happened, it was agony to put the book down. The sheer scope of Planetary is impressive. The truth behind the Four makes me think twice about Mister Fantastic's intentions that fateful day.

The ending was good, though a little anticlimactic. Also, I didn't know a fourth of the book was going to be crossovers outside of the main Planetary tale. Fortunately, the crossovers were very well done. Planetary teams with The Authority, meets versions of Batman from across the multiverse, and a future version of The Planetary go up against the Planetary earth versions of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Honestly, my only gripe with the crossovers is that they weren't placed chronologically in the book.

And now that I've finished this kitten squisher of a tome, I've got a Planetary-shaped void in my life. Planetary takes some over the top concepts common to comics, ratchets them up, and places them in the background of a slow-burning detective story. There's not much else like it out there. I'm glad I have this massive version of it so I can read it again in years to come. 4.5 out of 5 stars.


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