Planetary is an American comic book series created by Warren Ellis (writer) and John Cassaday (artist), published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. Planetary also refers to the group portrayed in the series. WildStorm WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, is an American publisher of comic books. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... Warren Ellis (born February 16, 1968) is a British author of comic books and graphic novels, well known for his acerbic personality and sociocultural commentaries, both through his online presence and his writing. ... John Cassaday is a comic book artist, best known for his work on Planetary with Warren Ellis, and Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Warren Ellis (born February 16, 1968) is a British author of comic books and graphic novels, well known for his acerbic personality and sociocultural commentaries, both through his online presence and his writing. ... John Cassaday is a comic book artist, best known for his work on Planetary with Warren Ellis, and Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon. ... WildStorm WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, is an American publisher of comic books. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ...

Planetary was previewed in the September 1998 issues of Gen¹³ (#33) and C-23 (#6), and issue #1 was cover-dated April 1999. It was originally intended to be a 24-issue bi-monthly series. However due to illness (Ellis) and other commitments (Cassaday), the series was put on hiatus between 2001 and 2003; it has since restarted and Ellis has announced that it will conclude with issue #27. Gen¹³ is a fictional superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. ... The Short 330 was a small transport aircraft created by Short Brothers. ...

Laura Martin has colored almost every issue of the series. Laura DePuy Martin is an artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry. ... A colorist is an artist who colors comic art reading it for production as a comic book. ...

The premise

Planetary are an organization billing themselves as "Archaeologists of the Impossible", tracking down the world's secret history. Funded by the mysterious Fourth Man, who it is said could be anyone from Bill Gates to Adolf Hitler, the field team consists of three superhumans: Jakita Wagner, who is strong, fast and nearly invulnerable; The Drummer, who can detect and manipulate nearby information streams; and the new recruit Elijah Snow, who can deep-freeze nearby substances at will. An organization or organisation (read more about -ize vs -ise) is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. ... A secret history (or shadow history) is a version of history that is at odds with commonly accepted historical events and which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed or forgotten. ... This article is about the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. ... Hitler redirects here. ... A superhuman is an entity with intelligence or abilities exceeding normal human standards. ... Jakita Wagner is a fictional character in the comic book series, Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. ... The Drummer is a fictional character from the comic book Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. ... Elijah Snow is a fictional character from the comic book, Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. ...

The series is set in the Wildstorm Universe, along with other titles such as Stormwatch, The Authority, DV8 and Gen¹³. For instance, Snow was born on January 1, 1900, as was Jenny Sparks of The Authority, and the two know each other. Despite this, Planetary rarely crosses over with other Wildstorm series, although references are made to characters in other series, such as Henry Bendix from StormWatch. Stormwatch is a comic book created by Jim Lee and published by Wildstorm. ... The Authority is a superhero comic book. ... DV8 is a comic book published by Wildstorm. ... Gen¹³ is a fictional superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... Jenny Sparks, also known as The Spirit of the 20th century, is a fictional character in the Wildstorm comic book universe created by Warren Ellis during his 1997 revamp of the dwindling Stormwatch series. ... The Authority is a superhero comic book. ...

Planetary's field team travels the world investigating strange phenomena: monsters and other beings, unusual relics, other superhumans, and powerful secrets which certain individuals are trying to keep hidden from the rest of the world. Their purpose in doing this is partly curiosity, and partly to use what they learn for the betterment of mankind. There are, however, groups who oppose their goals, and the organization has a substantial history which is gradually revealed during the series. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A relic is an object, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of someone of religious significance, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial, Relics are an important aspect of Buddhism, some denominations of Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, and many other personal belief systems. ...

The series

Ellis has always intended the focus of the book to be the genre of superhero comics, rather than the superheroes themselves. "I wanted to do something that actually went deeper into the sub-genre, exposed it's roots and showed it's branches."^[1] One of the series' main hooks is that it portrays alternate versions of many well-known (and obscure) figures from popular culture. At various times we are shown versions, and in some instances multiple versions of major company characters such as; John Constantine^[2]; Superman; Captain Marvel^[3]; Wonder Woman; Green Lantern; Nick Fury; the Justice League; the Fantastic Four^[4]; and the Hulk. Ellis has also reached beyond the genre, noting it is "about the superhero sub-genre, and it's antecedents"^[1], and as such has also created pastiche characters based upon Godzilla, Sherlock Holmes^[5], Doc Savage^[6] Ellis also references the modern League of Extraordinary Gentlemen^[7], Japanese monster movies^[8], 1950s horror/science fiction movies^[9], Hong Kong action movies^[10] and more. This provides a rich backdrop for the ongoing story, and is similar to Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton family. Popular culture, or pop culture, (literally: the culture of the people) consists of the cultural elements that prevail (at least numerically) in any given society, mainly using the more popular media, in that societys vernacular language and/or an established lingua franca. ... John Constantine (born May 10, 1953 in Liverpool, England) is the fictional protagonist of the comic series Hellblazer. ... Superman is a fictional character and one of the most famous and popular comic book superheroes of all time. ... Captain Marvel is a comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics. ... Wonder Woman is a fictional DC Comics superheroine co-created by William Moulton Marston and wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston. ... Cover to Green Lantern: Rebirth #6, art by Ethan Van Sciver. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ultimate Nick Fury. ... The Justice League, sometimes called the Justice League of America or JLA for short, is a fictional DC Universe superhero team. ... The Fantastic Four is Marvel Comics flagship comic book superhero team, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuting in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Godzilla, as portrayed during his latest film from the Millennium series. ... Sherlock Holmes as imagined by the seminal Holmesian artist, Sidney Paget, in The Strand magazine. ... Doc Savage is a fictional character, one of the most enduring pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. ... Philip José Farmer (born January 26, 1918) is an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. ... The Wold Newton family is a literary concept derived from a form of crossover fiction developed by the science fiction writer Philip José Farmer. ...

Typically, the public domain characters such as Holmes appear as themselves, while those still under copyright appear in altered but recognizably similar form. In some regards the series is thus similar to the series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin ONeill, published under the Americas Best Comics imprint of DC Comics. ...

The idea of the series is to create a concise world in which archetypes of superheroes, pulp fiction heroes, science fiction heroes, and characters from just about every possible mass media format, live in one large universe while the Planetary team investigates them and ties together the ends. As Warren Ellis wrote in his proposal for the comic series: "[W]hat if you had a hundred years of superhero history just slowly leaking out into this young and modern superhero world of the Wildstorm Universe? What if you could take everything old and make it new again?"^[11] An archetype is a generic, idealized model of a person, object or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned or emulated. ... Batman and Superman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). ...

The comic relies heavily on Cassaday's distinctive artwork, featuring a variety of styles of covers (with no consistent logo or layout) and interior art, often paying homage to the respective sources from which each issue's characters and concepts are drawn from. Rich Kreiner has described Cassady's artwork in The Comics Journal as being "close to the gold standard for fabulous realism in mainstream comics"^[12], and Cassady's ability to interpret Ellis' scripts adds to the books appeal, his command of the visual language helping drive the narrative. The book is colored by Laura Dupuy, Tom Underhill noting her contribution as "every bit as compelling" as Cassady's in his review for The Comics Journal^[13]. The mysteries Ellis sets up are what ultimately drive the book, as the characters' relationships, their histories, and the identity of the Fourth Man^[14] are gradually revealed. . This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Layout, in publishing, is the process of arranging editorial content, advertising, graphics and other information in a manner that creates an effective presentation. ... For a description of the medieval homage ceremony see commendation ceremony Homage is generally used in modern English to mean any public show of respect to someone to whom you feel indebted. ... The Comics Journal is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books and strips. ... The Comics Journal is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books and strips. ...

Ellis has also drawn on scientific sources for inspiration within the series. Ellis introduced the concept of a Multiverse to the shared universe in which the characters appear, drawing upon the mathematical concept known as the Monster group for inspiration^[15]. Hark describes the multiverse as "a theoretical snowflake existing in 196,833 dimensional space." ^[16], a reference to the visualisation method used by some mathematicians when describing the Monster group^[17] A multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes (including our universe) that together comprise all of physical reality. ... In mathematics, the Monster group M is a group of order    246 · 320 · 59 · 76 · 112 · 133 · 17 · 19 · 23 · 29 · 31 · 41 · 47 · 59 · 71 = 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000 ≈ 8 · 1053. ...

Bibliography

Series

• Gen¹³ #33 and C-23 #6 (preview - same story included in each issue)
• Planetary #1-26

Gen¹³ is a fictional superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. ... The Short 330 was a small transport aircraft created by Short Brothers. ...

One-shots

• Planetary/The Authority: Ruling the World: Standalone story featuring the two Wildstorm teams in a plot tangentially related to an element in the first issue of Planetary. Includes references to the stories of H. P. Lovecraft, and features Lovecraft himself as a character. Art by Phil Jimenez
• Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth: Standalone story featuring alternate renditions of Batman in what is otherwise a straightforward Planetary tale. Art by John Cassaday
• Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta: Standalone Elseworlds story featuring an alternate version of the JLA - Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman - facing an alternate incarnation of Planetary that acts in much the same way the Four do in the regular Planetary series. Completely detached from the main Planetary storyline. Art by Jerry Ordway

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ... Cover to DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still sometimes as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... John Cassaday is a comic book artist, best known for his work on Planetary with Warren Ellis, and Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon. ... Elseworlds logo. ... The Justice League, sometimes called the Justice League of America or JLA for short, is a fictional DC Universe superhero team. ... The Four are a group of fictional supervillains from the comic book Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. ... The covers of both the hardcover and the softcover versions of the Power of Shazam! graphic novel by Ordway. ...

Collections

• All Over the World and Other Stories (collects preview & #1-6; hardcover and softcover ISBN 1-56389-648-6)
• The Fourth Man (collects #7-12; hardcover and softcover ISBN 1-56389-764-4)
• Leaving the Twentieth Century (collects #13-18; hardcover ISBN 1-4012-0293-4 and softcover ISBN 1-4012-0294-2)
• Planetary: Crossing Worlds (collects the three crossover one-shots above; softcover only ISBN 1-4012-0279-9)
• Absolute Planetary (collects preview & #1-12, also script to #1; Slipcased hardcover ISBN 1-4012-0327-2)

DC Comics Absolue Editions are a series of archival quality printings of graphic novels published by DC Comics and Wildstorm Productions. ...

Notes and references

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... // Monsterland Monsterland (Destroy All Monsters, 1968) Monsterland was introduced in the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters. ... Kaijū (怪獣) is a Japanese term that generically translates to monster. ... Godzilla, as portrayed during his latest film from the Millennium series. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... Warren Ellis (born February 16, 1968) is a British author of comic books and graphic novels, well known for his acerbic personality and sociocultural commentaries, both through his online presence and his writing. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... ISSN, or International Standard Serial Number, is the unique eight-digit number applied to a periodical publication including electronic serials. ... ISSN, or International Standard Serial Number, is the unique eight-digit number applied to a periodical publication including electronic serials. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... Warren Ellis (born February 16, 1968) is a British author of comic books and graphic novels, well known for his acerbic personality and sociocultural commentaries, both through his online presence and his writing. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... Snowflakes by Wilson Bentley, 1902 A snowflake is an aggregate of ice crystals that forms while falling in and below a cloud. ... The symmetry group of an object (e. ...

External links

• Official Planetary at Wildstorm Comics includes downloadable 1st issue.
• Planetary Comic Appreciation Page
• The Planetary Timeline - Events in Warren Ellis and John Cassady's PLANETARY