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Underground > Comic Books >

Planetary - The Secret History

  
  

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Jawsus and baby jawsus
15:52 / 12.03.06
why does Snow need to be introduced to Ambrose Chase's wife in issue 15? Didn't Snow raise Chase? Maybe the original Snow was killed by the four, not simply mind-fucked. Maybe this Snow is a fictional Snow?
 
 
the credible hulk
22:49 / 12.03.06
Man, Snow raised the Drummer, not Ambrose. We know very little about Ambrose Chase's past aside from the fact that his father was experimented on at City Zero.

I don't think we have a fictional snow, although the idea is kind of fun. I think the depth of the Four's mindgame has yet to be seen. Clearly, if they're going to muck around in his head, they'll likely do more than obscure a few memories.
 
 
Jawsus and baby jawsus
15:49 / 13.03.06
But in Planet Fiction the Chase flashbacks show the fourth man telling Ambrose about the Planetary mission when he's just a kid. So i figured that Snow must have had something to do with his upbringing.
 
 
Deculture Decedent
21:05 / 13.03.06
Actually(from memory), we don't know that it's The Fourth Man telling Ambrose stuff when he's a kid, simply because it's from the individual's PoV. We later get a similar PoV shot from TFM's eyeballs, but, really, if two people are roughly the same height (and probably sitting), how different is a photorealist portrayal of PoV One from PoV Two?
 
 
the credible hulk
21:35 / 13.03.06
There's a couple of possibilities.

Snow may have just financed his upbringing, and been a very minor presence in Ambrose's life. Paid for whatever kind of childhood a kid with reality-altering superpowers requires.

OR, Ambrose may have married and had a child after Snow was re-programmed by the Four. His daughter DOES look like she could be 4 or 5 years old.
 
 
Jawsus and baby jawsus
23:17 / 13.03.06
Ambrose may have married and had a child after Snow was re-programmed by the Four. His daughter DOES look like she could be 4 or 5 years old.

very good point. the daughter is revealed in issue 9 as well - the whole this is my daughter world thing? I originally thought of this stuff as a kind of "life flashing before my eyes" thing, like these are the thing that ambrose would be thinking of as he dies.

thinking about the whole fictional snow thing, i dunno, looking back through the issue, it doesn't seem to tie in with that idea. The way the research crew etc are killed doesn't make sense in terms of snow's powers.

But I do like the idea that this snow isn't the real snow - it ties in with Jakita continually saying "I don't know him/he's changed/i don't know him and he's changed" over and over. And I like the idea of the Planetary team playing within the rules set out by The Four - don't try and find him*.

Also, in issue 9, the conversation with the fictional being asking why he's been brought to this world etc. Must have more meaning than we believe.

*but, we didn't try and find that Snow, we found this snow.
 
 
Deculture Decedent
06:46 / 28.03.06
So, the very soon to be released twenty-fifth issue is the culmination, and the half-year later twenty-six is coda, right? Any possibility to twenty-six being a mega-reveal that recontextualizes the series, or has this been rolling along for enough time to gather it's own nostalgia,already, and we need a catch-up-with-the-cast oneshot?

I'd really forgotten how quickly even the early issues zipped by, but somehow I think either the last two issues have been way too subtle in their extrapolations of genre for me, I'm absolutely missing something, or they really aren't as pure, as say, the fifties monster movie issue, which was witty and chilling and kinda sad and cute, while functioning as an autopsy of the tropes, habits, and underlying psychology of the genre.

Will it all make sense, or will issue twenty-five be the Burroughs/Acker/Delany examination, filled with cut/ups and infotainment dumps and a grim, dry, oddity at the edge?

This is the work that's going to basically end Warren Ellis' habitual Modernism tactics, isn't it? How can this end without getting even a wee bit meta? How can the cosmogony of the snowflake/flower not culminate it's already tentatively, precariously metatextual strains, into a complete decimation of the narrative hologram?

How annoying will it be if Ambrose isn't saved? This is a longform project beyond its time, with folks hanging on for dear life, and were I Ellis, I don't know that I couldn't resist just mass-slaughter and finheaded grimrapery followed by the end of 'The Prisoner' starring a superdeformed cast worshipping BARBELiTH and love Love LOVE!

How can I criticize 'Infinite Crisis' and buy/support this series? Wait, even "The Torture of William Leather' had something to say, and contained itself, unlike the magickal return of Barry, which doesn't seem to be an examination or conversation about anything other than how Barry Allen can only be cool for six panels at a time.

Will the last issue of Planetary be better if it's just a literary analysis in prose, with spot illustrations, and Laura Martin dobbing brilliant colors over the whole page, in some sort of 'Promethea' tribute, but without actually making the colors form any representational pictures?
 
 
ALL KINDS OF DEAD TREES
(prev. Papers regarding Tlön & Uqbar)
07:26 / 28.03.06
Daytripper: Any possibility to twenty-six being a mega-reveal that recontextualizes the series, or has this been rolling along for enough time to gather it's own nostalgia,already, and we need a catch-up-with-the-cast oneshot?

I fell in love, a little, with this sentence and this whole image of a grainy, Seventies variety hour-style "Catch-up-with-the-Cast" retrospective, or one of those Entertainment Tonight behind the screen hours...Jakita in a candid interview discussing how much she hated having to listen to the Drummer's "midnight manipulations" of common, household appliances and also how difficult Snow was to work with...

I'd really forgotten how quickly even the early issues zipped by, but somehow I think either the last two issues have been way too subtle in their extrapolations of genre for me, I'm absolutely missing something, or they really aren't as pure, as say, the fifties monster movie issue, which was witty and chilling and kinda sad and cute, while functioning as an autopsy of the tropes, habits, and underlying psychology of the genre.

The flaw of the narrative is that as he's developed this over-arching plotline about Snow's bone to pick with the Four, he's had to lose some of the "modular"-type storytelling and genre-specific issues; it's still there for some of the more recent ones, like the origin of the Drummer's action movie flair, but I don't think I could even begin to describe the latest one beyond, maybe all those scenes in Poirot where the detective gathers the cast together to diagram the mystery for them...

Will it all make sense, or will issue twenty-five be the Burroughs/Acker/Delany examination, filled with cut/ups and infotainment dumps and a grim, dry, oddity at the edge?

Makes me want to pick up Pussy again, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is what we end up seeing on Wednesday.

How annoying will it be if Ambrose isn't saved? This is a longform project beyond its time, with folks hanging on for dear life, and were I Ellis, I don't know that I couldn't resist just mass-slaughter and finheaded grimrapery followed by the end of 'The Prisoner' starring a superdeformed cast worshipping BARBELiTH and love Love LOVE!

I dunno - his Bad Signal posting this morning was on about depictions of the apocalypse and how touchy-feely it's gotten in comics of late (he mentions Promethea and The Invisibles) and how he doesn't really believe in that perspective on it, so this might be a pretty grim ending. Only he is prone to posturing while giving us more of the love-in from some perspective...and Planetary always seems like a special case. Sure it's got all his stylistics tics, but it's far less ultraviolent and faux-hardcore in tone...might be LOVE LOVE LOVE...

How can I criticize 'Infinite Crisis' and buy/support this series?

Because 8C is a company-wide flail-fest that demands you buy sixteen comics a week just to keep track of what's going on? Planetary is a slow burn, but it's a self-contained one.
 
 
Mario
12:21 / 28.03.06
Here's what scares me. The series has taken so long to complete, the Ellis that is writing now is drastically different from the one that started the series. I could easily see him (now) screwing up the characters royally, simply because he can't _stand_ them anymore.
 
 
Keith, like a scientist
16:04 / 28.03.06
Looks like #25 will next week, according to Diamond.
 
 
ALL KINDS OF DEAD TREES
(prev. Papers regarding Tlön & Uqbar)
21:38 / 05.04.06
You know, before I read #25, I was feeling like I wanted there to be more John Stone and Melanctha in the world...

...spoilers...

































Well! So action off the bat at the Last Shot, with Jakita proving to be a bad-ass and the secret colours of John Stone are revealed; beaten down as much as Snow was, by the Four. At least Snow brought himself back up. Followed by...the secret origin of the Four, and the true nature of Randall Dowling, who reminds me of the fictional man brought back and never seen again, as well as Weapon ... um ...12? I couldn't keep track, the Huntsman. The cover was a delight & Cassady's art continues to be a beauty. As usual, it felt like it was too quick of a read, but that might have something to do with the Wildstorm habit of putting all the ads at the end.

The alter-Earth Superentities seem to be, well, I'd say they're the Celestials, right? With a bit of the random mutation of the Inhuman terrigenesis. Apparently they're coming to consume us or rule over us or whatever. Suskind comes off as a lot...sweeter and more tentative in the origin sequence, very much a Sue Storm about to be corrupted utterly by her Reed Richards. Leather gets no dialogue whatsoever, which seemed odd to me.

Yes, we get to have some information about what exactly Dowling does, super-wise; a natural extension of Mister Fantastic in some ways, and reminds me of the ending to Fantastic Four: 1234 with Red's stretching brain structures and super-consciousness.

Other than that, we get a better shot of the blitzen suit in action and the Drummer is exquisitely cute. I want one.
 
 
Mario
21:56 / 05.04.06
The suit or the Drummer?
 
 
Aertho
05:41 / 06.04.06
"His mind stretches out."

Well that's the weird smell Dowling emits. Brain particles.
 
 
Aertho
05:42 / 06.04.06
And was Stone saying he was a Century Baby as well, or that his aging was retarded as his bargain with the Four?
 
 
ALL KINDS OF DEAD TREES
(prev. Papers regarding Tlön & Uqbar)
07:50 / 06.04.06
Mario: The suit or the Drummer?

Drums. I like the idea of the suit, but the false fingernail creeps me the %^(* out.
 
 
Kheromondius, god of famine
07:53 / 06.04.06
Cassandra it's the latter.
 
 
Mark Parsons
07:55 / 06.04.06
is 26 really the end? i thought 26 was, with 27 as an epilogue to be published much later in the year. Anybody on this wavelength or am I going dotty?
 
 
THOR!
12:51 / 06.04.06
that's what i thought was the running-order too. in fact, i thought 27 was meant to be out by july, but this being planetary that's probably july 07.

(not read this yet, have avoided all the spoilers but i did catch the bit that said 'action', which gives me high hopes for saturday)
 
 
Mario
14:43 / 06.04.06
At least this'll finally shut up the "Stone is Jimmy from Brass's crew!" crowd. But it begs the question... if Dowling is in Snow's head, how come Snow managed to surprise him?
 
 
Bots'wana Beast
17:05 / 06.04.06
The alter-Earth Superentities seem to be, well, I'd say they're the Celestials, right?

If you want to stick to Marvel analogues, that's prolly the best bet. However, I'd go Kirby and say it's Apokolips + evil New Gods.
 
 
Mr Tricks
20:18 / 06.04.06
I'll second the New Gods bit. Particularly after a glance of the Planet. They contacted Apokolips. And Dowling as Quimper?

Plus Hellboy's hand.
 
 
Aertho
20:36 / 06.04.06
Well to further the argument, everytime Wildstormers interact with the Bleed, they encounter DC analogs. JLA in Planetary 1, The High's JSA team, I'm trying to think of other instances, but there's that annual... If Wildstorm itself is a "Marvel" universe, and is constantly being invaded by "DC" universes...
 
 
Bots'wana Beast
20:39 / 06.04.06
Hmm, I like your thinking here, C(h)ass(ad). Must sit and consider.
 
 
Aertho
21:09 / 06.04.06
Plus, there's the whole Marvel notion of exploiting possible realities and multiverses, and DC's history of being uncomfortable with that -leading to a Crisis. Did Dowling guarantee a Crisis-like invasion for 2011?
 
 
ALL KINDS OF DEAD TREES
(prev. Papers regarding Tlön & Uqbar)
22:56 / 06.04.06
Okay, so if we assume for the moment that the extradimensional super-Earthers are the evil Gods of Apokolips, who wants to bet that Snow tries to make contact with some sort of positive equivalent?
 
 
Aertho
23:43 / 06.04.06
I'm thinking there are no Good Guys in Wildstorm's Apokolips. Just as there's no Good Guys in Wildstorm Proper. If If If this is really a commentary on DC vs Marvel, I'd say salvation lies with an unknown quantity: Wildstorm's "X-Men". Has there been any mention of analogs yet? Or was that the Stormwatch series?

Nevermind. Void = Phoenix
 
 
Deculture Decedent
05:44 / 07.04.06
That's not Hellboy's hand, but the Satan Claw of Fury-villain Baron von Strucker, innit?
 
 
Aertho
06:05 / 07.04.06
And the Spectre's hand in that hexagon jumpgate.
 
 
Jack Denfeld
09:45 / 07.04.06
Maybe it was a throwback to the Yellow Claw? I mention this because after failing as a Kirby comic, Yellow Claw was brought back in the Steranko Nick Fury series. Info here.
Yellow Claw
 
 
alexsheers
10:34 / 07.04.06
...everytime Wildstormers interact with the Bleed, they encounter DC analogs...

That's not strictly true - the Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern analogs encountered in #10 all existed within the Wildstorm Universe and independently of any Bleed activity, albeit either on other planets or invisible islands.

That's not Hellboy's hand, but the Satan Claw of Fury-villain Baron von Strucker, innit?

I initially thought the Steel Claw, but Stone's "Devil's Paw" is bright red and it strengthens the S.H.I.E.L.D. analogy, so I'd say that was it.

God, I love Planetary.
 
 
alexsheers
10:43 / 07.04.06
...who wants to bet that Snow tries to make contact with some sort of positive equivalent?

I can't help thinking that James Wilder now has something of the New God about him, his abilities and contacts are shrouded in mystery, and his and Anna Hark's thread is still a-danglin'.

Having said that, dangling plot threads are consistent in Planetary, and Ellis is on record as saying that not all of them will be picked up again in the course of the series.
 
 
neuepunk
17:37 / 07.04.06
I really doubt this is the angle Ellis is taking, but what if Ambrose stepped through the Bleed instead of dying and acquiring him is part of the Four's endgame?
 
 
Mario
17:40 / 07.04.06
Here's a thought...

We know #27 is some sort of epilogue, right? What if it takes place in 2011?
 
 
Deculture Decedent
19:09 / 07.04.06
Was anyone else suckered into not seeing the save-in-progress for what it was? We've been told, a few times, that Snow's gig is saving... and I still smiled like an idiot at about mid-point... especially when the title-connection hit. 'In from the Cold' indeed.
 
 
Optimistic
19:47 / 07.04.06
27 being set in 2011?

Ellis seems to love his late nineties Grant Morrison comics, so why not?

(Did the alternative Earth in this issue remind anyone of the one in "Rock of Ages"? I'm thinking specifically of that splash page with at the end of JLA...12?)
 
  

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