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[[File:PlanetaryCover.jpg|frame|From left to right: Jakita Wagner, Elijah Snow, and The Drummer.]]
{{quote|
'''''Planetary''''' is a [[Comic Book]] series written by [[Warren Ellis]] and drawn (mostly) by John Cassaday, focusing on a team of "mystery archaeologists" employed by the eponymous "Planetary"
* '''Elijah Snow''' -- A reclusive and grumpy "Century Baby"; a super-human born at 0 Midnight on the 1st of January 1900 which, as with others sharing that birthday, had granted him virtual immortality and special abilities -- in his case, the ability to freeze things with his mind.
* '''Jakita Wagner''' -- A beautiful and easily-bored superstrong speedster who worked with the
* '''The Drummer''' -- A mad technophile who had the ability to
* '''The Fourth Man''' -- A major mystery in the comic. He funds Planetary and hand picked the field team, but remains behind the scenes.
In their exploits, they were opposed by The Four, a quartet of super-powered ex-astronauts who were at the
The series is essentially Ellis' exploration of popular culture, and the "real-world" ramifications of many of the more far-out concepts that could be found within a century's worth of [[Speculative Fiction]], comic books and popular culture, as seen through the distorting-mirror lens of the Wildstorm Universe. As such, as well as the alternate versions of the Four, an entire back history is composed linking the pulp fiction heroes of [[The Roaring Twenties|the 1920s]] and [[The Great Depression|1930s]] (including versions of [[Doc Savage]] and [[The Shadow]]) with [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] and, eventually, [[The Modern Age of Comic Books]], with tangents into [[The Fifties|1950s]] sci-fi movies, [[The Sixties|1960s]] spy movies, Japanese monster movies, the [[Vertigo Comics]] of the [[The Eighties|1980s]] (including versions of [[
The final issue was released 2009-10-14, and ties up the series' run.
In addition to the main series, there were three crossover one-shots: ''Planetary / [[The Authority]]: Ruling the World'' (2000), ''Planetary / [[JLA]]: Terra Occulta'' (2002), and ''Planetary / [[Batman]]: Night on Earth''. (Alternate universes were involved for the two [[DC Universe]] crossovers.)
{{tropelist}}
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: A lot, with special mention going to "To Be In England, In The Summertime," an only ''slightly'' over-the-top recreation of a Delano-era ''Hellblazer'' story.
* [[Alternate Company Equivalent]]: Pretty much every character who appears apart from the main ones, including versions of the [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]], [[
* [[Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome]]: In the [[Elseworlds]] ''[[JLA]]'' crossover "Terra Occulta", Planetary have massively altered society by making super-technology publicly available, unlike in the main Planetary timeline where it's all been hidden away.
* [[An Ice Person]]: It's right there in his name!
* [[Anti
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: "Terra Occulta", being set entirely in an alternate universe, doesn't have to worry about keeping the regulars alive.
* [[Arc Words]]: see the page quote, above.
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** The Planetary field team are like a photo-negative twist of the original Fantastic Four. Specifically:
*** The Thing, a slow and hideous mutated strongman who desperately [[I Just Want to Be Normal|wants to be normal]] again, becomes Jakita Wagner, a sexy woman in a sleek jumpsuit, and is superhumanly fast and strong at the same time, and revels in her superhuman status and constantly seeking new strange thrills.
*** The Invisible Woman, the team mom who could make herself and other things invisible, becomes The Drummer, a boy sidekick who perceives things all around him that most people cannot -- namely, information. For an added bonus, the
*** Mr. Fantastic is a white man, who creates strange gadgets and distorts his own body via stretching. His counterpart is Ambrose Chase, a black man (who falls victim to a weaponized
*** The Human Torch is the youngest member, impulsive and brash, who throws around fire. Elijah Snow is the oldest member of his team, is a thoughtful detective, and
** Between the faux Justice League in issue 1, the death of the High mentioned in issue 5, the caped hero in issue 7, and the star child in issue 10, various ersatz versions of Superman pop up ''disturbingly'' regularly. {{spoiler|They all die.}}
* [[Catch Phrase]]: ''"It's a strange world."''
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* [[Coconut Superpowers]]: Perhaps the only time this has happened in a comic -- Dowling's scary-ass superpower is going to cause everything to go straight to hell, right? Right? Well, they apparently ran out of page space to show it.
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Elijah Snow isn't hesitant to [[Groin Attack|kick someone in the unmentionables]], or to use his cold power to simply freeze an opponent solid.
** Or do
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Anna Hark. She [[Heel Face Turn|gets better]].
* [[Crossover]]: Two with [[DC Comics]], both via alternate universes. In "Night on Earth", the Planetary team pursue an antagonist who keeps flipping them into alternate universes, where they meet various versions of [[Batman]]. "Terra Occulta" is set entirely in an alternate universe that contains both a version of Planetary and a version of the [[Justice League of America]].
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* [[Decompressed Comic]]
* [[Deconstruction]]: In some cases just outright demolition.
** Even Deconstructions are deconstructed; the
* [[Deconstruction Crossover]]: The Planetary universe as a whole.
* [[Deconstructor Fleet]]
* [[Empathy Doll Shot]]: In the "Planet Fiction" issue.
* [[Explosive Leash]]: In one issue, the Planetary field team raid one of the Four's facilities, where a group of child prodigies in explosive collars are being forced to subvert the internet.
* [[Expy]]: In an odd double way. Jakita's ex-lover Jack Carter is a blatantly obvious (London-based, blonde-haired, trenchcoat-wearing magician) one of [[Hellblazer
** Then of course, there's [[James Bond|John Stone]], [[Nick Fury|Agent of S.T.O.R.M]].
* [[Eye Scream]]: The way they torture {{spoiler|William Leather}} in the final volume.
* [[Flash Step]]: John Stone has his [[Sharp
* [[Flying Brick]]: William Leather clearly won the superpower lottery on his team: speed, strength, flight, [[Made of Iron|
* [[Genre Shift]]: Planetary #3 is [[The Spectre]] done as a [[Heroic Bloodshed]] story.
* [[Gilligan Cut]]: In ''Night on Earth'', after he sees what the issue's antagonist is capable of, the Drummer announces that this time he's going to stay in the base where it's safe. Turn the page, and the next panel is him out in the field with Jakita and Elijah, complaining loudly.
* [[Groin Attack]]: Against Dracula. Somewhat less successfully against William Leather.
* [[Guns Akimbo]]: Both the ghost cop and Ambrose are fond of this.
* [[Hell
* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: The lost city of Opak-Re.
* [[Interplanetary Voyage]]: The Gun Club attempt to land on the moon using a Verne-style cannon. {{spoiler|It doesn't work.}}
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* [[Kaiju]]: Complete with homages to [[Godzilla|Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan]].
* [[Karmic Death]]: {{spoiler|Dowling and Kim.}}
* [[Laser
* [[Lawyer
* [[Legacy Character]]: Again, Jakita Wagner.
* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: Jakita Wagner is durable enough to survive being defenestrated from a
* [[Locked Out of the Loop]]: See [[Laser
* [[Luke, I Might Be Your Father]]: {{spoiler|Elijah was romantically involved with Jakita's mother around 8-11 months before she was born. Several people have confirmed that Elijah is not the father, but they may have been lying.}}
* [[Man in White]]: Elijah Snow and Ambrose Chase.
* [[Spy Fiction|Martini-flavored Spy Fiction]]: John Stone's entire existence.
* [[Meta Fiction]]: In additional to all its other themes, you can read ''Planetary'' as a metacommentary on 20th century North American comics, in which the superhero genre eclipsed all other genres (crime, horror, spy, western, pulp sci-fi etc.) at the start of the [[Silver Age]] with the release of the [[Fantastic Four]]. See [http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/14/absolute-planetary-review/ this review].
* [[Mind Virus]]: While the other members of The Four get their Marvel counterparts' powers, Dowling gets this: "Anyone who's ever been within a hundred feet of Randall Dowling... probably is Randall Dowling." This is an interpretation of Reed Richards' physical stretching ability mixed with his superintelligence -- Dowling can 'stretch his mind.'
** Ends up being something of an [[Informed Ability]] since we never actually see it used. Most likely because [[Story
* [[Mirror Universe]]: "Terra Occulta", an AU in which evil versions of the Planetary central characters are the villains, and versions of the JLA are plotting to bring them down.
* [[Mysterious Employer]]: The Fourth Man
* [[Nonhumans Lack Attributes]]: Unfortunately averted. The [[Green Lantern]] [[Expy]] who falls on Earth naked has a disturbing [[Brain Bleach|mangina]].▼
* [[No One Gets Left Behind]]: Lampshaded.
{{quote|
'''The Drummer:''' Leave me behind! I'll only slow you down!
'''Elijah:''' Okay.
'''The Drummer:''' I didn't ''mean'' it, you evil old geezer. }}
* [[No Poverty]]: The home of Jakita's mother.
* [[Nostalgia
▲* [[Nonhumans Lack Attributes]]: Unfortunately averted. The [[Green Lantern]] [[Expy]] who falls on Earth naked has a disturbing [[Brain Bleach|mangina]].
▲* [[Nostalgia Aint Like It Used to Be]]: Subverted in "To Be In England, In The Summertime"; the [[Affectionate Parody]] funeral for the [[Hellblazer (Comic Book)|John Constantine]] [[Expy]] and the reverent reminisce of the 1980s and 1990s Vertigo Comics (and the political subtexts of them) is undercut when Snow points out that, being relics of a particular time divorced of their cultural and political contexts, they can't help but look a bit ridiculous. Although she passionately defends and supports them, Jakita is forced to concede he has a point.
* [[Papa Bear]]: Elijah, eventually.
* [[Production Foreshadowing]]: In the [[What If]] story "Terra Occulta", part of the plot involves the creation of a {{spoiler|time machine}}. Seven years later, in the main story line, the final issue revolves around the creation of a {{spoiler|time machine}} of identical design.
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]:
* [[Red Herring]]: {{spoiler|Anna Hark. Several lines of dialog can be interpreted as clues that she's the Fourth Man, including Axel Brass speculating that the Fourth Man may be a woman, and a passage about how she likes to remain hidden and behind the scenes. It's done subtly enough that savvy readers are likely to think they're very clever for figuring out the truth... which of course is set up deliberately by Ellis in order to throw them off the Fourth Man's real identity.}}
** The scene most fans point to is when Ambrose is first promoted to the field team.
{{quote|
The Fourth Man: Yes, I noticed that, too. }}
***
* [[Reed Richards Is Useless]]: Deconstructed; the Four are the evil Mirror Universe equivalent of the Fantastic Four, and they want to hoard all their glories and advances for themselves. As William Leather tells Elijah, "We are adventurers, my crewmates and I, on the human adventure. And you all can't come along."
** {{spoiler|By the end of the series, Elijah finally gets to avert this. He takes back Dowling's database and uses it to makes the world a better place.}}
* [[Rule of Cool]]: Even though this is a cynical, yet nostalgic exploration of fiction of the last century, it still operates on the [[Rule of Cool]]. Like how about ghost cops that go [[Guns Akimbo]]? Chainsaw bullets? Jakita playing Soccer with the head of a giant ant as a ball? A Tarzan expy punching out a giant cyborg snake? An all
* [[Slow Electricity]]: Saves the Drummer's life in the "Little Drummer Boy" issue, as a guard triggers a fail-safe that causes explosions to destroy all the valuable assets in the facility the Planetary field team are raiding -- one at a time instead of simultaneously, giving Jakita time to separate the Drummer from the explosive that was attached to him.▼
▲* [[Sharp Dressed Man]]: Elijah Snow and John Stone are standouts in this regard.
* [[Shrunken Organ]]: In one issue, a giant man is seen in one panel, dying from his sudden artificial growth. His autopsy reveals "a normal-sized brain hanging in a web of nerve tissues like cables in a skull several feet across."
▲* [[Slow Electricity]]: Saves the Drummer's life in the "Little Drummer Boy" issue, as a guard triggers a fail-safe that causes explosions to destroy all the valuable assets in the facility the Planetary field team are raiding -- one at a time instead of simultaneously, giving Jakita time to separate the Drummer from the explosive that was attached to him.
* [[Spy Catsuit]]: While Jakita Wagner is not a spy, it is ''definitely'' a catsuit.
*
* [[The Starscream]]: {{spoiler|John Stone.}}
* [[Stat
* [[Steven Ulysses Perhero]]: Elijah ''Snow'', who has the power to freeze things.
** Seems to be common with century babies. See Jenny Sparks, who can control electricity.
* [[Superhero Trophy Shelf]]: All the teams in the comics maintain a collection of strange artifacts and secrets. Most notably the Four, who ''decimated a parallel
* [[Supernatural Martial Arts]]: Issue #16 prominently stars Ah Lien Hark, practitioner of Night Forest School and features a ''spectacular'' wuxia-style battle between herself and the [[Obviously Evil|villainous]] Lo. It is hinted later in the issue that Anna Hark also knows the style.
* [[Superpowerful Genetics]]: A major theme, especially concerning children of those born right on the turn of the century.(and Their Kids)
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* [[Troperrific]]
* [[Un Paused]]: ''Not'' played for laughs in the eighth issue, where a dead woman is successfully revived, and finishes what she was doing when she died: screaming.
* [[What Happened to
** In the
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: Inverted. Dowling and the Four intentionally sought out someone to give them superpowers because they were already insanely ambitious. The actual transformation doesn't seem to have had much effect on their mental balance for any of them, apart possibly from Greene.
* [[You Can See Me?]]: Carter's story in issue 7. "Oh, for God's sake. You can bloody see me, can't you?"
{{reflist}}
{{IGN Top 100 Heroes}}
[[Category:The Nineties]]
[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]
[[Category:DC Comics Series]]
▲[[Category:Planetary]]
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