Planetary #27 Review

“It’s a strange world, Drums.  Did you think for a minute that I wasn’t going to keep it that way?”

-Elijah Snow, Planetary #27

It is a strange world.  Warren Ellis made sure of that — issue 26 (released October 2006) — Planetary has defeated The Four’s suppression of human technological advancement, they have defeated an alien threat and were well on their way to unravel the mysterious mysteries of the world.

There are probably many, many more Planetary tales to tell, and issue 27’s probably the most fitting: saving Ambrose Chase.

Scenes in the beginning show Elijah Snow getting ever-more-impatient: he’s saved the world, gave it the great technological leap, and now he wonders when he’ll get to save his friend.  If you’re not into quantum physics (like me) then the concepts may confuse you — to sum it up, there are several great scenes where The Drummer discusses that they either save Ambrose, or cause history to cease.  (Schrödinger’s, “Yeah.  An infinite number of dead cats arrive at your doorstep at once.” -The Drummer)

It took several re-reads, but Warren Ellis and his pseudo-science may have possibly crafted the most brilliant use of time travel in any media plausible, and not full of holes and flaws that plague so many stories that try to use it.  There’s also a little reference to the “time loop” from JLA/Planetary – Terra Occulta. 

Jakita grows bored that she can’t hit anything.  She gets a moment here, and even a little something to look forward to.  What follows is Elijah seemingly-knowing full-well of what will happen once they try to save Ambrose, gets it right.

What’s even more amazing than the in-book story is the story of Planetary itself as a series — a comicbook take on the superhero genre, pop culture, literary figures and overall everything.  10 years to get the story told, and here are the original creators, Warren Ellis, John “we-missed-you-doing-interior-artwork!” Cassaday to bring a proper end to the tale.  Fantastic.

It then starts feeling like the closing of a book you thoroughly enjoyed — you know at one point that you’d read it again, but for now, you let the thing settle.

5/5

Christmas wishlist: a hardcover of the complete, complete Planetary.  That’d be amazing.  Or maybe a time loop to take me back to 2003 when I was holding a copy of Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth that I dug from the bargain bin at CCHQ.  (But, if you read this issue, then you must know that (based on Planetary-universe science, and this is a double parenthesis) time loops can only work forwards, backwards into the time when the time machine was first turned on, so, 2003, being a time that I didn’t have an idea about time loops and the possibility of them, it wouldn’t be possible.)

***

Want more Planetary stuff?

Here’s an archive of ALL the past Planetary covers, and here’s the complete publication timeline of Planetary.  Also, try looking for Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth — that one-shot is just good.  Really, really good.