Coming Soon To A Spinner Rack Near You: Warren Ellis and Jason Howard

Trees is due out in May, from Image Comics. 

Seeing SuperMen and Women As They Were

So the new DC Universe has launched. The first month of new series and newly re-launched series has passed and the shared fictional universe inhabited by the DC superheroes 'will never be the same'. Sorta-kinda-not-really.

[Josh has already reviewed two of the re-launching books "Justice League" #1 and "Wonder Woman" #1, and I intend to review at least one of them myself, but here I'm trying to take a big-picture outlook on this relaunch and the superhero characters at its center. This is a snapshot, a time-capsule, of the moment before long-time superhero reader Jon Gorga has read a single one of DC's New 52 issues.]

The truth is that this is far from the first time these characters have been reinvented. (1986's "Crisis on Infinite Earths", most notably.) The highest-profile retro-fitting maybe. Mentioned in newspapers. Advertised on TV. But still. As I've written before, these long-running pop culture characters have to be treated like rubber bands. Stretch! Stretch who these characters can be! Make Ray Palmer, the superheroic, super-shrinking Atom, a widower to a crazy serial killer. (That was done back in 2oo5 in the near-universally-revered mini-series "Identity Crisis".) Make Batman and Superman aging neo-fascists. (Frank Miller seemed to have no fear in pushing that concept in his works "The Dark Knight Returns" and "The Dark Knight Strikes Again".) Place Superman's famous crash-landing in the corn fields of the USSR instead of the US circa 1938. ("Red Son", Mark Millar's alternate take on the DC mythos is also a popular one.)

Over these past weeks of reading and rereading, I've (re)encountered:

4 versions of Wonder Woman
9 versions of Superman
and
25 versions of Batman...

plus:

3 versions of the Martian Manhunter

2 versions of the Flash

2 versions of Green Arrow

3 versions of the Question

And so on...

I finished reading all the non-continuity Elseworlds stuff sitting around my house from Frank Miller's goddamn Batman to J.M. DeMatteis' Realworlds TV producer Batman to Warren Ellis' interpretation of Adam West's Batman to Brian Azzarello's First Wave Batman to the kiddie Batman from "Batman: Brave and the Bold".

Then I moved onto the origins of these fantastic characters: "Batman: Year One", "Superman For All Seasons", "Superman: Earth One" (which I reviewed when it came out last year), "Superman: Secret Origin", "DC: The New Frontier".

I followed this with two issues of "Justice League of America" circa late 1973 I've had sitting around for a very long time. #107 and #108, which make-up "Crisis on Earth-X!" specifically. And I chose to finish in entirely unfamiliar territory: a copy of Jack Kirby's "OMAC" #6.

The result? A whole mess of Batmen, actually. I realized that my first childhood favorite was still my favorite among the DC pantheon and the amount of his appearances among my reading material from the company belied this.

But in that, I discovered something about all these different interpretations of the character: they are all completely different but they all have something in common. Something that makes them all still qualify as Batman.

From Warren Ellis' original pitch for the one-shot "Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth":

"The Batman sees how to end it -- and tells Blank how to see the world. What worked for him when he's teetered on the edge. How to perceive the world." Batman, the man who "tries to make the world make sense by thinking about it..." (Batman/Planetary Deluxe Edition, p. 50)

From the script to the same:

"[Elijah] SNOW; YOU'RE NOT A COP ARE YOU?

SNOW; I DON'T THINK VIGILANTE IS THE RIGHT WORD, EITHER.

...

BATMAN; DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR PARENTS?

BLACK; YES.

...

BATMAN; DO YOU REMEMBER TIMES WHEN THEY MADE YOU FEEL SAFE?

BLACK; YES.

...

BATMAN; THAT'S WHAT YOU HOLD ON TO.

BATMAN; THAT'S WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR OTHER PEOPLE.

BATMAN; YOU CAN GIVE THEM SAFETY. YOU CAN SHOW THEM THEY'RE NOT ALONE.

PAGE FORTY-SIX

Pic 1;

A half-page portrait of the Batman, head and shoulders -- THIS is the reason he does what he does. This is the lost core of the man.

BATMAN; THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE THE WORLD MAKE SENSE.

BATMAN; AND IF YOU CAN DO THAT --

BATMAN; -- YOU CAN STOP THE WORLD FROM MAKING MORE PEOPLE LIKE US." (Batman/Planetary Deluxe Edition, pgs. 91-94)

This got my wheels spinning... Batman changes his point-of-view through sheer willpower and that altered POV is absolutely required to do "what he does"? If Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) says it, it must be true!

Same sentiment said faster, perhaps, by Brian Azzarello (@brianazzarello) in "Batman/Doc Savage: Bronze Night" one-shot:

"I know I can make the world better. ... Hell, from before I could think for myself, that's all I thought to do." (Batman/Doc Savage Special, pgs. 4-5)

I don't talk much about Realworlds: "Return of the Justice League" in this article. You should read it anyway.

In "The Dark Knight Strikes Again", on his return to Earth after a very long sojourn, at Batman's request, Hal Jordan the Green Lantern thinks:

"How strange that it would be you. The mean one. The cruel one. The one with the darkest soul. ... How strange that you, of all of us, would prove to be the most hopeful."

(The Dark Knight Strikes Again Deluxe Edition, p. 202)

"The Dark Knight Strikes Again" really should be titled something like "The Justice League Returns" as it's more of an ensemble piece than the name suggests.

Furthermore, a careful reading of Neil Gaiman's (@neilhimself) "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" brings us a parallel as the supposedly dead Batman speaks to his long-dead mother Martha Wayne:

"You don't get heaven, or hell. Do you know the only reward you get for being Batman? You get to be Batman." (Detective Comics #853, p. 19)

Perhaps a better selection from that work, that comes closer to the meat of the answer I want, is:

"I've learned... that it doesn't matter what the story is, some things never change.

...

The Batman doesn't compromise. I keep this city safe..." (Detective Comics #853, p. 12)

Batman is the man who makes the world a better place by altering his point of view.

But what about those other two heroes of DC's holy trinity?

Superman seems so simple on the surface that most discount him entirely. 'Superman isn't brave, he's invulnerable', I've heard people say. This is a mistake.

Superman is vulnerable in that he is too emotional, too nice. Too perfect.

Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" presents Superman as a man broken by the yoke of his own fears. A superhuman so afraid of any loss of human life, he allows for a complete destruction of the quality of all life.

The sequel to "The Dark Knight" quadrology from 1986 is almost universally reviled among comics-fans. It's a tremendously dark and depressing portrayal of the DC Comics superhero characters. In the end, Superman is convinced by the daughter he has had with Wonder Woman as well as Miller's fascist Bruce Wayne that the remaining superheroes ARE categorically different, ontologically different, and unquestionably better than petty, average, normal human beings. So why NOT rule over them and force them to live better lives? Millar's Emperor Superman from his "Red Son" comes to the exact same conclusion: be the alien overlord, force the peons to be good.

In the movie "Kill Bill:Vol. 2", David Carradine gives a soliloquy on the nature of Superman in the middle of a fight scene with Uma Thurman. Quentin Tarantino very smartly cribbed from Jules Feiffer's famous essay "The Great Comic Book Heroes" when he had the character of Bill say:

"Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume." ("Kill Bill: Vol. 2", 2oo4)

So:

Superman is the secret identity.

Clark Kent is the disguise.

But:

Clark Kent is the everyman.
And Superman is like no man.

Emotionally and psychologically very human but ontologically alien. Biologically Kryptonian. Somewhere in-between is the real person, Kal-El. The Superman, the Ubermench, the In-Between Man. He may not be the everyman, but he is of every person who's ever lived.

Somebody wise once wrote: Batman is a man trying to be a god, Superman is a god trying to be a man.

I think that's the truth. Just not the whole truth. They are both men and both gods, both effect change in a positive way, but from different sources of energy.

-Superman is 'good' striving forward, positively
-Batman is 'bad' striving forward, positively.

That's why Batman appeals to people who find the Superman character repulsively simple, while Superman fans rarely fail to be Batman fans also. Batman took negative energy, used it, and spun it positively. Parents murdered in front of him at an early age. So he struggles to fight so that none may have to experience what he did. Superman took positive energy and spread it exponentially. He was shown kindness by his adopted planet from day one, despite his great loss in never knowing his birth parents, his birth home. He struck out to make others feel as welcomed and safe as he was.

So then...

Is Wonder Woman just a female clone of Superman? Just more good vibrations? A god trying to be a woman? It's been suggested that as she is the enemy of Ares, and thus the enemy of War, she is the peace-maker of the DC pantheon. ("Super Heroes United!: The Complete Justice League History", Justice League: The New Frontier DVD, 2oo8) Yes, but they are all peace-makers! I think Wonder Woman might be among the clearest examples of what all mythic characters are at their core: ideas striving to be alive. Womanhood. Strength in femininity. Fortitude in the face of social-bondage.

And what of these other men and women with remarkable abilities?

The Flash has been portrayed as a man running away from his past and/or toward solutions. The Martian Manhunter feels like an old soldier brought into a new fight. Green Arrow is the superhuman social conscience. Black Canary is the superheroic working woman. Green Lantern is a bureaucratic superhero, a space-cop who has to answer to the intergalactic Guardians. The Question is the spiritual warrior.

They each serve a purpose, fill a role. All evolved from very simple to complex characters, and all have their own personal struggles. All reflect something different back at us, the reader.

I believe, now, what I've always believed: superheroes are an intrinsic part of the human psyche exploded and clarified, expanded into colorful representations of our desires, our needs, our hopes, and our dreams. DC was there first and, in some ways at least, did it best. And I suspect no re-boot, re-launch or re-imagining will change that.

~ @JonGorga

NOTE, a full Flickr set exists that tracks my adventures in reading this stuff...

P.S. ~ I'm looking forward to reading some non-DC comics for the first time in roughly two months...

Quote For The Week 4/3/11

"Jamie hasn't, to my knowledge, done a full issue of a full-on mainstream superhero comic. And it was time someone took the poor boy's virginity. And oh, how he wept. It wasn't manly at all, I can tell you."

-Warren Ellis, on working with Jamie McKelvie starting with Secret Avengers #16.

Speaking of which, I only have two words: yes, please.

h/t: CBR.

I carry with me at all times a near-perfect recipe for making new comics readers:

Good comics.

That is the best way to convince people this stuff is worth their time. By showing them. But a random confluence of events has brought together some particular comics in my shoulder bag. These comics together represent many of the talking points I think might help people to recognize comics as the separate, viable, wonderful art medium it is. And as I walk the streets of New York City I thought I would share with you what they are and why I think they might work as somebody's 'first comic'.


Some of these I bought just recently, some of them were given to me as birthday presents, some of them I have because I'm reading them, some of them because I am or was reviewing them, or both the former and the latter:

"Electric Ant" #1
From Icon (an imprint of Marvel Comics), David Mack's and Pascal Alixe's adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's prose novel

Opening a comic such as this one can lead to thoughts like: Oh, a smart adaptation of a prose novel? It's really not a new edition is it? Comics isn't just illustrated prose. It's a different experience of the same story. Not a translation, an adaptation. Just the idea that a book can become a comic in the same way a book can become a film encourages one to think of it as smart mass media entertainment instead of junk. And it's by David Mack (@davidmackkabuki), of "Kabuki" fame. So you know it's good.

"Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island" #2
From Avatar Press, Warren Ellis' and Raulo Caceres' steampunk crazy time

Well... This one's crazy and perhaps not great for most new readers. Shocking an old lady with bloody violence and guns that shoot tiny light bulbs for bullets probably won't endear her to my beloved sequential art. But someone who digs steampunk, someone who likes things off the beaten path. Pirate ships flying on electric oars? They should see this stuff. The imagination owned by Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) has few equals in the field of comics. The evidence of vibrant imagination in the art-form is priceless to an argument that it should be appreciated. I bought issue #1 on a whim and I'm glad I did.

"Superman: Earth One"
DC's experimental graphic novel written by J. Michael Staczynski and drawn by recent L & S interviewee Shane Davis

This one has blown not only individual brains but the entire industry straight to the ground. A depiction of Superman as a 20-year-old young man with the problems of the average modern American 20-year-old: what the fuck do I do with my life? how the fuck do I do it? why am I doing it? To see a superhero character made so simply and easily relatable would no doubt be a major eye-opener to many who see superheroes (most particularly ones like Supes) as dumb jocks in a cape. No, the main genre found in the medium isn't only punching and explosions. My review of this just went up days ago.

"Captain America: Man Out of Time" #1
A new series from Mark Waid and Jorge Molina about one of Marvel's first superheroes

Speaking of recent comics re-telling a superhero's story from their own point of view, this is another great-looking work. Captain America is, in the perception of the mainstream, probably the only more prissy superhero than Superman. But, as usual, the mainstream is missing the new trees because it is expecting to see an old forest. I was sold on this issue the moment I saw the way Waid (@markwaid) brought Cap from World War II through his frozen state to the present in two successive splash pages. Someone who doesn't know what mainstream superhero comics are actually like will be amazed to see so 'goofy' a character as Captain America presented with such imagination and gravitas.

"Amazing Spider-Man" #648
With a three-year debacle behind him (mostly) Marvel's Spider-Man moves on to the "Big Time" with Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos

Well... I haven't read this yet. But it ISN'T "Brand New Day". So it might be more new reader-friendly than Spider-Man has been for a few months to a few years, depending on your point-of-view. Dan Slott (@danslott) has a great ability with humor. Anybody with a funny bone would probably enjoy Slott's writing and thus prove that the Joss Whedon style of dramedy can be found in comics, further proving that it's capable of anything.

"Falling for Lionheart"
A glorious mash-up of the two worlds of American comics by Ilias Kyriazis, released on the same day as "Superman: Earth One" from IDW

Not having actually read this, I can only comment on what it looks like. But it looks like one of the best graphic novels of the year and maybe the best 'first readers' graphic novel I have ever seen. It tells the story of Lionheart, a super-powered man on a state/corporate-approved team of superheroes. It is also the story of a man who feels that something about this life is hollow and chooses to make autobiographical mini-comics to express his ennui. None of that is new material (superheroes beholden to centers of authority, characters who make comics about their lives), except of course the brilliant twist that these men are one-and-the-same! Yes, "Falling for Lionheart" is about a superhero who is also an underground comicsmith. A tortured artist superhero love story. The two strongest arms of American comics re-introduced in one slim volume. I'm going to LOVE it. Look for a review soon.


I hope this silly list serves a few purposes for you, dear L&S readers:
1. I hope it has laid out just a little bit more of the incredible variety available in the medium of sequential art.
2. I hope you now know that you can ask me for reading material, if you ever see me on the street!
3. I hope you have some ideas about how to get that special STUBBORN someone in your life to give comics a chance. Lord knows there's plenty of them left out there...

~@JonGorga

We Can Do Anything

Sorry about my relative silence on this blog as of late. Finals and then winter break hit me like a ton of bricks, but I got some good stuff cooking, so stay tuned.

I found something I wanted to share, though, so I figured this was an opportune moment to share it:

The reverberations are felt in Paris, where Jean-Pierre Dionnet is grinning and publishing METAL HURLANT, and Francois Roche is on the street outside, seventeen years old and thinking that he’d like to design buildings for a living and that this one in front of him is pretty nice but would be much more interesting as a vast rotting concrete stomach filled with robot antibodies, and Grant Morrison’s sitting outside the coffee shop down the road, a year older than Roche and a year away from getting published for the first time, head full of Jack Kirby comics, and Skylab swoops overhead, its Raymond Loewy-designed interior empty and abandoned but by God they did it, and David Bowie is singing, at the top of his lungs, “we can be Heroes.”

Which only means, quite simply, that we can do anything.

I love that last sentence. We can do anything. Thats what comic books are about doing anything. See what can be marvelous, and wonderful and fantastical about the world. The quote comes from Warren Ellis's Do Anything column over at bleedingcool and, well, I don't think I've heard a sentiment I like quite as much expressed in a very long time.

As we wander into the new year, remember: We can be heroes. We can do anything.

It's Astonishing

One of the advantages of going home for Thanksgiving was getting to finally pick up my issues of Astonishing X-Men, the last vestiges of the days when I used to get my books directly through Marvel. Because Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi only produced a few issues of that book in between July of 2008 and June of 2009, I still had seven issues left on my subscription when the Ellis/Phil Jimenez run began a couple of months ago.

Two (#31 and #32) of those issues were sent to my house in Chicago's suburbs, and there they sat- until this weekend, when I took them, brought them back to school with me, and read them.

They blew my mind.

I think that, at this point, it might be something of a cliche to say that Warren Ellis is a genius but I'm going to say it anyway: Warren Ellis is a genius. These two issues may be the most perfect comics I've read in a long time- maybe not the most interesting, maybe not the most fun, maybe not even the best- but certainly the most perfect. Everything that's good about comics, and about the X-Men in particular- action, adventure, soap opera, one liners, air harpoons-is in these issues.

From these pages it's clear that Warren Ellis gets the X-Men and furthermore that he gets what the X-Men are currently missing. The story (which is set in the near past, before Scott leads his people onto Utopia) is exactly what a comics story should be- that is, it's not trying to be something it isn't. It's big, it's bombastic, there are lots of explosions and cool aliens and spaceships and bio-sentinels and giant air harpoons and everything that makes comics wonderful, but at the same time it doesn't really stretch into absurdity.

Now, I understand that I can get in trouble saying something like that- comics are inherently absurd (did I mention that the book has air harpoons?). While it may be absurd, however, it takes itself just seriously enough. It's not too grim n' gritty, but at the same time it's not too ridiculous either.

Furthermore, Ellis gets the team dynamic just right. While Uncanny sometimes feels like a Scott Summers solo book, Astonishing really feels like a team book, like every member is contributing something and isn't just some mean to an end in Cyke's grand plan. The dialogue, the back and forth, the bickering, it's all there and it's all brilliant.

Phil Jimenez's art helps. While Simone Bianchi is an excellent artist, I think his work is just too pretty to make really good comics. It lacks that energy that Jimenez brings to the book in spades, and I think that such an energy was sorely needed- it pushes the book from fantastic to near-perfect. While certain artists seem to do static or dynamic but not both, Jimenez makes both look easy, and he transitions between the two seamlessly, page to page and even panel to panel.

If you're unhappy with the current X-Men status quo, pick the book up. If you like Warren Ellis, pick the book up. If you want to see crazy shit go down, pick the book up. I can't emphasize enough how unbelievably cool this stuff is, because it's a near perfect comic book. Ellis and Jimenez clearly have a story worth telling on their hands, and you're going to miss out if you aren't there to see it.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 11/11/2oo9

This week, new comic-book day is the day before my birfday! Huuray!

From the week's new books I'm...

Snapping up:
The usual...
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #611

"Comic Book Comics" #4
A continuing graphic ''text-book' history of the comic-book industry! I love stuff like this.

"Luke Cage: Noir" #4 of 4
I'm VERY much looking forward to this. See my two previous reviews of issues 2 and 3 to see why.

Considering:
"Supergod" #1 of 5
I've bought Warren Ellis' past two superhero mini-series and the man is a genius.

"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #2 of 4
Well... considering that I just bought the first one and haven't read it I dunno.

"Blackbeard: The Legend of the Pyrate King" #2 of 3
Another one I haven't had the time to read the first issue of. Yeesh.

"The Ghoul" #1
Unfortunately, I really can't afford to pick this one up too... but it looks very cool! Who knows...

"It's A Strange World, Drums. Did You Think For a Minute That I Wasn't Going to Keep it That Way?"

I'm going to miss Planetary.

I guess that's a very slight exaggeration, since the only single issue that I've ever purchased was this one, the last one, the one that I'm reviewing. I guess what I'm really going to miss, then, is the idea of Planetary being ongoing- the feeling that the world is strange and that Elijah, Jakita and Drums are going to keep it that way. This, first and foremost, is what was so wonderful about Ellis and Cassaday's baby; it suggests the world is more fantastic than we will ever know.

While one of the conceits of Planetary (hell, one of the conceits of the whole of the Wildstorm universe) is that it doesn't exist in our reality, it does exist in a world that is familiar to us, because it exists in a world that we know- the connected universe of pulp-pop-culture. It's fitting that the series should end at the launching points for an expedition into a fictional world, for that is exactly what Planetary is- an expedition into our favorite fictional realities.

Ellis makes his project abundantly clear from the very beginning- the first issue is a twisted vision of the Crisis on Infinite earths, ending in a climactic battle (a battle in which everyone loses, by the way) between a JLA analogue and their pulp precursors- and, although this limits the audience to people with some knowledge of the medium, this is what allows it to pass into brilliance. Far from being a simple play on archetype (like fellow Ellis Wildstorm creations Apollo and Midnighter), Plantery represents an attempt to write an in-medium history of the comics and a beautifully conceived and constructed one at that. Although Ellis isn't the only writer to do this (see Kirkman's Invincible) he's certainly the best at it- while Kirkman's work is self-referencing without being particularly meaningfully so, Warren's insights into the form come on almost a page by page basis.

The series' scope is wide and, insofar as it starts with the pulps and ends with the future, all-encompassing- Ellis is making a statement, and he wants to make sure we all know that. While I would love to see "The Further Adventures of Planetary!" published on a regular schedule, what the series' ending reveals is that the future will be wonderful, but also that it will be open ended.

Ellis, then, ends his history with a warning to his audience- it's a strange world and the only way to keep that way is by not deciding we know what comes next. What he's done from the beginning of his opus is play with the knowledge and expectations that we all have about superhero comics: where they come from, where they are, where they're headed. Keep in mind, though, that by the end all of those stories are dead and buried. His twisted versions of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Nick Fury, Constantine, the JLA have all been killed or shunted aside (and that last one is done away with twice: once in the first issue and again in #10). All that is left is the Planetary organization, a team of mystery archeologists dedicated to finding and preserving the secret mysteries of the world. They don't know what's coming.

And neither do we.

It's a brilliant conceit, really, one that I don't think any other comics historian has picked up on. Most histories of the medium focus on the writers, the artists, the driving forces behind the comics. Ellis chooses a different perspective from which to view superhero comics- the perspective of the discoverer, of the adventurer, of the comic book reader. We are Planetary and Planetary is us.

This is why the parting shot is so important- it's a message, a message that's meant for his readers- his entitled and notoriously difficult fan base. We want our comics to be comforting. We want them to be like the comics from the past. We never want anything about them to change. If the books are comforting, though, they are also stagnant. If they're stagnant, they aren't interesting. If they aren't interesting, if they aren't wonderful, if they aren't fantastic (in the most literal sense of the term), if they aren't down right STRANGE than they're missing the point.

The Four aren't the villains of the series because Ellis is taking a shot at Marvel; they're the villains of the series because Ellis is taking a shot at our reliance on the Silver Age, at our dependence on Stan and Jack. They had a good run, and we need not forget them nor their influence, but we're stifling creativity by being reliant on old stand-by characters, old ideas and old creators. We're being told that projects like X-Men Forever don't celebrate the medium, they stunt it. The continuous recycling of the Big Two may make old fans happy, but it will never keep the world strange.

In this way, what we have in Planetary is the last hurrah of deconstruction to be found in superhero comics- we've gone past what would really happen if supermen actually existed, and gone into a place where there be dragons- that is, what if, in response to the horrifying Miracleman types that've been everywhere since the '80's, there were genuinely good heroes? Heroes who really were like the people we want them to be? It's fitting that the central motif of the final issue is a circle, because Ellis has brought superhero deconstruction full circle. In typical Ellis fashion, however, he's also made clear that he's not fond of circles. Much has been made of the fact that this issue reads like an epilogue and his point is clear. It's time to move on.

Before we get going, though, we should take a minute to evaluate the issue itself.

Like I said, it reads exactly like the epilogue it is: Elijah has one more thing to do before he can move on with us, and Ellis and Cassaday portray it beautifully. Everything that there is to love about Planetary is here. In smaller doses, perhaps, and not necessarily exactly the way I wanted to see it done, although I suppose that's the point, right?

From a writing standpoint, it gives Ellis another chance to flex his science muscles- Schrodinger and Heisenberg both make textual cameos, and the first act of the issue is dominated by the problems with time travel (which, incidentally, come about because the activation of a time machine makes time a circle). I would be lying if I said this sort of thing was particularly engaging, but it is genuinely interesting in an academic sort of way, and it sets up a series of great Elijah/Drums moments.

What's really great here, though, is how effectively emotional the storytelling is- what could have been horribly overwrought moments (Jakita's self-doubt could have come off as whiny and Elijah finally managing to save Ambrose Chase almost finds its way into sappiness as it is) come off as beautifully genuine.

To give most of the credit on that score to Ellis, though, I think would be a mistake. Let's give credit where credit is due- if Ellis is the engine of this spaceship, John Cassaday and Laura Martin are everything else. They streamline the story, they make it move, and they make it look really, really nice. For my money, there are very, very few comics artists better than Cassaday out there right now, if any.

The art is the real emotional force here. There are pictures interspersed throughout the review, so go and take a look at the way he handles faces, emotions, tiny little details (like the panel where Jakita and Elijah are talking and the latter is holding a sandwich- I think I laughed out loud when I saw that). The drawing here adds weight and significance, and it turns a great issue into a brilliant one.

So, THE LONG AND SHORTBOX OF IT? Planetary #27 is a fitting ending to what I believe is the seminal work of comics in the last decade. It has long been my contention that Warren Ellis is this generation of creators' Alan Moore and- if that's true- I think this is what's going to turn out to be his Watchmen. If you haven't read any Planetary, you should check it out from the beginning, and if you have been keeping track through years of delays, than you should go back and take a closer look. In Planetary, something unique springs off of the page, and it's something worth cherishing.

Already Tired of, uh, Monday....

I know I'm way early this week, but I'm procrastinating on a paper, and this seemed like a perfect way to do it. Also, there's a lot of really great stuff coming out this week, stuff I'm really excited for.

First, and foremost (perhaps even foremost of any comic being released this year) is the grand finale of one of the greatest comic stories of all time- Planetary. The long awaited issue #27 of the Warren Ellis penned and John Cassaday illustrated series comes out this week and I'm really, really excited. If you haven't already checked out the preview pages Jon posted about earlier in the week, well, you should. They're pretty fantastic, as is the rest of the series.

And that's just the start of the barrage of the comics on the imprint front this week. From Vertigo we get the second issue of Jeff Lemire's fantastic Sweet Tooth and the Bill Willingham penned Fables novel Peter and Max (although I'm hoping to win a copy through this contest over at Graphic Content). What's really exciting me this week, though, is an imprint release from Icon: Criminal: The Sinners #1. The dynamic duo of Ed Brubaker (who, lets be honest, turns whatever he touches into gold) and Sean Phillips (who, aside from David Aja, might be my favorite illustrator in all of comics) proved themselves once again with the conclusion to Incognito, and I'm ready to return to the tale of Tracy Lawless- and this one sounds like a killer. Brubaker's crime stories are the best in all of comics, which is why I was sad to see him leave Daredevil...

But the new writer, Andy Diggle, seems to be planning some cool stuff- after buying the Daredevil Dark Reign one-shot, I'm convinced that Matt's life is about to get really difficult- and that makes for great Daredevil comics, so I'm pumped for #501 to come out this week. I'm also pumped for the X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas mini to get started- although I was disappointed by the last issue of the AoA ongoing a couple of weeks ago, I think the manic energy that Jeff Parker brings to his work is perfect for a short series like this and I'm curious to see which X-Men he's going to use (hopefully Nightcrawler is going to be one of them; the blue elf has been criminally underused by Matt Fraction in Uncanny). Strange Tales #2 comes out this week too, as does the new issue of The Torch, but I'm not sure if I'll be picking up the latter- I think I might trade-wait it. As for the former, well, I think Jon and I are going to take another shot at reviewing it jointly and seeing what happens. And then, of course, add Batman and Robin #5 to the list and, well, I've got a huge week to make up for last week's tiny little one.

It's going to be a good Wednesday.

"Planetary" Alignment

Just in case you still haven't heard about this excellent news:

Warren Ellis' and John Cassaday's brilliant superhero epic "Planetary" is supposedly finally coming to an end after more than a decade of publishing and only 26 issues to show for it. The 27th and last issue is due October 7, 2oo9. THAT'S THIS WEEK! This is going to be incredible. "Planetary" is the best thing currently being published in superheroes. But not for much longer! You can read the preview of the last issue here.

GO. NOW.

Unless you don't want anything spoiled for you. I can understand that. But just so you know?

These pages are awesome.