Welcome to another installment of Billy & Mandy’s weekly series review of Planetary, the best book you’ve never read about the super hero genre! We’ll be reviewing each and every issue, beginning with #1 and plowing all the way through to #27, whenever the hell that bastard ships. If you’re just joining us, it’s not too late to get on the ground floor. You can find the previous installment here.
WARNING: SPOILERS!!! If you don’t want to be spoiled, please read the issue before continuing. Or, read it along with us! We welcome your comments and hope that you enjoy ours.
Billy: Wasn’t it the FUCKING juice?
Mandy: IT WAS GOOD.
Billy: YES! Then do me a recap, fool!
Mandy: There are spacemen and then there are SPACEMEN. The SPACEMEN are doing some crazy shit and Planetary wants to shut it down.
Billy: Do you feel like this issue was a proper payoff for the last five issues of QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS!?!
Mandy: No. I didn’t. But I don’t think that can be helped. I think that’s what happens when you spend five issues asking questions. HOW CAN YOU PAY THAT OFF? I mean, the LOST finale was HUGE AND AWESOME this week but even it can never regain the ground it lost being lame for so long.
Billy: Well, this issue does kick the story into high gear.
Mandy: I agree.
Billy: Finally, we know who the “bad guys” are, right?
Mandy: YES.
Billy: Did you see the snowflake on the first page? In the eye?
Mandy: YESSSSSS!
Billy: SO AWESOME!
Mandy: Agreed.
Billy: Did any of the history stuff not make sense? The science stuff particularly?
Mandy: No. It made sense. I’m teh smart.
Billy: Did you notice Four Freedoms Plaza was a giant Obelisk?
Mandy: Yes!
Billy: OH MANZ!
Mandy: I know that word Obelisk from the final issue of Y:The Last Man. I LEARN THINGS FROM COMICS.
Billy: Are you starting to notice all the symbolism? The eyes, the triangles, etc… The snowflake.
Mandy: Yes. Definitely.
Billy: Anyway, I love the panel with the gun and Sputnik. Heh, just the though of that actually happening makes me giggle.
Billy: So, the plot, Snow and Jakita break into the FF Plaza and totally check out all the crazy shit inside, like…”The Subterrans”
Billy: The Gateway to the Negative Zone…
Billy: Which, to me, was such a great re-imagining of the classice Lee/Kirby idea. It’s not some fancy science stuff. No, it’s just this huge portrait on a wall that you can just WALK INTO! For those that don’t know, this entire issue (or entire series?) is the ultimate nod to the epic Lee/Kirby run on the Fantastic Four. The Subterrans = Moloids, The N-Zone portal, the way Leather burns away his beard is the same way Torch burned away the amnesiac Namor’s beard, etc, etc….
Mandy: That’s so ill. I liked that a lot. Dude, so I like how we very subtly learn that Jakita is indestructible. She gets TORE UP… and then he’s like, “Oh here, give her this Band-Aid.”
Billy: Yeah, she is very tough… I def want to ask her about Broken Earth – A.
Mandy: I bet you’d like to ask her about a lot of things.
Billy: So, we have Dowling (Mr. Fantastic), Greene (The Thing), Leather (Human Torch) and Suskind (Invisible Woman)… I like how Sue Storm is a Super Nazi. So, how do The Four, as they will come to be known, get their powers? They fly directly into the Snowflake, OBV!
Mandy: THEY TAKE THEM.
Billy: What happens to them!?!?! What are their powers?!?!?!
Mandy: Awesomeness?
Billy: We know Leather is like Torch, but he’s got this weird blue flame and he can phase through walls. He’s also super strong. We know this by the way he just “handles” Jakita. So basically, the Four are more than humans and they actually kind of fancy themselves gods. Question for you: if Leather is so powerful, why does he let Snow kick him in the balls?
Mandy: He wasn’t expecting it? He knows Snow. His guard was down… or, he likes it.
Billy: Or, he let him?
Mandy: Yeah, alright fine. I don’t know.
Billy: Leather kind of echoes the shit Brass was saying last issue, right? About who benefits from Snow’s amnesia? Does that make us trust Brass or Planetary less?
Mandy: I always trust Brass. He has a hot bod. I mean…I don’t trust Planetary. I just don’t trust them.
Billy: What do you think of the basic idea behind “The Four”? That idea being, “what if the Fantastic Four has gone the other way? What if their powers made them believe they were gods and that they used those powers not to help people, but to secretly rule the world?”
Mandy: I think that is most likely what would happen if people had superpowers, and I think it’s a comment on what the smartest and the most powerful people actually do in our society.
Billy: So controlling the world by denying it the wonders of modern science? Control by denial.
Mandy: It’s all about control, right?
Billy: HAH. I knew you’d say that, smartass.
Mandy: It’s why you love me.
Billy: So, this is it, this is what the rest of the series is about. These are the guys Snow has to take down/expose… what do you think?
Mandy: I think this would make a better movie than Fantastic Four. I like that we know who the bad guys are but we still don’t really know who we can trust.
Billy: Yeah, it’s awesome. We literally have no idea what’s going on for five issues and then Ellis finally spills, and now we have focus, but even more questions! And I love that we only really know one of the Four so far. I mean, we literally know nothing about the other three, arguably the more powerful members.
Mandy: Yes. I mean, I don’t think Snow is going to be kicking the Nazi in the balls. I’m just saying.
Billy: I feel like all the lost writers were taking notes.
Mandy: Hah.
Billy: What do you think of the pacing so far? I think a lesser writer would have made issue #6 the first issue. Do you think you would have liked this book more if #6 was issue #1?
Mandy: No. The questions and suspense have made the book for me.
Billy: Yeah, that’s what makes it such an epic read.
Mandy: So, one last question?
Mandy: Got milk?
Billy: Was that your question? You’re so stupid.
Join us next Monday when Ellis and Cassaday take Plaentary on a walk through the weird side. If you haven’t read Planetary, you can pick up the trades at your local shop or order them online from Amazon.com at the following link:
Tags: John Cassaday, Planetary, Warren Ellis, Wildstorm
June 16, 2008 at 8:28 am |
[...] Series Review: Planetary #7 Welcome to another installment of Billy & Mandy’s weekly series review of Planetary, the best book you’ve never read about the super hero genre! We’ll be reviewing each and every issue, beginning with #1 and plowing all the way through to #27, whenever the hell that bastard ships. If you’re just joining us, it’s not too late to get on the ground floor. You can find the previous installment here. [...]