This is one of the few examples that made me think that maybe, just maybe, there's still hope for the superhero genre. It feels somehow constrained in graphic-novel form, as its original nature as series is intrinsically exploited by the authors. Divided in small, self-contained units, and leaving the reader to fill in much of the details between one instalment and the other, this is almost a lesson on how one should approach the genre in the XXI century, and an act of love for pop-literary culture (and what a coincidence that Ellis and Alan Moore went back to the well of XIX-century pop-lit more or less at the same time!). The only problem is that it can appear like the writer is just being lazy, unnaturally dilating time units, using very little dialog, concentrating on lovely layouts and poses, with very little actually happening. Ellis overplays his hand at times, leaving Cassaday to show off his meticulous style, but overall this is probably the only "superhero" series you should have bought in the last 5 years. ( )

More of the blank spots are filled in as Planetary continues. High points are the Ayres Rock episode and our first encounter with Kim Suskind. ( )

Take a trip through the abandoned Castle Frankenstein, stop by Baker St. London, visit alternate dimensions and dream-space, don't forget about the lost city of Opak-re, all that and a Tarzan pastiche. ( )

Warren Ellis' exposition of the secret history of the Wildstorm Universe continues, with the hero Elijah Snow moving against the superhumans who have no regard for the humanity they have departed.

The series makes a fine counterpoint to Alan Moore's work on Miracleman. ( )

Ellis has a complex, sophisticated and highly entertaining Wold Newton type take on comics literature. Using his own characters, of course, but this is just all around fabulous. The story takes a turn, as Snow gets more aggressive about taking the fight to The Four. They are starting to learn perhaps they should not have messed with him.

http://graphicsf.blogspot.com/2006/11... ( )