Planetary
Average rating : 9.62
This month in honor of the book clubs 2 year anniversary we read the complete series of Planetary which follows a group of “archaeologist of the impossible” who travel the world investigating the secret history of the world.
Archaeologist of the Impossible
The story opens with the recruiting of protagonist Elijah Snow to the four man operation known as Planetary. We discover quite quickly that Snow is no ordinary man with a penchant for white but a superhuman with the ability to manipulate cold. Along with Snow we are introduced to the other two members of the Planetary field team Jakita Wagner a superhuman with enhanced speed, strength, and durability, and The Drummer who has the ability to control and communicate with electronics.
“Loved everything about it” - Mathieu
The Fourth Man
Book 1 in the 4 part collection sees the team introduce Elijah to the secret history of the world including monsters, space ships, and the deeper mystery of the century babies. Given the name of their date of birth January 1 1900 all posses a type of immortality and more often than not a superhuman ability which allowed them to achieve the unthinkable and in some cases alter the course of history.
“It seemed like Ellis was taking notes from Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” - Rene
As the story progresses it moves between the past and present as well as between deeper story arcs and seemingly episodic investigations. This leads to the middle portion of the series being a bit confusing, there are a lot of characters introduced and a lot of mysteries uncovered from little hints given in previous stories which leave you flipping back a few pages wondering what subtle hint you missed. Combined with the well thought out but difficult to wrap your head around concepts that team uses to explain or deal with problems it can make parts of the series a bit tedious. That being said the quality of the stories were top notch and even the less involved stories were so interesting they left you wanting more making it totally worth wading through a few complicated theories.
“ A bit confusing but addictive by book 2” - Rick
The series end was a bit of a hit and miss topic with the group. Although it was a fitting ending for the characters themselves the reader was left far less personally involved with teams final mission which in some ways made it feel like a “so what?” kind of ending. The latter portion of the series did do a fantastic job of taking many pieces of the previous stories and tying them together in a way that gave even the most episodic of earlier stories a deeper purpose in the overall , that being said it was definitely a love it or hate it kind of ending.
“The ending was all sizzle and no steak” - Jeff
“Loved the ending it had a finality to it” - Scott
“There nothing wrong with a god damn happy ending” - Matt
“Loved the ending it had a finality to it” - Scott
“There nothing wrong with a god damn happy ending” - Matt
Artwork
The art in this series was absolutely fantastic, there really is no shortage to the great things that can be said about how beautifully the fantastic and far out ideas in the world of Planetary were brought to life.
“One of my favorite art styles in book club so far” - Jamie
The combination of Cassady and Depuy was perfect, the characters and surroundings were deep, detailed, and beautifully colored. Despite the fact that the series was released slowly over a 10 year period the art remained very consistent giving the series a solid recognizable look.
“The costume design was fantastic” - Christine
If you haven’t read this series get off the internet and go get it, now! The story was well crafted and engaging if a bit complicated in the middle. Every mission was treat for your imagination and fell together so perfectly in the end that when the last piece of the puzzle falls into place you cant help but want to read it all again. When you combine that with the stunning artwork it adds up to 27 issues worth waiting 10 years for.
“If we had only read the first book it would have been a waste of time” - Colin
“ This book is perfect, it was a tribute to everything” - Remi
“ This book is perfect, it was a tribute to everything” - Remi
