#planetary dc

[kramerblogrealgood]

Comic books that you should read!!! Yes you!!! Right now!!!

These are comics I really enjoy! I'm trying to stick to slightly more obscure comics, preferably stuff that's a little newer, but that's by no means a rule! This is my list baby, I make the rules!

#1: Local Man (Image Comics, 2023)

Local Man follows Jack Xaver, who was once the superhero Crossjack before being unceremoniously kicked out of his team and legally barred from any vigilante activity. Moving back in with his parents in his destitute former hometown, Jack starts to unravel a conspiracy that has ties to both his old team and his old town.

It rules! It's funny and heartfelt and thrilling and if it were a TV show you'd never stop hearing about it. It's also one of the few modern original Image series that actually takes place in the "Image Universe", so it's packed with references to characters like Shadowhawk. You don't need to know all these guys to enjoy the comic by any means, but it's fun for long-time fans.

Most of all, I'm a fan of the basic conceit of this comic: it looks at The Dark Age of Comic Books with the same reverent-yet-critical eye that so many other comics used on the golden and silver ages. I think that rules! A lot of this stuff deserves reappraisal!

#2: The Wrong Earth (Ahoy Comics, 2018)

The concept for this is pretty simple: what if Adam West's Batman got sent to the world of the Nolan trilogy, and Christian Bale's Batman got sent to the world of the 1966 TV show?

They hit all the dramatic and comedic beats you could imagine coming from this premise, and a few you probably couldn't think of. It's not just a one-dimensional parody, though: really sharp writing and an engaging mystery elevate what could easily be, like, a Dorkly video into something special. Which is to say: if you think this premise sounds good you'll love this comic, and if you think it sounds stupid you'll probably still like this comic.

There are some cool character designs here, but my favorite is the villain in both universes:

His name is Number One, and he's a crime boss with an egomania/numbers gimmick. (Sorry for the compressed jpegs)

I imagine "design an original 1960s villain, and then design his edgy 2000s reboot version" would be a difficult prompt for an artist, but Jamal Igle knocks that shit outta the park. Number One really feels like he could fit into Batman's rogues gallery, but he's not a riff on anyone in particular-- he's kind of like all of them. The "1"-shaped scar is an especially great touch.

#3: Ice Cream Man (Image Comics, 2018)

(This image isn't from any cover as far as I can tell, it was posted on instagram by writer W. Maxwell Prince.)

Hey, another from Image Comics! And it's my favorite genre, too: horror anthology. If the pic I chose didn't tip you off, this one gets SPOOKAY! The basic premise is that every issue is a one-shot that features a character going through some kind of horrible misfortune. Tying all these tales of woe together is the enigmatic Ice Cream Man, who seems to be somehow torturing all these humans for his own amusement. We eventually learn that he's an evil god-type thing named Riccardus, and he has a good counterpart who's trying to stop him- all the lore stuff is a little vague, but that doesn't mean it's not interesting! The art style used by artist Martin Morazzo is almost uncanny-valley, it reminds me of The Shivering Truth.

Some of the "horror" in this comic is really personal and upsetting, by the way- the one about dementia made me cry. Actually, a lot of these made me cry. Full on snotty gasp-sobbing. 10/10. Riccardus has real sexyman potential if the freaks on this site would ever read something besides fuckin Wayne Family Adventures.

#4: Wayne Family Adventures (DC/Webtoon, 2021)

What? It's cute, fuck you. "eeuuuhhh it's out of character" you sound like a dweeb man

#5: Eight Billion Genies (Image Comics, 2021)

Just like The Wrong Earth, this has a killer elevator pitch: what if every single person on Earth got exactly one wish, all at the same time? Also like The Wrong Earth, it takes it's premise in every angle you can think of- there's wish trading, wish stealing, cities that are kept safe from the chaos of the outside world but you have to give the city government your wish to get in, you name it. No wonder Amazon bought the rights. Keep an eye out for that movie/series, I guess.

Ok, I need some non-image comics.

#6: Giant Days (Boom! Studios, 2015)

Anime fans, this one's for you: you know all those series you love about groups of cute girls just going through their daily lives? Well imagine if those cute girls were over eightee- hey wait where are you going come back

Giant Days is a slice-of-life story about three young women facing the challenges of college life. Apparently it's a spin-off of a webcomic with like 15 years of strips, but I don't care about all that and neither should you! It's a little like gilmore girls in terms of tone. The dialogue is snappy, all the characters play off each other in ways that's fun to see, and there's this 7 foot tall Australian rower chick who's completely obsessed with her reedy loser boyfriend. It's just comforting. It's like a big plate of mashed potatoes, this comic.

Hey, speaking of slice-of-life:

#7: Megg, Mogg and Owl (Indie/Fantagraphics, 2013ish)

This has the honor of being the only comic on this list that's been adapted to another type of media, in the form of a segment on Justin Roiland's weird kinda-shitty Hulu halloween special. Not much of an honor, I guess.

Anyways! MM&O is about a group of "friends" who live together in drug-addled squalor. Megg is a chronically depressed witch just waiting to die. Mogg, Megg's boyfriend, is a talking cat who just wants to keep the degenerate lifestyle they've built for themselves stable, and Owl is a neurotic sex addict who wants to make something of himself but doesn't want to lose his only companions, and Werewolf Jones is a drug-dealing sociopath. It's like Peep Show! I absolutely love this comic, I reread it constantly, but I'm having a hard time pitching it.

If Giant Days is a plate of mashed potatoes this is like... a gas station hot dog eaten over a storm drain or something. Still kind of comforting, just in a different way. Let's cleanse our palette with some capeshit.

#8: Planetary (Wildstorm/DC, 1998)

Planetary rocks. We follow an amnesiac immortal named Elias Snow as he travels the globe with his top-secret Planetary Investigations team to uncover the secrets of the Wildstorm universe. Think of it like... The X-Files crossed with The Venture Brothers. X-Files in that they investigate weirdo mysteries, Venture Brothers in that every genre of speculative fiction- from Doc Savage-style pulp heroes to Kaiju to James Bond superspies- all exist, or existed, in some form.

Also on the team besides Snow are The Drummer (who has some kind of information-based power I never really understood) and Jakita Wagner, the super-strong ADHD daughter of a Tarzan expy. It's hard to do it justice in a post like this, buy a copy! Or pirate it, if you don't want to give Warren Ellis any money!

#9: Bad Enders (Indie, 2020)

Hey, this one is free! Check it out here: https://beany-tuesday.itch.io/bad-enders-pilot-issue

Bad Enders is a shonen pastiche with all the humor and charm you could expect from a @beanytuesday joint. It's great! It follows a burnt-out twentysomething who once had ambitions of becoming a demon hunter, but has since resigned himself to a life of filling out excel spreadsheets. Beanytuesday has stated there probably won't be any more Bad Enders content, but he has another comic called GUE (https://beanytuesday.tumblr.com/tagged/gue/chrono) that takes place in the same universe.

#10: G-Man (Image Comics, 2009)

i bet you thought i was done with image huh

Anyways, this was my jam back in like 3rd grade and you know what? It holds up. When they say "all-ages" they fuckin mean all ages, I'm a grown man and I can enjoy this.

The story of this entry is that I wanted to end on 10 instead of 9.

The story of this comic is that a kid named Mikey G gets his hands on a magic blanket that allows him to fly, but his brother ALSO uses the magic blanket to fly with and they become, like, rivals, but this other kid can also fly and he starts fucking with them... better than it sounds. There's also this crazy arc later in the series where they have a baby brother but- hold on, I'll show you

See? Nuts.

Ok, that was all of them bye

[sharks-r0ck]

read all of planetary in three days. read the only good fic i could find

secret third step: writing my own goddamn content

[towritecomicsonherarms]

If i am asked what my favourite comic ever is i have 2 answers. One is planetary and the other is Astonishing X-Men

There's 3 things these comics have in common.

1 - The writers, Ellis and Whedon, have both turned out to be a wee bit problematic.

2 - Both are coloured by the excellent Laura Depuy/Martin.

3 - They're both drawn by the amazing John Cassaday who is definitely in my top 3 artists of all time. He's probably top tbh. He's gonna be missed.

If you've never read Planetary you REALLY should.

[ungoliantschilde]

some John Cassaday in black and white.

[therandomartmaker]

What If/Prompt DP X DC

Danny plops into the DC universe, either clockwork shenanigans or runaway, or ghost king duties. He’s learnt from his stint as Phantom and whatever identity reveal/wes weston shenanigans that he probably shouldn’t use the name “Danny” especially since he’s in a new world where he doesn’t know how much people will care about identities, or like, how people would react to ‘Danny’ as the name for a king that’s supposedly thousands of years old.

He won’t be using his Human side much in this new world, only his ghost form, because he’s either on ghost business or for a vacation where his rogues won’t just keep getting stronger or Clockwork needing him to run ‘errands.’

So, of course, he has to choose a new name for his Ghost King Persona to go by.

He chooses ‘Lazarus.’

He doesn’t know Lazarus Pits exist, but the JL sure as hell does, and this green death-themed hero sure sounds like a bad omen.

[evilhorse]

Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta #1

[vertigoartgore]

2003's Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth cover by John Cassaday and David Baron.

[scienceninjaturtle]

Rest in Peace John Cassaday

[kramerblogrealgood]

I will continue to defend James Gunn because if he puts The Authority in his movie that means the chances of a TV show based on Warren Ellis’s Planetary go from 0% to 1%. James please please pleeeease make a planetary show it would be so goooood James please

[siryl]

Teaser from Weird Worlds #7. Art by Howard Chaykin. More scans and information at source.

[shamlesspandanerd]

[towritecomicsonherarms]

Lovely tribute to the legend John Cassaday in DC comics recently.

[chernobog13]

Page from Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth (2003). Written by Warren Ellis, art by John Casey, colors by David Baron, lettering by Wes Abbott and Comicraft.

The Planetary team attempt to capture a man who can create multidimensional rifts and rewrite reality in his immediate vicinity. Along the way they encounter several different versions of Batman, who is also in pursuit of the man.

I miss this book, and this version of Jakita Wagner (the young lady speaking with Batman). I did NOT like how she was portrayed in the most recent series of The Outsiders, which attempted to be a DC Universe version of Planetary.

Then again, I am - and always have been - completely against the integration of the Wildstorm universe and its characters into the mainstream DC Universe. The Multiverse/Omniverse is back; let them reside on their own Earth again.

[guybracha]

Titles that need an adaptation at the DCU

James, I hope you'll see it, please adapt these masterpieces

Tom Strong

Top 10

Maritan Manhunter origin movie

The Planetary

live action version of Young Justice

Phantom Strange

James Robinson's Starman

Keith Giffen's run of Legion of Superheroes

and Legionnaires as a spin-off

Birds of Prey's sequel series, with Black Canary, Huntress, Renne Montoya as Oracle, Blackhawk, and Lori Lemaris

[evilhorse]

Planetary #7

RIP John Cassaday

[balu8]

Planetary #7

by Warren Ellis; John Cassaday; David Baron and Ryan Cline

DC/Wildstorm