| SYNOPSIS: The Planetary helicopter touches down at an abandoned military base somewhere in the Southwest, where a lone woman is waiting for them. "Allison," a beautiful, Marilyn-esque blonde radiating a distinct electric blue glow, has a story to tell, interrupted briefly when the group is attacked by three giant ants that make the subjects of the 1950s movie Them! look tiny. The group moves inside, Jakita kicks the hell out of the radiation-mutated attackers, and Allison reveals the dark history of the base, called U.S. Science City Zero ("not on any maps...a nowhere town"). "This is where we made the monster movies," she says bitterly, and where she was killed. Built at the height of the red scare, roughly 1950, it was a concentration camp for American dissidents -- people the government could round up without them being missed. Telling the world they were suspected communists, they told the prisoners they could do to them whatever they wanted. And then they did just that. Allison was shot by firing squad and brought back to life. Compared to the rest of City Zero's residents, she got off lightly. Most of the others were turned into horrifying freaks: mindless giants, faceless ghouls, creature hybrids....Unthinkable, ghastly stuff. And behind it all, using atomics ("atomic ray...atomic projection...something like that") to pervert nature and abuse innocents in the name of "scientific exploration," are two faces we've seen before. The soulless scientist in charge of the experiments, The Four's Randall Dowling, and the woman coldly overseeing it all, Hark Corporation head Anna Hark. As the members of Planetary digest this information, Allison concludes her story. The base was abandoned around 1960 (just in time for the events described in Issue #6, and she has been in hiding since then. Now, with her radioactive half-life of 50 years just about up, she's telling all, and begging Planetary to use the information against the people that killed her...that killed all of them. "I'm so glad I met you," she says, as she crumbles into dust.  REVIEW:
If you don't find this to be Planetary's scariest issue thus far, then my best guess is that you place your faith in government and humanity in general to be totally above the kind of horrors shown here. But considering we know much of the litany of evil perpetrated on humans during the Holocaust, and we also have some disturbing evidence of government experiments (biological and otherwise) on unaware military personnel and even innocent civilians over the past several decades, it's difficult for me to be that naive. Do I believe in resurrection and 50-foot giants? No. But do I believe that facilities much like U.S. Science City Zero may have existed at one time, and may even exist in some form today? Do I believe in the existence of men like Dowling and women like Hark? I only wish I didn't.While this issue was a horrifying and unpleasant pill to swallow, it was powerful and gripping. Also important: we learn more about the Hark Corporation, more about the villainy of the members of The Four, and more about our main characters. Most specifically, we learn plenty about the hard price a job with Planetary extracts, in terms of knowledge and awareness of things that could keep one up at night. In the end, it's yet another sin added to the ledger of the Hark Corporation, and The Four. On the final page, it is as if we are witness to Elijah Snow's heart breaking. Powerful, frightening...and depressing. And great. | |  Random Thoughts: Is Allison meant to be Marilyn Monroe? ("...slept with the wrong man" perhaps referring to her rumored relationship with JFK) The chronology wouldn't quite work, of course, since Monroe didn't appear on the scene until 1952. But it's the best guess I've got at the moment. Again we get to see one of the things that makes Jakita's day: unleashing her powers against something really big. Pure joy. And to think we thought Dowling was a bad guy in #6. As for Hark, this is the first sense we get of just how ruthless she is. I am guessing things will get even worse. I'm just paranoid enough to worry that one of these two psychos might ultimately be unveiled as Planetary's fourth man. I hope I'm wrong... Another snowflake reference: one man's brain is replaced by an "atomic snowflake field," and he channels the consciousness of someone on another planet. I love dogs. I don't think I want an atomic one though. Thanks to John Cassaday for imagery that disturbed my sleep for a while. The guy moving in and out of visibility. Pleasant. Another classic from Laura DePuy. The hectic reds on the first few pages, the luminescent blues of the night sky, and the concentration camp greys of Science City Zero. Outstanding. RATING: 9/10. Brutal stuff. |
