| SYNOPSIS: A narrator, who we later determine to be Elijah Snow, tells a Creation story in which the First Day saw the sun
explode through the dark surface of the Earth, awakening the slumbering Ancients, who then strode across the world singing it and all of its
lifeforms into being. In the present, Snow and Jakita Wagner visit a modest-looking suburban home whose door is answered by a woman: Larissa Chase, widow of former Planetary third man Ambrose Chase. Snow tells her that she and her daughter, Angela, are now independently wealthy, part of his efforts to "right old wrongs." He later, he places a call to Jim Wilder (Issue #4), requesting
information on coordinates and Anna Hark, and meets with Dr. Axel Brass. Brass apologizes for hiding the fact that they'd crossed paths before, at Jakita and The Drummer's request, and the
two discuss previous encounters. Snow then brings up another topic: The Four. Sometime later, Planetary is en route to
Australia, as the local office has reported Four activity in the area of Ayres Rock. Snow knows why: In 1931, an explorer named Carlton Marvell, anxious to experience interplanetary travel, learned of a concept called The Dreamtime. Thought to be a space at the
center of all things ("maybe the whole multiverse was dreamed into being"), The Dreamtime has an access point at Ayres Rock, a place where reality is thin. Marvell went through, Snow was there at the time -- and now The Four are there too. Planetary arrives to find a Four ship hovering above the mammoth outcropping and what looks to be an immense gun poised over it. That gun, Snow explains, likely incorporates part of the Creation Song that can open a gateway into
The Dreamtime...but only Snow himself knows the rest of the song, and he has Jakita and Drums use it as a virus to
disrupt The Four's plans. It works: Planetary's virus awakens the Ancient which, asleep, is Ayres Rock. Rising, it turns The Four's gun and spacecraft into scrap metal. Snow wishes The Four's Dowling a good morning, saying, "From here, things will only get worse."
REVIEW: As can be said of many issues of this series, if this were the first issue of Planetary you ever picked up, you'd be pretty lost. But it may be truer of this particular issue than any other, as it's one that feels much more like pieces of a story than a whole one. Granted, at its heart, there's a team effort to thwart The Four's attempt to invade (or destroy) The Dreamtime. There's also the Creation Song itself, bookending the tale, and the dramatic awakening of The Ancient, a power seemingly greater than any we've yet seen in this series. (Which is really saying something.) But there's also a ton
of fragments -- Larissa and Angela Chase, Jim Wilder, Axel Brass, Carlton Marvell. These are the elements to the issue that linger, all offering tantalizing glimpses of larger stories, either ones that have come before, or ones that, perhaps, are yet to come.
It's great to see Planetary finally hand The Four a setback. Cassaday's
renditions of the Ancients, and little things like the borders on the Carlton Marvell sequence, continue to showcase both his range and his wonderful attention to details. And the cameos from numerous supporting cast members are a treat to those of us who have read and re-read every issue to this point.
But forgive me if virtually every sequence left me hoping for more, and with a finite amount of issues left, I wonder if these hopes will be fulfilled. Will we ever see the previous Brass/Snow encounters cited here? How long before we get a Four encounter that features the entire Four? Jim Wilder, Doc Brass, Ambrose Chase, Carlton Marvell...can we possibly get to know all these characters to our satisfaction? (Not to mention the Planetary members themselves.) I want more. This issue just wasn't enough.
I enjoyed it, of course, as I have enjoyed them all. Disappointment isn't the right word, but dissatisfaction might be. The wait for No. 16 is going to seem pretty long. | |  Random Thoughts:Just in case there weren't enough mysterious allusions and references in this series before this, we get a cryptic conversation between Snow and Doc Brass that raises more questions than it answers. Unless anyone else knows what the hidden city of Opak-Re is...
Great to see Doc Brass again. On a message board someone speculated that his new haircut might be due to copyright concerns, which reportedly surfaced when the Doc Savage-like character starred in Issue #5. Another answer, supported by his evidently leisurely lifestyle these days, is that he's just relaxing a bit. I guess half a century of sleeplessly guarding the world has earned him a bit of a break. You know, until he's healthy enough to help Planetary knock off The Four, or help Jim Wilder pilot his shiftship.
To me, the scene with Larissa Chase suggests we're going to see Ambrose again, while others have speculated the key to the scene is their daughter, Angela, who may have inherited some of the abilities that Ambrose himself inherited. In any case, the scene is probably not included merely to show us what a benevolent employer Snow is.
Carlton Marvell: Initially I thought of Marvel's Captain Mar-Vell, but it's more likely (or additionally) a play on comic companies Charlton and Marvel. Regardless, it's likely we'll see this explorer again.
What coordinates is Snow getting from Wilder? It doesn't seem likely it would be related to Ayres Rock, because its location is common knowledge. (By the way, I've seen the theories that Marvell and Wilder are one and the same, but I'm choosing to disregard them.) Rating: 8/10. As has been noted, the bar has been set pretty high. |
