| SYNOPSIS:
"I'm William Leather. John Leather was my grandfather." So the story begins as the steely blue eyes of William Leather
stare out at us, narrating the history of the Leather family. His Texas Ranger grandfather had inherited, along with his
brother, a silver mine, a fact that got the both of them kidnapped and tortured by the villainous Dowling gang. His brother
died, but John escaped into the wilderness, there to be found by a renegade Indian from the renegade Potawatomi Indian
tribe. To find out what Leather was made of, he drugged him, perhaps driving him insane in the process
(if the torture didn't already have him walking that path). Leather survived, returned to his silver mine, and spent
eight days casting silver bullets tipped with mercury. Donning a black eye-mask, the lone ranger's first mission was revenge
on the Dowling gang, and he got it. He became legend for his criminal-fighting activities in Texas, and sometime later
fathered a son - born on January 1, 1900. His birthdate wasn't the only thing special about Bret Leather, who used the
silver mine to build a fortune and then fight a war on crime in the guise of a terrifying underground hero. So busy was
the man dealing death - and then one day joining a team of heroes with similar birthdates and similar goals - he wasn't even
around to father William Leather; his wife did that with one of his assistants. Leather would learn all this in a meeting with Randall Dowling, sometime after 1945, when Bret Leather and
his associates met their fate in the Adirondacks. Dowling told Leather what he had missed out on - superhuman abilities, functional immortality - and
shared his plans with Leather: "We will punish them all by becoming great." Forty years later, Leather - who we learn has been talking to Elijah Snow the whole time, while
bolted onto a table in a blue-lit room - realized Dowling had merely used him. He, Leather, wouldn't stand for it ("I was supposed to be
great") and planned to become greater than Dowling on his own. But, he acknowledges, "Now I'm here." Snow shares his lack of sympathy, tells Leather the
way of the world - Greene exiled, Dowling and Suskind next - and tells him that while he has been advised restraint, he plans to ignore it, as he now remembers
their history, remembers the Nautilus, and remembers who Leather killed. As the issue ends, Leather's torture begins.
REVIEW: It may be strange to refer to an issue as “old school” when we’re only up to #22, but since the series is into its 7th year now (and yes, I’m feeling old), it seems appropriate. This issue, told almost entirely in flashback, and linking modern characters with a variety of literary and pulp classics like The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, and the Spider, is old school Planetary in every sense of the word. And that’s probably why it was more fun than any recent issue, too.
From the pulse-pounding cover to the bloody end, this issue sweeps you up in adventure and the drama-filled backstory of a pretty evil character. Nothing here changes our view of William Leather – if anything, we think less of him, since whereas his ancestors (blood relations or no) used their extraordinary abilities to rid the world of evil men, Leather uses his to benefit only one man, himself.
There’s something particularly depressing about the fact that his grandfather’s remarkable story, followed by his father’s remarkable story, boils down to William Leather sitting in a bar getting recruited by Randall Dowling to be his foot soldier. And then not long after Leather decides to go it alone, he ends up strapped to a table having his eyes destroyed by Snow. Snow’s little, “Well, that’s all very sad” is classic.
This is what Planetary is about to me: The Secret History of the 20th century, in comic book form. And this issue we get it.
| |  Random Thoughts:The full page shot of an enraged John Leather on a rearing horse is yet another reason to love John Cassaday.
The repeated shots of Leather's eyes as he tells his story do a nice job of foreshadowing the issue's grisly conclusion. And surely I wasn't the only one thinking of Frank Miller's classic Daredevil #181, also narrated by the villain, and featuring similar close-ups on the man's eyes.
I'm very resistant to message board notions that such and such is related to such and such - people overdo it and look for things that aren't there. That said, I do have to recognize a comment I saw that noted Dowling drinking a soda pop in his meeting with Leather. The Drummer is seen drinking one in several early issues. Do I think there's a connection betwen Dowling and the Drummer, not really, although I guess we'll find out for sure next issue. But it seemed so incongruous with the evil Dowling I did think it worthy of mention here.
Although one might assume Bret Leather is an analogue of The Shadow, apparently he's to be more closely identified with The Spider. Here's a link.
There's some debate over whether Dowling and Leather KNOW what happened in the Adirondacks at the time of their meeting. My feeling is no. Dowling knows of the Century Babies, it appears, since he knows enough to find Leather, but I don't think he knows of their fate.
The ending suggests that Snow remembers Melanctha's warning from the previous issue, and chooses to ignore it, at least for now. I wonder if we'll get to see that Nautilus story someday....
Rating: 10/10. Issues like this keep me coming back. |
