| SYNOPSIS: In 1997, a military force descends upon a crashed rocketship in the English countryside. They retrieve it and secure it in a hidden underground facility. Sensors reveal that the craft has four occupants -- "one more crewmember than departed." While investigating, they're interrupted by the Planetary field team: Jakita Wagner, the Drummer, and a third man, a black man in a white suit named Ambrose Chase. His reality distortion abilities enable them to make short work of the soldiers, but they sense another force at work. It comes out that a secret organization has created a world, "Planet Fiction," and sent a team into it to explore. Their ship has since returned with a powerful occupant of this fictional world, one who mutilates the three crewmembers before escaping into the hidden facility. Planetary wipes out the 2,000-strong military force ("Dr. Dowling will be upset laments the elderly, slightly mad project director), but Chase, shockingly, is shot to death by the director. Dying, his life comes to him a series of snapshots: learning about his father, a survivor of City Zero (Issue #8); joining Planetary; and meeting the Fourth Man, whose life he apparently saved. Engraged and distraught, Jakita attacks his killer, merging the man's gun with his hand. "You can't treat me like this," he shouts, insanely. "I'm the only one who knows the plot. If you kill me, the movie will never end." "We're archaelogists," says Jakita, in tears. "We'll dig you up and work it all out in a couple of years." Then she turns out his lights. REVIEW: I suppose we already guessed that Elijah Snow's predecessor in Planetary was a dead man, but it's still startling to see it happen. And horribly tragic, as he seemed both an intriguing character and a good man. A hero. "The black guy always dies in science fiction movies," says his killer. I hated him for that. Almost too much here to assimilate, but some things are clear. Retrieving an inhabitant of a fictional world had a profound effect both on this issue ("we're living in a science fiction movie") and perhaps even more. It's very possible that with this operation, which ended badly for all concerned, Dr. Dowling and (presumably) the Hark Corporation have opened up a Pandora's Box that's even more than they can handle. One thing is certain, a new and powerful player has entered the game.
Chase's death is a shame, for his reality warping powers are great to see in action and very impressively drawn by Cassaday. Slow-motion bullets right out of The Matrix. It's great to see Jakita unleashed, too. And it's no wonder why the Drummer doesn't participate in many field missions: he's not much use in a fight. I loved, and was upset by, this issue. Tough to read, and so much going on you almost overlook the incredible concept of Planet Fiction's very existence. Too much to grasp before we're dealing with Chase's death and the escaped inhabitant. Yet another classic. And Elijah Snow, remarkably, wasn't even missed. | |  Random Thoughts:Randall Dowling was in charge of the Planet Fiction operation and was also, of course, behind Science City Zero, which ultimately created Ambrose Chase. It's only a matter of time before Planetary catches up to him, and he's going to have a lot to answer for...and this is before the relevations to come in Issue 10. A lot happens on the two pages in which Chase recalls his life. We see Jakita apparently losing someone close to her, a hint that the Fourth Man is perhaps not a man, and the intriguing news that the Fourth Man has a fondness for white suits. One might guess he knew of Elijah Snow already... Much is said also on the final page. "In 1997, the Fourth Man was missing in action," and "The fourth individual brought back from the sample return mission is still at large." References to the number "4" are starting to show up as often as to the snowflake. Can't be a coincidence. It's the little things that count (thanks to Autumn Tysko): Jakita's last line ("we'll work it all out in a couple of years") echoes her Issue #1 comment to Snow, two years later, about what happened to the previous third man. Very nice. RATING: 9/10. Grim and cool. |
