Planetary #1

History

Warren Ellis conceived Planetary as a project designed to interrogate the superhero genre from the inside rather than simply produce another entry in it — his stated goal was to scrape away accumulated convention and recover what had originally charmed readers about these kinds of stories. The series was published under WildStorm Productions, which was operating as an imprint of DC Comics; Ellis had originally envisioned a 24-issue bi-monthly run, intending it to be among his final word on superhero comics. A preview story appeared in Gen13 #33 and C-23 #6, both cover-dated September 1998, giving readers a first look at the core trio before issue #1 launched in April 1999; colorist Laura Martin (also credited as Laura DePuy) would go on to color nearly every issue of the series, a creative consistency that sources single out as integral to its visual identity.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Planetary #1 (cover date April 1999) is the first full issue of the series, published by WildStorm Productions under the DC Comics umbrella; the story is titled 'All Over the World.'
• The issue marks the first in-continuity appearances of Elijah Snow (a cryokinetic Century Baby born January 1, 1900), Jakita Wagner (a superhumanly strong and fast field leader), and The Drummer (a technopath who can interface with machines) as the three-person Planetary field team — though all three had appeared earlier in the September 1998 preview stories published in Gen13 #33 and C-23 #6.
• Axel Brass, Kevin Sack (Lord Blackstock), and Bret Leather (The Spider) all appear for the first time in this issue; Brass and most of his superhuman cabal appear in person in the present-day storyline, while Kevin Sack and Bret Leather appear in flashback as members of Brass's 1940s 'Secret Society.'
• Each member of Axel Brass's Secret Society is a thinly veiled analogue of a classic pulp or genre hero: Axel Brass corresponds to Doc Savage, Kevin Sack to Tarzan, Bret Leather/The Spider to The Shadow and the pulp character The Spider, with other society members mapping onto G-8, Fu Manchu, Tom Swift, and Operator #5.
• The issue introduces the Snowflake — the series' signature visualization of the multiverse as a theoretical structure existing in 196,833-dimensional space, drawn from the mathematical concept of the Monster group — establishing the cosmological framework that underpins the entire 27-issue run.
• The central mystery of the 'Fourth Man' — the unnamed, unseen patron funding Planetary's operations — is established here as a deliberate hook; it is not resolved until issue #12.
• The series was originally planned as a 24-issue bi-monthly; production delays stemming from Ellis's serious illness and Cassaday's other commitments caused a hiatus between issues #15 (2001) and #16 (2003), ultimately stretching the run to 27 issues concluding in October 2009.
• Issue #1 has been reprinted multiple times: it is collected in the trade paperback Planetary Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories (issues #1–6), the Absolute Planetary hardcover editions (Book One collects #1–12 and includes the full script for issue #1), and the Planetary Omnibus — which also reprints the original 1998 preview story from Gen13.

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