Planetary #18

Planetary #18 brings Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's wildly inventive WildStorm series to one of its most striking visual moments. Cassaday's cover — rendered in a gorgeous, period-etching style — presents a group of Victorian-era figures standing in a rain-swept field: some in period suits and hats, others wearing bulky, mechanical suits fitted with helmet-like apparatus, all carrying equipment that suggests both scientific ambition and grim purpose. Subtitled "The Gun Club," this 2004 issue promises the kind of history-warping, pulp-infused storytelling that has made Planetary one of the most compelling books of its era.