I know we've got some comic book readers on this forum so I thought I'd ask: can someone please explain what exactly Planetary is about? or what it is that is supposed to make this series so great?

I had read so many positive reviews of the series so I went and picked up the first 2 trades only to find myself baffled as to what all the uproar was about. Granted, the artwork is wonderful, but I just don't get what the series is about. It almost seems like a knowledge of some of Warren Ellis's prior work is needed to get what is actually going on. Maybe it's just that I've never read anything by Warren Ellis before, or maybe it's just over my head. He starts plotlines then doesn't resolve them; they just go nowhere or they go off on some very strange tangent and by the end of the issue I'm left scratching my head as to what just happened.

So can anyone help?

"Planetary" is an archaeological superhero group.

The artistic/literary aspect of the book is to put twentieth century superheroes into the context of their pulp/pop culture antecedents (such as Doc Savage, the Lone Ranger, Godzilla, Dracula, Tarzan, etc.). Almost every storyline in the book is based on some kind of popular fiction character or concept.

For example:

#1. Doc Brass and his group consists of analog for Tarzan, Fu Manchu, James Bond, The Phantom, Doc Savage, etc. who end up fighting a twisted version of the classic Justice League line-up (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter).
#2. The island of monsters is loosely based on Godzilla and other giant Japanese monsters.
#3. Hong Kong action movies.
#4. Captain Marvel/Shazam
#5. Doc Savage again.
#6. The Fantastic Four
#7. Vertigo Comics
#8. 1950s sci-fi
#9. Quatermass
#10. Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern
#11. Spy fiction like James Bond or The Avengers
#13. Victorian fiction (Dracula, Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes)
#14. X-Files
#16. Kung-fu movies
#17. Tarzan
#18. Jules Verne/H.G. Wells Victorian science fiction
#19-20. A take on Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novels and Marvel's Galactus
#21. Doctor Strange
#22. The Lone Ranger and other iconic cowboy archetypes
#23. Big budget action movies, The Matrix
#24. Jack Kirby's Fourth World (Darkseid in particular)

The format: Each issue (with a couple of exceptions where there are two-parters) of the comic book is a self-contained story, though there is a greater arc that runs through the series.

The plot: The plot involves an organization called "Planetary" that has existed for decades whose fuction it is to catalog and explore the strange and supernatural. This organization, led by a mysterious figure referred to as "The Fourth Man," has found itself at odds with another group called simply "The Four" (who are themselves analogs of the Fantastic Four). The Four's primary mission is scavenge esoteric technology from Planetary's world as well as others for their own mysterious purposes.

The Planetary group, when we first meet them, consists of Drummer (whose superpower is the ability to parse information and communicate with machines) and Jakita Wagner, who has standard superstrenght and invulnerability. They seek out a missing third member, Elijah Snow, who as his name implies, can manipulate temperatures in the lower ranges. Snow has been away from Planetary for quite some time and has had his memory of his involvement with the group erased.

Thanks Josh! This will help a great deal the next time I do a read through of the first two trades.