Reviewer: John Babos
Story Title: Night on Earth (part 1 of 1)
Written by: Warren Ellis
Penciled by: John Cassidy
Inked by: John Cassidy
Colored by: David Baron
Lettered by: Comicraft’s Wes Abbott
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Publisher: DC Comics
The much-anticipated Batman / Planetary crossover, the one that “inspired” uber-artist Planetary co-creator John Cassidy, and led to delays in that ongoing series, has finally hit the shelves, and — not to sound cliché, but — was well worth the wait.
For those unfamiliar with the Planetary, here’s the 411 using writer Warren Ellis’ own words from his official website, warrenellis.com, “Planetary are three people who walk the world for strangeness and wonder. Jakita Wagner, capable of dropkicking a rhino across the Grand Canyon. The Drummer, speaker to machines and probable mental case. Elijah Snow, cold and alone and a hundred years old. A three-person field team dedicated to both excavating the secret history of a 100-year superhero continuity that no-one knew existed, and dealing with its present-day incursions into the light of day all over the world.”
The Planetary is a well-financed worldwide operation with field offices in different corners of the globe, including one in a Gotham City, that’s Batman-less in their universe… for know.
For those of you who have lived under a rock your entire lifetime, Batman is described as follows on DC Comics official website, dccomics.com, “Though regarded by many Gothamites as an “urban legend” built on superstition and fear of the city’s darkened streets, Bruce Wayne knows all too well that the Batman is a cold, hard reality of his own fabrication. Since his parents’ death in Gotham’s dreaded “Crime Alley,” Wayne has spent his life in pursuit of physical and mental perfection in order to wage unrelenting war on crime. Watching over Gotham’s streets from its gargoyles and parapets, the Dark Knight is the city’s last best hope against evil. And it is this obsession that drives the Batman, for Wayne has vowed that no innocent should suffer the pain he has endured.
Man-o-man, DC’s corporate description of their franchise guy is way to wordy and jumbled. Perhaps this may explain the lack of staying power of the Batman movie franchise and the waning comic book interest by fans until Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s current 12-part “Hush” arc in the pages of the regular Batman series. Anyhow, essentially, Batman is a crime-fighting super-hero to some, vigilante to others, that dons a black leather “fetish bat” (using Warren Ellis’ words from this issue) get-up and stalks the world’s most cowardly lot, criminals, using superior intellect and physical prowess.
The premise of “Night on Earth” revolves around the concept of a multi-verse — multiple universes. Wildstorm‘s Planetary occupy a different universal plane than parent-company DC‘s Batman. I don’t want to spoil this great read for you, but suffice it to say that the villain in this piece, a John Black, seems of have mental seizures of some kind that shift parts of his universe’s Gotham City, including the Planetary, into different universes whose Gotham City has a Batman. If you look at the credits on the back cover that read “Inspired by the creative visions of Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Carmine Infantino, Bob Kane, Frank Miller, Jerry Robinson, and Alex Ross,” you may understand the type of story that you’ll be getting. However, this is the best written, non-confusing, multiple-earths story I have ever read. This is the standard by which this genre of story should be written.
I have one word to describe Warren Ellis superb writing — wow. His plotting and simple way of telling a potentially convoluted story is breathtaking. His scripting? Spot on. Excellent. He is truly one of his generations best writers.
Artist John Cassidy is equally solid in this issue, with my only nitpick being that his renditions of the Joker and Dick Grayson (currently Nightwing in the DC Universe and Batman’s first Robin) just don’t feel right. Outside of that, his attention to detail and renditions of Batman are great and capture the essences of the character over time. His work is equally deserving of my “wow” compliment.
Pick up Planetary / Batman. This is some of the best work I’ve read of any genre. Very true to the spirit of both titles. Highly Recommended.
