Sixth, television science fiction series – Star Trek and Dr Who.Īnd finally, espionage fiction – James Bond and Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD.

Third, Western fiction, and in particular, The Lone Ranger.įourth, motion pictures – Japanese monster movies ( Godzilla), Chinese martial arts movies ( Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and its ilk), Hong Kong crime movies ( Infernal Affairs and many others), 1950s American nuclear monster movies which were sci fi/horror ( Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and Them! with their irradiated giant ants), and American blockbuster action movies ( The Matrix, and Michael Bay’s various movies.įifth, 1930s illustrated adventure pulp fiction – Tarzan, The Shadow, Doc Savage, and Flash Gordon. This issue is particularly poignant to revisit, as Vertigo was recently killed off by DC Comics: see Second, the lost portal of alternative comics into the mainstream, Vertigo Comics, which published titles such as Swamp Thing, Transmetropolitan and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The characters explored at least half a dozen genres arising out of and pertaining to the follow:įirst, mainstream American superhero comic books – DC Comics’ superhero character properties ( Superman, Captain Marvel / Shazam, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern) and, too briefly, its Crisis on Infinitie Earths reboot: and Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk. Featuring an overarching global conspiracy orchestrated by evil stand-ins of Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four (in Planetary, called, simply, The Four), the comic was otherwise expressly archeological in its purposes. The irony of exploring a comic book which explored other comic books was not lost on us. This is a comic book series which ran intermittently from 1999 to 2009, published by WildStorm, an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics. We had for some time been seeking to revisit Planetary.

Planetary, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis