Planetary Vol. 2: The Fourth Man

 (16 customer reviews)

I have often been asked by many of my friends about why a man of my age would even bother to spend time reading a comic book. Usually, my response is to lend them a copy of something by Warren Ellis.In my opinion, this book and the one that precedes it are great examples of the very best that western adventure comics have to offer. Ellis skilfully constructs a hidden history and slowly draws the reader along, often leaving us gasping for more. He satisfies the comic lover with his exploration of some of the genre stereotypes, while, At the same time, giving us a great thriller/mystery that the not-so-comic-versed can also enjoy.All this and great art too. Cassaday really adds immeasurably to the words on the page.This is a strong piece of work that you should really look into.

I was somewhat disappointed with the previous volume of Planetary. I felt that Ellis just kind of dropped us into the action without much set up, especially in character development. The Fourth Man really improves upon the earlier premise. Ellis starts to unwind a much larger plot, while Cassaday's skills mature into true excellence.Some of the essentially single issue tales presented here are stronger than others, but each one, while still a distinctly separate story, winds in threads of intriguing future developments. Ellis also effortlessly manipulates time, seamlessly showing us past events while leading up to future revelations. Elijah Snow is a captivating character, deeply enigmatic, charasmatic, yet conflcted. His search for his missing blocks of memory is extremely well handled and really has me hooked and looking forward to the next volume of the TPB series.Cassaday's art, and the rich colors supporting it, is magnificent throughout. His detailed, stylish...Read more

About the story: Elijah Snow, a man with a very mysterious past, previously joined Jakita Wagner and a man only known as 'The Drummer' to be in the three-person formation that is the field-team of the 'supernatural archaeology-agency' called 'Planetary'. An agency hidden to the outside world which researches and maps the secret history of the world, the history that was kept secret to the public eye. All the expenses they make while doing so are being paid for by a person which is only known as 'The Fourth man'. Nobody knows who he/she is or what he/she looks like. In this book some mysteries that were brought up in the previous volume get worked out. For example, we get to learn of the man who was the third man in the agency before Elijah, we learn a lot more about Elijahs past, and most important, we find out who 'The Fourth Man' is. Next to that more is revealed about "The Four", we get to learn members of the agency in other parts of the world (in a VERY good issue,...Read more