From the twisted and endlessly-innovative mind of sensational, award-winning writer Warren Ellis (The Authority, Transmetropolitan), comes Planetary, a mysterious organisation endlessly probing and dissecting the secret history of the Earth. But in Crossing Worlds, Planetary probe a little too far, tearing the very fabric of reality and finding themselves in alternate universes! There they encounter jackbooted metahumans The Authority; a twisted incarnation of fabled superteam the JLA; and various versions of the Dark Knight himself, Batman! Battling either alongside or against Planetary, these three new stories feature a host of familiar legends and heroes as they've never been seen before!
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Planetary Crossing Worlds
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
The Ultimate Answer, January 2005; " I defy you to dislike it."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Warren Ellis' prolific writing can be seen on such varied and acclaimed titles as The Authority, Transmetropolitan, Lazarus Churchyard and the award-winning Planetary, as well as on the forthcoming Ministry of Space, Morning Drgons and Scars. John Cassaday is perhaps best known for his work on Planetary, but has also drawn the likes of Captain America, Union Jack and Daredevil.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Crossing Worlds collects three previous Planetary stories, all of them crossovers: Planetary/Authority in which both teams encounter the same evil Lovecraftian threat, then independently repel an invasion from the Bleed; Planetary/JLA where the heroless DC universe is ruled by the very Four-like Planetary corporation and it's up to Clark Kent, Diana Prince and Bruce Wayne to find out why; and lastly Planetary/Batman where the field team meet the Batman during an encounter with the son of Science City Zero survivor in Gotham City.
Planetary/JLA is the only one (seemingly) out of continuity with the series for those that care about that sort of thing. All three are good stories with great art. My only complaint is that each are very brief and could have benefited a great deal from an extra ten or so pages to let the story unfold.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
PLANETARY, by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday, has been one of the most fascinating comic book series I've ever seen/read/enjoyed. It concerns the adventures of a group of mystery archeologists who go round the world uncovering the hidden bits that keep our world a strange place to be in, the way it SHOULD be. These bits take on the shapes of major comics culture touchstones embedded in the conciousness of die-hard fans (Monster Island, Superheroes, Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage) but with that arcane twist that has made Ellis a great postmodern comics writer (anothe great title is GLOBAL FREQUENCY--ever wonder what the $6 Million Dollar Man would REALLY be like? Take a look, if you dare.)
The team, made up of: Elijah Snow, born at the turn of the 20th century, has the power to generate cold, cranky as all get-out and the founder of the Planetary Agency; Jakita Wagner, an orphan who hates to be bored and is as powerful as she is beautiful; and the Drummer, who can communicate with any and all mechanical devices with the help of his drumsticks, all roam the world, looking for the aforementioned "artifacts", but also trying to stop those that would with hold those wonders from the rest of us (ever wonder what the Fantastic Four would really be like--once again, look, if you dare).
CROSSING WORLDS takes the reader on a wild ride through adjacent realities where the Planetary team encounter--in order--The Authority (one of PLANETARY's sister team magazines in the WILDSTORM line), a version of the JUSTICE LEAGUE (of DC COMICS fame) and, last but not least, BATMAN (no other intro needed).
Ellis handles the writing chores, while Phil Jimenez (THE INVISIBLES, OTHERWORLD, INFINITE CRISIS) does the artwork on the Authority tale, Jerry Ordway(ALL-STAR SQUADRON, POWER OF SHAZAM) delineates the JLA tale and JOHN CASSADAY (CAPTAIN AMERICA, ASTONISHING X-MEN) brings his unique vision to BATMAN: NIGHT ON EARTH--the best of the three. The Authority tale gives a glimpse of the premiere team of the WILDSTORM universe and the JLA spin unfortunately falls short of what could have been a suspensful tale of what could happen if the Planetary team followed the path of the Four, trying to keep Humanity dull and boring.
BATMAN: NIGHT ON EARTH follows Elijah, Jakita and the Drummer to Gotham City where a young man is committing impossible murders only to meet multiple iterations of the Dark Knight, with Cassaday bouncing through various representations of the character throughout his long history. A sight to behold and a great jumping on point for new readers.
Other Planetary collections; AROUND THE WORLD; THE FOURTH MAN and LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY gather the hard-to get early issues of this marvelous series.
It's a strange world.
Let's keep it that way.
The team, made up of: Elijah Snow, born at the turn of the 20th century, has the power to generate cold, cranky as all get-out and the founder of the Planetary Agency; Jakita Wagner, an orphan who hates to be bored and is as powerful as she is beautiful; and the Drummer, who can communicate with any and all mechanical devices with the help of his drumsticks, all roam the world, looking for the aforementioned "artifacts", but also trying to stop those that would with hold those wonders from the rest of us (ever wonder what the Fantastic Four would really be like--once again, look, if you dare).
CROSSING WORLDS takes the reader on a wild ride through adjacent realities where the Planetary team encounter--in order--The Authority (one of PLANETARY's sister team magazines in the WILDSTORM line), a version of the JUSTICE LEAGUE (of DC COMICS fame) and, last but not least, BATMAN (no other intro needed).
Ellis handles the writing chores, while Phil Jimenez (THE INVISIBLES, OTHERWORLD, INFINITE CRISIS) does the artwork on the Authority tale, Jerry Ordway(ALL-STAR SQUADRON, POWER OF SHAZAM) delineates the JLA tale and JOHN CASSADAY (CAPTAIN AMERICA, ASTONISHING X-MEN) brings his unique vision to BATMAN: NIGHT ON EARTH--the best of the three. The Authority tale gives a glimpse of the premiere team of the WILDSTORM universe and the JLA spin unfortunately falls short of what could have been a suspensful tale of what could happen if the Planetary team followed the path of the Four, trying to keep Humanity dull and boring.
BATMAN: NIGHT ON EARTH follows Elijah, Jakita and the Drummer to Gotham City where a young man is committing impossible murders only to meet multiple iterations of the Dark Knight, with Cassaday bouncing through various representations of the character throughout his long history. A sight to behold and a great jumping on point for new readers.
Other Planetary collections; AROUND THE WORLD; THE FOURTH MAN and LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY gather the hard-to get early issues of this marvelous series.
It's a strange world.
Let's keep it that way.
19 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By N. Foong
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Planetary: Crossing Worlds is a woefully inconsistent collection of stories that feature crossovers with The Authority, JLA and Batman. There are three self contained stories presented here, and all fall short of anything we have seen in the ongoing Planetary series which is arguably the best work by writer Warren Ellis to date. In his regular series, Ellis manages to stimulate our imagination with over-the-top but fully realised ideas that are an exhilarating blend of pseudo-science and pulpy, nostalgic treasures of days gone by. In contrast, Planetary:Crossing Worlds feels incomplete. It lacks the cleverness and spectacle that has pushed this title's namesake into comic book greatness. Little if anything is added by way of character development and the disjointed story telling will put off all but the most hard core Ellis fans.
In the first story (Planetary/Authority: Ruling the World) Phil Jimenez lends his detailed pencils to what should have been a classic encounter between Ellis's two best creations. Instead we are presented with an `alien fish' invasion story that fails to rise above mediocre. If you were anticipating interaction and dialogue between the two teams you will be sorely disappointed. There is a brief flashback `encounter' from 1939 between Elijah Snow and Jenny Sparks but little else is on offer by way of a `crossover.'
The second story (Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta) is even less satisfying and ends up a confusing mess. Featuring serviceable if unspectacular artwork by Jerry Ordway this story is set in an alternate Earth where an evil Planetary rule the world and the only ones that can stop them are Diana, Bruce and Clark. Little respect is shown for any of the characters here and the reader is given little reason to care for where this story takes us.
The final tale is able to partly redeem this collection thanks mostly to the stunning pencils of John Cassaday. Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth takes Planetary to alternate Gotham realities where they meet numerous incarnations of the Bat. Both amusing and rewarding for those familiar with Batman over the past 20 or so years, we are finally treated to some great action and interplay expected of a crossover book. However as much fun as Ellis and Cassaday must have had putting this together, there is a sense of novelty here and nothing substantial to pick up on a second reading.
All in all, Planetary: Crossing Worlds offers little to regular and casual comic book fans and is hard to recommend. The crossovers feel forced and Ellis fails to hit his stride. Perhaps if given more space to flesh out each story there could have been a better presentation, but it is doubtful there will be second chances for future comic books featuring these characters.
(Also of note: this collection has 2 pages of miscellaneous sketches for Planetary/JLA but does not present the original comic book covers anywhere)
In the first story (Planetary/Authority: Ruling the World) Phil Jimenez lends his detailed pencils to what should have been a classic encounter between Ellis's two best creations. Instead we are presented with an `alien fish' invasion story that fails to rise above mediocre. If you were anticipating interaction and dialogue between the two teams you will be sorely disappointed. There is a brief flashback `encounter' from 1939 between Elijah Snow and Jenny Sparks but little else is on offer by way of a `crossover.'
The second story (Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta) is even less satisfying and ends up a confusing mess. Featuring serviceable if unspectacular artwork by Jerry Ordway this story is set in an alternate Earth where an evil Planetary rule the world and the only ones that can stop them are Diana, Bruce and Clark. Little respect is shown for any of the characters here and the reader is given little reason to care for where this story takes us.
The final tale is able to partly redeem this collection thanks mostly to the stunning pencils of John Cassaday. Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth takes Planetary to alternate Gotham realities where they meet numerous incarnations of the Bat. Both amusing and rewarding for those familiar with Batman over the past 20 or so years, we are finally treated to some great action and interplay expected of a crossover book. However as much fun as Ellis and Cassaday must have had putting this together, there is a sense of novelty here and nothing substantial to pick up on a second reading.
All in all, Planetary: Crossing Worlds offers little to regular and casual comic book fans and is hard to recommend. The crossovers feel forced and Ellis fails to hit his stride. Perhaps if given more space to flesh out each story there could have been a better presentation, but it is doubtful there will be second chances for future comic books featuring these characters.
(Also of note: this collection has 2 pages of miscellaneous sketches for Planetary/JLA but does not present the original comic book covers anywhere)
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
good
Im a fan of Warren Ellis. I didn't read all the series but getting this is like getting a couple comics in one.
Published 1 month ago by dodgerofdeath
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed Blessings
The stories in here were very uneven, and it was questionable if they even fit into the Planetary storyline or not. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Charles F Royal
3.0 out of 5 stars
"You see, my life is boring... things like severely beating men...
- The Drummer, watching Batman hurtling towards him and Elijah Snow: "There's some kind of transvest!te ho0ker running down the alleyway at us. Read more
Published 10 months ago by H. Bala
5.0 out of 5 stars
Three splendid tales of the most original super-team of the last two...
Three brilliant novellas (as Warren Ellis himself would call them himself) featuring a team of super-powered self-called archeolgists of the hidden secret history of the 20th... Read more
Published on July 15, 2010 by Adriano1977
4.0 out of 5 stars
BEST PLANETARY YET
While the first three Planetary volumes are incredibly awesome and original, this one is by far my favorite.
Published on May 2, 2009 by David Ooley
4.0 out of 5 stars
For the Fans: Worth Musing Over
Here we have a trio of unrelated stories involving the Planetary team. While loosely tied to the series' main arc, the stories are free of continuity. Read more
Published on April 30, 2009 by Peter Men
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some actual info.
Ellis. I like him, even if he mocks us 'Merkins ruthlessly.
Since there is currently no information about this collection, I'll provide the blurb from... Read more
Published on April 14, 2004 by "r0bb"
4.0 out of 5 stars
fey, maybe not.
lovecraft was definitely a racist, but lots of people were then so its a non-issue.
planetary is good. especially liked the alternate superman/wonderwoman/green lantern story.
Published on April 13, 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars
Question- What does this trade encompass ?
Hate to do this but there's little to no info. Does this trade pick up where the Fourth Man left off, encompassing some of the retro history of Planetary ? Read more
Published on April 13, 2004 by Matthew L. Evans
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not always your usual typical subversive Brit-crap
Reading a Brit's (or Scot's--i.e.: Ellis, Moore, Gaiman, Morrison, and ESPECIALLY Ennis) is like the Sinead/National Anthem debacle or more recently, Alanis/Janet Jackson (... Read more
Published on April 11, 2004 by criderman
