Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth

I totally kicked his ass.: Jakita Wagner

You like him, don't you? He's your special bat-friend.: Elijah Snow

Get away from me.: Jakita Wagner

Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth is a one-shot with a cover date of August, 2003. It was published on June 25, 2003.

Appearing in "Night on Earth"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

John Black

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Planetary (Gotham Office)
- Richard Grayson
- Jasper

Locations:

Gotham City
- Crime Alley

Items:

Batspray

Vehicles:

Batmobile

Synopsis for "Night on Earth"

The Planetary team travels to Gotham City, in order to find a man known as John Black. They meet with representatives from the local office, explaining that Black's father was a survivor of Science City Zero, and they believe his father may have passed on some genetic enhancements to Black.

Their suspicions are confirmed when they see pictures of Black's victims, who met grisly, seemingly multidimensional fates. Investigating the spot he was last seen, they find him, but in chasing him encounter a bizarre individual dressed as a giant bat: Batman. Snow and The Drummer pursue Black; Jakita fights the Batman.

The insane Black's power is apparently to generate a multidimensional field, which rewrites sections of reality about him by sending his immediate sphere of influence careening across parallel worlds in the multiverse. Although Black and the Planetary team are unaffected, the journey draws different versions of the Batman from multiple worlds into the conflict, each singly determined to bring Black to justice, despite Planetary's insistence that only they can help him.

It's only when one such shift brings enlightenment to Batman and Black -- both men lost their parents to murderers -- that Planetary is able to convince Batman to let them take him in.

Notes

The members of Planetary are the properties of the DC Comics owned company, Wildstorm Studios. As the Planetary members and Batman each function in entirely different continuities, this one-shot special takes place outside the continuity of the mainstream DC Universe and the Wildstorm Universe.
This issue is reprinted in the Planetary: Crossing Worlds collection.

Trivia

Batman's incarnations are Bob Kane and Bill Finger's original, a version based on Adam West's portrayal in the 1960s TV series, Neal Adams' Silver Age portrayal, and Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One.
Elijah Snow's statement of having witnessed a "partial multiversal collapse" in 1986 is a reference to the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The Gotham Planetary field office is staffed by a version of Dick Grayson. His assistant Jasper is an analogue of the Joker.
The Finger Street District is named after Bill Finger, the original creator of Batman.
Elijah Snow references having visited Gotham with a group called the "Conquerors of the Uncanny" in 1959. The Conquerors of the Uncanny are likely a reference to the Challengers of the Unknown, a team of adventurers who appeared in 1957.
The Drummer being punched unconscious by Batman is a reference to the "one punch" meme, originating in Justice League #5. Elijah Snow's later irritation that he wasn't there to see it echoes a similar scene in that same issue, when Black Canary was similarly irritated at having missed Batman knocking out Guy Gardner.

Links and References

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