He saves things, Jakita. He saved me. He saved you -- you were an orphan too, you know that much. The whole point of his writing the Planetary guides was to save things, save information, save experiences. He has to take out the Four to save us -- same as he took the memory blocks to save us. He also has to get their information. He has to save knowledge they've gathered from them, see? But he needs all that weird science and esoteric data for something else too. I'm not good at people. But I am good at information. And I've known Elijah Snow half my life. I've seen what he's reading. I know where he's been. He wants the Four worse than ever, sure. Some Century Babies are defenders. Some are pioneers. Elijah saves things. I think he wants to save Ambrose Chase.
Planetary #23 is an issue of the series Planetary (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 2005. It was published on June 29, 2005.
Synopsis for "Percussion"
The Drummer and Jakita are having coffee at an outdoor café, talking about Elijah Snow. Jakita knows that Snow isn't telling anyone they've captured William Leather, while The Drummer knows that Leather has been moved to a secret location. Jakita thinks Snow has changed, but The Drummer defends him, saying Snow's motives are less sinister than they appear. Drums sees Snow as a man acting out of concern for his colleagues, and even his foes. He asserts that Snow saved Jacob Greene's life by sending him on a one-way trip out of the solar system--that way he didn't have to kill him. Drummer continues by explaining Snow's secrecy regarding Leather as a bid to protect the Planetary team from reprisals from the remaining members of The Four. Drums then goes on to hint that he has figured out Snow's purpose as a Century Baby.
Years ago when Drums was a child, he was one of a dozen young captives of Randall Dowling, using his talents to help control global information. They are all seated in a row in front of computer terminals. Each them has an explosive collar around their neck. Snow, Jakita, and Ambrose Chase infiltrate Dowling's operation to rescue the captives. Despite taking out the guards, one of them manages to activate the bomb collars. Jakita could only save Drums as she yanked his collar off. Before Drums leave with his rescuers, he asks Snow if he can "break their stuff?" A plainly amused Snow consents, and Drums begins tapping on the terminal in front of him with his drum sticks, causing every terminal to overload and causing the room to explode. The Planetary field team and Drums barely make it out by jumping out onto a cargo plane.
Later, one of the Planetary doctors explains The Drummer's powers to Snow: he sucks up and processes any kind of information around him. She describes him as having half of his brain in "informational space," which leaves him in a semi-detached state with reality. Snow resolves to return Drums to his family. But he soon founds out from John Stone (while being in a car chase and fired upon by "Sumatran Robot Death Sluts") that Drums' parents, grandparents and everyone in his known family are all dead, under rather suspicious circumstances. Stone suggests a deliberate attempt to extinguish Drummer's genetic line, and goes on to explain that the room they found Drums in was populated with some gifted children, but that Drums was uniquely gifted among them. Stone speculates that someone didn't want more of his caliber in the world.
Snow shares the terrible news to Drums. But Drums already knows from having already read about Stone's investigation, and pointing out to Elijah that putting him in a foster home would be problematic due to his gift. Snow is left with little choice but to offer The Drummer a spot on Planetary, as he explains to him that the organization saves things in the world, and saves the people on it.
Back in the present, The Drummer tells Jakita that saving things is what Snow does. And he thinks that now, Snow is not only trying to get The Four. He's trying to save Ambrose Chase.
Appearing in "Percussion"
Featured Characters:
- Planetary
- Elijah Snow (Flashback only)
- Jakita Wagner (Flashback and main story)
- The Drummer (Flashback and main story)
- Ambrose Chase (Flashback only)
Supporting Characters:
- John Stone (Flashback only)
Antagonists:
- Randall Dowling (Behind the scenes)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is collected in Planetary: Spacetime Archaeology
Trivia
- The hover-car driven by John Stone is based on the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle in Marvel Comics.
See Also