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"Planet Fiction": In 1997, a military force descends upon a crashed rocketship in the English countryside. They retrieve it and secure it in a hidden underground facility. Sensors reveal that the craft has four occupants -- "one more crewmember than departed." While investigating, they're interr

Quote1 We're archaeologists. We'll dig you up and work it all out in a couple of years. The end. Quote2
Jakita Wagner

Planetary #9 is an issue of the series Planetary (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 2000.

Synopsis for "Planet Fiction"

In 1997, a military force descends upon a crashed rocketship in the English countryside. They retrieve it and secure it in a hidden underground facility. Sensors reveal that the craft has four occupants -- "one more crewmember than departed." While investigating, they're interrupted by the Planetary field team: Jakita Wagner, the Drummer, and a third man, a black man in a white suit named Ambrose Chase. His reality distortion abilities enable them to make short work of the soldiers, but they sense another force at work. It comes out that a secret organization, that is control by The Four, has created a world, "Planet Fiction," and sent a team into it to explore. Their ship has since returned with a powerful occupant of this fictional world, one who mutilates the three crew members before escaping into the hidden facility, and killing many of the facility's personnel.

Planetary wipes out the 2,000-strong military force, but Chase, shockingly, is shot to death by the director. Dying, his life comes to him a series of snapshots: learning about his father, a survivor of City Zero; joining Planetary; and meeting the Fourth Man, whose life he apparently saved. Enraged and distraught, Jakita attacks his killer, merging the man's gun with his hand. "You can't treat me like this," he shouts, insanely "I'm the only one who knows the plot. If you kill me, the movie will never end." "We're archaeologists," says Jakita, in tears. "We'll dig you up and work it all out in a couple of years." Then she turns out his lights.

In a short text epilogue, the fourth man Ambrose Chase was declared missing in action and the fourth individual that was brought back from the sample return mission is still at large.

Appearing in "Planet Fiction"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:


Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:



Notes

  • This issue is collected in Planetary Vol. 2: The Fourth Man.

Trivia

  • This issue is dedicated to Grant Morrison, dealing with the metafictional concerns that are often prevalent in that author's work.
  • Jakita's "sh*t" being cut off by the panel border allows the language-restrictions of the series to remain intact but also plays into a developing series of demonstrations that the borders do limit or can be surpassed, from the bloodspatter and previous dialogue by off-panel speakers.
  • The director commenting "The black guy always dies in science fiction movies." is a stereotypical reference to how movies in the past have black actors being killed off half way into the story as the movies themselves are being presented to white audiences.


See Also


Links and References

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