Planetary #27 - WildStorm

First of all this book has a beautiful John Cassaday cover. It's a 3-fold cover, but unfortunately it can't be shown in this little picture. Secondly . . it's about frikkin' time. My last post for Planetary was almost 3 years ago. I know Warren and John have been busy, but . . give a guy a bone, ok? By the way, this series has been almost 11 years in the making. Issue #1 came out in April of 1999. I had to change my frame of mind before I read this book. First of all I'm frustrated because of how long it's been. Secondly . . it's supposed to be the last issue. Aarrrggh! Talk about an anti-climax. So . . anyways . . I cleared my mind . . got rid of all the negativity . . and sat down to read the gem I'd been so longingly waiting for. And . . this issue ended up being all about saving their fourth . . Ambrose. It's all rather complicated but basically . . Ambrose was on the brink of dying. So, to save himself he put himself in this stasis field . . that's not actually right, but it's the closest that I can explain it. Anyways, inside this field he could affect and rewrite the laws of physics. So . . he stopped time. He knew that eventually Elijah would figure out a way to save him. So he had to halt the progress of his wounds until he did. Now comes the tricky part. Drum has to build a time machine. The problem is . . well, the problem isn't building the machine. They know how to do that. They've got plans. The real problem is . . once you can manipulate time, you can only go as far into the past as was the first time machine turned on. So therefore, once the machine is turned on . . everyone from the future would come back to look, and gawk. Which in and of itself isn't a problem. But . . that also means that at that moment the future had come to pass. What has happened has already happened and can't be changed. Therefore, basically . . when you switch it on you've put an end to everything because it's all been done and written. I know. It makes your head hurt . . right? Anyways, long story short . . and without all the scientific paradigms and explanations . . they end up saving Ambrose. Which is what this series has been building to this whole time. However, the frustrating part is . . while this is the last issue, it also clearly is really just the beginning. So will we see another Planetary book? From Warren and John? . . . I doubt it. But maybe we'll see something from these characters somewhere along the line in the WildStorm Universe. Anything is possible. Right? Anyways . . it was a fantastic issue. Well . . fantastic, and frustrating. It was so good that it just served to remind me about why I liked the book so much in the first place. Which, as I said before, is anti-climatic because it's the final issue. There's already a couple Planetary TPB's out there. I'm sure we'll get a master edition that contains every issue. So ya'll have a variety of ways to get ahold of this. If you haven't picked this up . . you should. You won't be disappointed. Even if you never read Planetary before, you should pick this up. You can read this issue in and of itself and you'll be fine. You'll still be able to follow it. Warren and John do a masterful job, and I think they should get all the back-up and following that they can. Oh, and if they're listening . . Thanks!!