May 1999 - Planetary 02 - Island

Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer investigates an island containing the remains of great kaiju monsters.

 

The Jurassic Park  front cover is quite misleading - so we'll ignore it (though it's quite spectacular). While the issue is engaging in its portrayal of the Mishima-like cult leader and his followers and the appearance of dead famous movie kaiju, the story is quite slight. We're still in the early days of Snow's membership of the Planetary organisation so we're still getting to grips with the organisation and its members. It's obvious that Planetary is a global organisation with offices operating all around the world. Once again, the Planetary team seem to do little other than arrive at a location where they observe something unusual and then retrieve "secret history". At this point in the series, they aren't active protagonists. Much of the early scenes involving the Planetary team are used to restate their characters. The Drummer - once again! - sits out most of the issue. Snow and Wagner show off some of their powers.

The issue in detail

There's no statement of how much time has passed since the events of issue #1 though, from Snow's comments on page 12, he's still quite new to Planetary. This issue begins with the arrival of a small boat on an island somewhere cold. A group of Japanese men disembark. The leader, wearing a hachimaki bearing the symbol of the red rising sun makes what seems to be a joke about how cold it is. The leader, Ryu, insists on being referred to as "Master Storyteller" and that his novels are now to be considered as "scripture". The Master Storyteller locates the setting: an island between Japan and Siberian Russia. He says that he claims the island on behalf of Japan. The arrival of the Master Storyteller and his followers appears to be a rite before they attempt a coup (involving taking cocaine and storming the Japanese parliament). They climb a small mountain and see the remains of a gigantic flying kaiju in the valley below. The kaiju seems based on Mothra. Ryu - the Master Storyteller - is likely to be based on the novelist Yukio Mishima, who attempted a coup in 1967 before committing seppuku.

 

• In Tokyo, the Planetary team are let into their Japanese office and are welcomed by a punk-looking Shinya Fekuda, the Tokyo station chef (who Jakita Wagner gives a friendly kiss). Elijah Snow speaks Japanese and says that he learned to speak the language in 1925. Fekuda reveals that he has summoned them because of Zero Island. He says: Zero Island is off-limits and contested territory; Jakita Wagner has been there before; and the "mildly infamous" novelist and his five acolytes are on the island and must not be allowed to discover what is on the island (oops, too late!). Drummer - dramatically (with the aid of a polaroid-type camera photo stuck to his head) - tells Snow that the island contains monsters.

  
  
  
  
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  Meanwhile the Master Storyteller and his followers see the skeletal remains of a King Ghidorah-like kaiju embedded in rock. The Master Storyteller says that they are in Hell and takes a pistol out of his pocket.

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  Onboard the helicopter travelling to Island Zero, Snow reminds the reader that he is employed by Planetary and being paid a million dollars. Snow smokes a cigarette. He says that he smokes every couple of years and that he knows that Jakita Wagner does this - but doesn't reveal how he knows. Drummer is cold but Snow says that he's unaffected by the cold. Wagner shows Snow the corpse of the flying kaiju and tells him that they need to prevent Ryu and his followers seeing anything else. Snow is startled by the sight of the kaiju.

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  Meanwhle Ryu stands inside the remains of a Godzlla-type kaiju. Some of the followers are vomiting and one, Jun, complains of the stench. Ryu declares that the remains are "holy". When Jun challenges Ryu, the Master Storyteller rants and, at gunpoint, insists that his followers eat the rotting flesh of the kaju. Wagner sees what's happening from far off. Snow can't which indicates one of her abilities is enhanced vision. Jun continues to disagree with Ryu and the Master Storyteller shoots Jun's head off. Wagner runs at great speed (another power) to catch up with the men.

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  Ryu declares they will eat the kaiju's flesh for dinner and reveals that he ate the flesh of his girlfriend in a sex club in Osaka in 1989. A group of soldiers with guns (later we see they wear USA, Japan and Russian badges) arrive and tell Ryu that he will not be able to leave the island (alive). Ryu shoots a bag containing nerve gas and it kills them all.

• Wagner runs from the gas cloud and warns Snow that the cloud is blowing towards him. Snow behaves cooly and uses his power (of "heat subtraction") to freeze the gas. Wagner says that the Fourth man didn't tell her about Snow's abilities. (She seems fine with not knowing things.)

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  Wagner reveals to Snow the history of the island:

  • • The monsters on Zero Island appeared the day after Hiroshima (7th August 1945).
  • • She speculates about what actually caused the monsters (mutagen test, door from parallel Earth, alien).
  • • By 1950, the island was filled with giant monsters. The monsters never left the island or bred.
  • • The monsters died off in the 1970s.
  • • A small guard were stationed on the island to protect its secrets.
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  Zero Island is a stand-in for Monster Island from the Toho Godzilla series and the giant creatures are clear analogues of famous kaiju. Their appearance in after Hiroshima and dying-out in the 1970s follows the rise and decline of the Japanese monster movies.
  

   

  Wagner plans to remove whatever secret information is on the base on the island before replacement guards are dispatched. They see a flying kaiju - Rodan - which both Snow and Wagner find awesome. It's a Jurassic Park ending that also infers the continuation of kaiju cinema.
  

   

  Questions and Mysteries
  

 

• • What was Snow doing in Japan in 1925?
  • How does Snow know things about Jakita Wagner?
  • Why didn't the Fourth Man explain Snow's abilities to Wagner and Drummer?
  • What was Wagner doing on Zero Island?
  • Why does Drummer so obviously avoiding frontline activities and waits in the helicopter?
  • How did the kaiju actually come to Zero Island - is it connected to the operation of the "quantum brain" from issue #1?