Some Authority/Planetary help needed!

[Brian R]

Alright, I am not knowledgeable about the WS universe, but I have heard very good things about both these titles, so I have a few questions.

1) Could someone please give me a quick rundown of what each book is all about? Doesnt have to be in-dept, just something along the lines of "Five dwarves who live in the village and dress up like ladies to fight crime" will suffice.

2) I checked on the DC site for the trades, but it says nothing about what order they are in, could someone tell me what order they should be in, in case I want to start buying some?

Many thanks in advance.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

The Authority is a spin-off of Warren Ellis run on StormWatch.
However, it really is unnessecary to have read StormWatch to understand the book, at all.
That said, his StormWatch run was really great stuff, and well worth reading.

The Authority:
It's sort of an extreme Justice League.
Bigger stakes, more action.
The first arc has them against thousnads of superpowered clones, 2nd has them against an enitre parralell world, and the 3rd arc has them against a being who may be god.
It's a lot better than that makes it sound, and it was the first and only book to really make "Widescreen Comics" work.
Each story went for four issues, and it really was like seeing a blockbuster movie with an infinite budget.
IMO only the Warren Ellis issues (the first 12) are worth reading.

Planetary is completly original creations.
The Planetary organisation looks into the mysteries of the world, the secret past, as it were.
You get a Monster Island type scenario, Hong Kong action movie with ghosts, a vertigo style story etc.
Every issue is a standalone read, with an ongoing storyline building up as it goes on.
Great characters, intresting stories - the only downside to the entire book so far was the over a year long break Ellis took due to illness - it broke the flow of the story and issues are less regular now as the artist had to take on other work in the meantime.
I'd definetly reccomend this one.

Trade Orders:
Authority:
1.THE AUTHORITY: RELENTLESS
2.THE AUTHORITY: TRANSFER OF POWER
3.THE AUTHORITY: EARTH INFERNO AND OTHER STORIES
4.THE AUTHORITY: UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
5.THE AUTHORITY: HARSH REALITIES
6.THE AUTHORITY: FRACTURED WORLDS

There's also some collected mini's and a hardcover:
THE AUTHORITY: HUMAN ON THE INSIDE
THE AUTHORITY: KEV

Not sure on their order within the series, probably doesn't matter too much.
In myopinion only the first two trades are essential.
Others say that 3 & 4 are great, but there's another thread on the board at the moment with a few of us saying why they aren't, and I've barely heard a good word said about 5 &6, though I've never read them.

Planetary:
PLANETARY BOOK 1: ALL OVER THE WORLD AND OTHER STORIES
PLANETARY BOOK 2: THE FOURTH MAN
PLANETARY BOOK 3: LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY
PLANETARY: CROSSING WORLDS

The fourth trade is a collection of one-shot crossovers Planetary had.
The Batman one is great, the JLA one less so.
It also includes the crossover with the Authority, which was a good read, though the teams never actually meet, they sort of work around each other (Planetary is aware of the Authority, but some of the authority only begin to think that someone else might be around doing stuff - although two of the characters have met in the past).
This is a good read, but takes place before the 2nd trade of the Authority.

Hope that helps.

[dancj]

IMO only the Warren Ellis issues (the first 12) are worth reading.


Opinion on that one varies greatly. For my money, Warren Ellis's issues of the Authority paled by comparison to Mark Millar's run.

You never know there might be someone somewhere who likes Robbie Morrison's run best

[Hipnautik]

I actually enjoyed it all. The original stuff, Ellis and Millar. I like the Vol. 2 series, and I'm enjoying the new series. People like to praise the Ellis stuff and discount the other author's as unreadable, no way it's all good.

But I'd start at the beginning picking up the trades.

Good website someone pointed me to, when I got into the Authority:

http://www.sequart.com/authority.htm

[dancj]

I'd start with Stormwatch - By the time Ellis had found his feet on that (about the 3rd trade), it was miles better than The Authority

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I'd start with Stormwatch - By the time Ellis had found his feet on that (about the 3rd trade), it was miles better than The Authority

I defiently reccomend StormWatch as well - I enjoyed it more than the Authority, but thats because I enjoy the more political and sci-fi aspects it had, where as the Authority was just sort of the Ultimate super-hero book - how they should be sort of thing.
(Thats how Ellis run was anyway).

[Perry Holley]

Another vote for starting off with Stormwatch.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

It should be pointed out again though, you don't need to read StormWatch in order to enjoy The Authority.

I hadn't when I first read the book - but I have since.
( I think I like StormWatch better).

[Chris Thomas]

my 2 cents:
1. authority is sort of like extreme jla but ellis had to really jam some of the characters in (esp. the swift) to fit the mold and added some extreme sci-fi and massive infusion of politics

2. planetary is a disection of the genres of comics---just about all of them--within a context of story involving a team of 'adventurers' all with powers of their own. I think it is also evolving into a 'who is REALLY the bad guy?' plot