Nicholas
It's always interesting revisiting a work that isn't just highly influential within its own medium, but something so iconic is has become a part of culture at large.
The big thing that stood out to me this time while re-reading is just how beautiful Takeuchi's layouts are. She can make a anything visually stimulating, even something as simple as a conversation. Every page is just a fun collage of pretty & cool visuals that combine to create a unique vibe that's been copied countless times. It's easy to view Sailor Moon as merely a multimedia merchandising franchise, but it's very cool to see just how much of Takeuchi's style still defines Sailor Moon. Even cultural touchstones gotta start somewhere.
What if the pop culture of the 20th century were actually history? That's the question Planetary tries to answer by following a group of archaeologists whose goal is to explore all the strange goings-on in their world, all of which just happen to bear an uncanny resemblance toward popular entertainment in our own.
Each issue of Planetary focuses on a particular pop cultural touchstone, whether they be superheros, pulp adventurers, or kaiju monsters, and reinterprets them through a new, and weird, lens. Though each issue is basically it's own self contained mini-movie, together they form an overarching story about conspiracy, discovery, and the strange landscape that is our shared nerd heritage.
Basically, the bigger geek you are, the more you'll appreciate Planetary. Many of pop culture's biggest names are represented here, albeit in a distorted (though still easily identifiable) manner. Planetary works not just as entertainment, but as a metatexutal exploration of that entertainment. Recommended for anyone who loves geeky things.
The pacing of these past two volumes are a bit slower than the first two, and that may make them feel “boring-er” to some readers, but this is where the themes of the book start showing through.
It's very interesting revisiting these comics after such a long hiatus. The new Netflix series has reignited The Discourse around this series, and it's always interesting/enlightening/baffling to see what everyone gets from Scott Pilgrim. It's impossible for me to accurately review something so influential to my own tastes, and maybe all of the the hijinks and wackiness obfuscates any deeper reading into the story, but Scott Pilgrim always seemed more than just nerdy references. This entire series is ostensibly about coming to terms with that fact that all relationships come with pre-existing baggage. Scott & Ramona come to realize they hurt others in the same way they've been hurt, and they only grow as characters once they attempt to atone for their sins.
I know media literacy is dead, but a story about a protagonist who must, “conquer someone else's evil exes before being allowed to date them” seems pretty blunt as far as metaphors go.