''Battle of the Planets'' is a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series based on the television series of the same name. 10 issues were published from June 1979 to February 1981 by Western Publishing in Gold Key and Whitman comics.

Top Cow Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992. History During the early years of Image Comics, which was founded in 1992, co-founder Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim Le ...

released a dozen comics in the 00's.

Publication history

Originally released in

form by

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, the series was later revamped by

Top Cow Productions Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992. History During the early years of Image Comics, which was founded in 1992, co-founder Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim Le ...

with a new twelve-issue limited series starting in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. The series was originally planned as an ongoing comic, but low sales led to its cancellation at issue 12, which ended the series with a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

. A two-issue mini, ''Endgame'' (originally listed as ''Coup De Gras''), was solicited in 2005, and was meant to tie up the loose ends, but never made it to print. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, there were a number of crossover one-shots starting with

Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers B ...

. This was followed by two crossover issues with the ThunderCats; the first (May 2003) was published by Top Cow and the second (July 2003) was published by

Wildstorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wilds ...

. These were followed by a number of other comics: a ''Battle Book'' one-shot, one-shots focused on Mark and Jason, and a six-issue limited series called ''Battle of the Planets: Princess'' released in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, which was written by

David Wohl David Wohl is an American comic book writer and editor. He is best known as an editor at Marvel Comics and Top Cow Productions and, at the latter, writing '' The Darkness'' and ''Witchblade''. Career David Wohl began his creative career as a h ...

and illustrated by

Wilson Tortosa Wilson "Wunan" Tortosa is a Filipino comic book artist best known for his works on ''Tomb Raider'' and the American re-launch of ''Battle of The Planets'' for Top Cow Productions. Wilson studied in the Philippine Cultural High School and graduate ...

. Top Cow also published three issues of a ''

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

'' version in 2003–2004. Top Cow's license is now lapsed, and there are no plans for future ''Battle of the Planets'' works from them, including the unreleased ''Endgame''. A different ''Battle of the Planets'' strip was published in the UK weekly in

TV Comic ''TV Comic'' was a British comic book magazine published weekly from 9 November 1951 until 29 June 1984. Featuring stories based on television series running at the time of publication, it was the first British comic to be based around TV pro ...

from 1981 to 1983, illustrated by Keith Watson.

Reception

The comic received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Collected editions

The various series have been collected into a number of

trade paperbacks A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

: The Gold Key series: *''Battle of the Planets Classics Volume 1'' (140 pages, collects ''Battle of the Planets'' (1979) #1-10,

Dynamic Forces Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptations ...

, 2003) The Top Cow comics: *''Trial by Fire'' (collects ''Battle of the Planets'' #1-3, 80 pages,

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

, March 2003, , Top Cow, May 2003, ) *''Blood Red Sky'' (collects ''Battle of the Planets'' #4-9, 144 pages,

, November 2003, , Top Cow, December 2003, ) *''Destroy all Monsters'' (collects ''Battle of the Planets'' #10-12, ''Mark'', ''Jason'' and ''Battle of the Planets/Witchblade'', 208 pages, Top Cow, December 2003, ) Digests of the Top Cow comics: *''Trial By Fire'' ('collects ''Battle of the Planets'' #1-9 and ''Mark'', 244 pages, Top Cow, January 2004, ) *''Destroy All Monsters'' (collects ''Battle of The Planets'' #10-12, ''Battle of the Planets: Manga'' #1-3, ''Jason'' and ''Battle of the Planets/Witchblade'', 248 pages, Top Cow, August 2004, )

References

* * * * * * * * * *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of The Planets (Comics) 1979 comics debuts 2002 comics debuts Comics based on television series Comics set on fictional planets Science fiction comics Gatchaman

Publication history

Reception

Collected editions

See also

References

Notes