"Planetary" question, any help?

Going from some old Ellis piece.

FU MANCHU -- THE INSCRUTABLE ORIENTAL - HARK
We're not going to go the full Fu Manchu route with this guy. I want him dressed very simply, in a black suit, no tie, the only unusual point being his remarkably long, elaborately painted fingernails.

TOM SWIFT -- THE INVENTOR - EDISON
All-American genius boy grown up into a strapping lad, slim and hard; white t-shirt, blue jeans, gun holstered on his hip, the long white lab coat pushed behind the holster, goggles hanging around his neck, oil on his fingers. A gunfighter-mechanic, if you like... an inventor-adventurer.

TARZAN -- JUNGLE KING - "HIS LORDSHIP"
The English Lord raised by gorillas; tall, muscular, dressed in an fine English suit, shirt, waistcoat -- aristocratic -- a cravat of leopardskin betraying his childhood. Seated, perhaps, fingers steepled in front of him, eyes burning, savagery barely contained beneath the veneer of civilised man.

THE SPIDER -- THE MILLIONAIRE
Like The Shadow, only without supernatural powers, and far, far crazier. A genius, but possessed by the need to save the world. Batman with guns and no mood stabilisers. Long leather coat, slouch hat, guns visible. A Spider design down one breast of his longcoat, in grey against the black.

G-8 -- THE AVIATOR
Tan leathers, cracked and worn... old-style jacket, fur trim and all... the very epitome of the Thirties flyer.

OPERATOR 5 -- THE AGENT - "JIMMY"
The Secret Agent; a thin scar over one eye like Fleming's Bond, American suit and tie (blue, like The Spirit's?); shoulder holster under the jacket, perhaps shades sticking out of the breast pocket. Young, but sharp, knowledgable beyond his years...

I think the Inventor is inspired by Tom Swift (or any other Edisonade character). And while the Aviator could be any number of war hero-type pulp guys, I always assumed Ellis was going off of G-8.

Edit: beaten to the punch.

The Inventor is Thomas Edison, as portrayed in early Edisonade fiction. Dead giveaway, seeing as the character is actually named 'Edison.'

Tracy doesn't seem quite right for Jimmy, but I'm not well versed enough in the pulps to identify him. He's described as a 'Secret Operator for the United States Government,' so I think he's meant just as a '30's era American spy fiction archetype. Also, Dick Tracy and The Spirit are both comic characters (albeit with very strong ties to pulp fiction), and the whole idea of Doc Brass's story in Issue 1 is the Pulp heroes fighting back the comic book heroes and preventing them from entering the universe. Which puts the Rocketeer as a definite 'No' for the Aviator.

Jess Nevins is working on an Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes or some such, which would no doubt be an invaluable resource for this sort of thing, but it doesn't seem to be finished yet.

[edit]Damn. Soundly beaten

This site has some good info on the series and who characters are based on.

I would also advice searching Warren Ellis' site back when he was writing the series since he sometimes had comments there about characters.

well really he is still writing the series as there is one book left...

Actually the only thing we are waiting on is Cassaday to finish it and Wildstorm to put it out. Ellis has been done with it for awhile.

Everyone else already gave you great info, but I wanted to comment and say that you're obviously doing the coolest homework assignment ever.

I am waiting for someone to do a serious look at all the influences Ellis has in the series. Not just the pop culture references but the science and philosophy references at well. Sure that will make a fun read one day.

Planetary 27 has been handed into DC. All it needs is a cover.

Planetary #27 is a great, surprising, optimistic epilogue for the whole shebang. I enjoyed it.

The wraparound cover totally kicks ass, too.

Much more upbeat than I thought it would be.

Ellis despite being cranky and grumpy has a pretty positive side to him. Planetary was always a story of hope. Of unmasking the secret history. Love the way it ended without answering everything. One of the few books I think would be fun to translate to television because you could explore a whole other set of cultural history as well as using it to shove some big ideas into people's heads.