I think the way it worked was, most or all scripting was done at home. They didn't have space in the bullpen for freelancers to sit and write, and the staff people had full-time jobs doing editorial & production work so it wasn't a great environment to write in. Stan did most of his Silver Age scripting at home. He only came in like two days a week for a while; Sol Brodsky ran things from day-to-day in the office.

Ah, that all makes a lot more sense. Never occurred to me that space would be at a premium, nor that the most idealized workplace in all of comicdom would be tight and uncomfortable.

Thanks for this!

Werewolf by Night #20



"Eye of the Wolf!"

pencils: Don Perlin
inks: Vince Colletta
letters: David Hunt
colors: Petra Goldberg
editor: Roy Thomas

grade: C+


While Creatures on the Loose #30 marked the first time Moench was given creative control of a mainstream comic book title, he felt constrained by the premise and unable to do anything worth while with it as a result. While Astonishing Tales #25 this month marked the second mainstream comic Doug was assigned to write, it was really Rich Buckler's vision driving the thing. Thus, this issue marks the first time Moench is left in charge of a mainstream Marvel comic where he feels free to work with it as he pleases. No surprise, then, that many remember Moench best for this run and especially for one of the villains that comes out of it.

Little of that can be glimpsed in this first issue though, as the letter column makes it clear that this was yet another rushed, last minute effort to replace a departing writer. Thomas must have had a hand in plotting this as it pays an absurd amount of attention to recent continuity, something that is absolutely up Thomas' alley but which Moench likely wouldn't have had time to research.

Instead, this is a pretty generic story that ties up many loose ends coming out of recent issues. Moench lends the already established first person narration of this title his go-to cynical noir protagonist attitude, which I never particularly enjoy. Whenever Moench turns this style of characterization on, it pretty much means he's not going to provide much depth. I'm hoping that changes in later issues.

Really, the only thing about this issue that feels thoroughly Moench is the introduction of a special ring that allows Jack Russell to turn into the werewolf at will and, more importantly, retain his consciousness while in that form.



As I wrote in my review of Creatures on the Loose #30:


Thus some of Moench's discomfort with writing Man-Wolf. But he manages to steer Werewolf by Night back to this concept of the self-aware werewolf with one unique inversion this time -- Jack struggles to find the ferocity of the werewolf while a fully conscious and moral human being.

It's a FASCINATING premise that I would have loved to see Moench explore further, but the ring randomly gets lost at the end of the issue. Was Moench intending all along for this to be a one-time thing, or did Thomas override Moench's vision for a new direction?


Plot synopsis: A werewolf bearing a magic ring is stalking Jack and learns that his friend, Coker, is also a werewolf. Later, Lt. Hackett visits Jack, explaining that he has discovered Coker is a werewolf and asking for Jack to help him take Coker down, to which Jack reluctantly agrees. Later still, Jack and Clary go on a date where they meet Mr. Kabal who, bearing the ring we saw on the werewolf earlier, may or may not be the same being. Jack feels attracted to the ring and takes it when Kabal offers it to Clary (awkward). Kabal is able to tell Jack where to find Baron Thunder, the man who is holding Jack's sister prisoner, so Jack sets out in pursuit of Thunder, discovering along the way that the ring allows him to will himself into the werewolf, retaining his normal consciousness. A battle ensues, Thunder and his assistant are left in a burning castle, his sister is rescued, and the ring is inadvertently lost in the process.

Planet of the Apes (magazine) #1




Taking on an increasing amount of work as creative talents were being shuffled around the Marvel office, Moench next finds himself assigned to write for the Planet of the Apes magazine. According to Moench, he'd only ever seen the first three films (and only enjoyed the first two)(1) so while only the Heston films end up informing his work on this run, he at least goes in with prior knowledge of the series, understanding most importantly that at the center of the films was a message about racism.

He explains the genesis of "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" as follows:


Racism and social justice in general were new territory for Moench's writing. While he was concerned about social justice in his personal life and tackled it on several occasions in his article writing, his comic work up to this point had wholly shied away from such topics. Maybe it was because, up until now, he'd been working freelance and needed to sell each story (thus controversial topics might prove objectionable to the editor doing the buying). He writes about the freedom he was just beginning to experience at Marvel at this point; freedom which would have allowed him to tackle racism head on in Planet of the Apes:


Combine that with the tabula rasa Conway had left him with this series -- two names and a basic framework and cinematic backdrop; no other constraints within which to work. Beyond this being set on the Planet of the Apes and being about a human and ape friend who get into trouble, Moench had free reign.

And, speaking of free reign, it's intriguing that "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" will make no effort to connect to the cinematic POTA's characters and events. This appears to be the same planet and village, but inhabited by entirely different characters residing within a significantly different culture and set at a much earlier point in time. Most subsequent POTA comic series were not as bold. Perhaps Moench was trying to avoid the constraints of a film series with which he was not overly familiar.

So here is Moench, stepping in to drive a Planet of the Apes magazine being produced at the very apex of Planet of the Apes popularity (all five films were back in theaters and a prime time television series was about to launch), and yet the storyline he's about to serve up is entirely of his own invention and only marginally related to the stories fans were clamoring to see more of. Nevertheless, it works. The magazine proves to be a significant success, and POTA fans today still recall the series with warm nostalgia.


Worth noting: Moench was also writing the comic adaptations of the five films featured along with "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" in each issue of the magazine, but I won't be reviewing those as they are not really his own works.


Anyway, on to the story itself...


Terror on the Planet of the Apes: "Chapter 1: The Lawgiver / Chapter 2: Fugitives on the Planet of the Apes"
Script: Doug Moench (erroneously co-credited to Gerry Conway in the first issue, but this is later redacted)
pencils: Mike Ploog
inks: Mike Ploog

grade: B+


The introduction to Terror on the Planet of the Apes establishes a basic framework for this series, existing at an undefined time after mankind had begun to fall and apes had begun to rise, but before one had clearly come to dominate the other (as seen in the first two POTA films). That then lends a tragic quality to this series -- it has to end badly for our heroes who believe in equality for apes and mankind.

Sure enough, the racial allegory is clearly present right off the bat, with lectures about apes and humans being equals, and Alexander, the ape protagonist, firmly convinced this is the case, while there is clear physical and economic segregation in place, with humans wearing tattered clothing and living on the other side of the stream:



(note: Jason appears to be the only human in this series who can't even afford a shirt, though his parents here are fully clothed. I wonder if Ploog was just trying to channel Charlton Heston in drawing a bare-chested human protagonist)

And once the ape version of the Ku Klux Klan enters, championing "ape supremacy" and wearing hoods while torching houses, beating human sympathizers, and killing humans who befriend apes, the racial level is wholly impossible to ignore. As Don McGregor's bold Panther vs. The Klan storyline is still a year away, that makes this the first Marvel comic series to explicitly call out racial hate crimes in America, albeit via the protection of science fiction allegory.

Ploog's art is brilliant at times in this issue:





and yet he utterly misses the power of the most evocative moment in this story, where Brutus (the villain) murders his own wife in cold blood:



and fails to do justice to Moench's visual concept for this issue: the Ape Klan's compound, described as "an intricate matrix of interconnected treehouses. It is a system of aerial barracks--a bizarre camp of war...". That's not really what Ploog ends up giving us:



Clearly, Moench's idea was more complex than Ploog's, here.


Moench is careful to homage the source material, pulling a scene reminiscent of the trial in the first Apes film:



and repeatedly referencing The Forbidden Zone



as well as the "monsters" rumored to live there who were changed by the nuclear holocaust (a reference to the mutants from the second film).


But, in spite of the homages and the racial allegory, when it comes time for this feature to stand on its own two feet, the characters aren't quite pulling their own just yet. Jason and Alexander feel like bland templates -- one too quick to anger and the other relatively nondescript. And the villain, Brutus, feels more like an archetype of intolerance than a character.

There's much potential to be gleaned from this first outing, as well as the potential for a fascinating discourse on racism and segregation that has the ability to shape all characters involved and transform them into more complex characters, but that isn't where I recall the series going.

As of this issue, the theme is gutsy, and Ploog's art is dazzling at times, but there's still a lot of roughness to it all. To be fair, Moench was a writing machine at this point, tackling more new projects at one time than any sane author should ever be able to accept. The true test of his merit will be how this title fares when he's had a few months to fully adjust to this property and fully understand what he wants to do with it.


Minor Details:

- Why would the Lawgiver, a character we are seemingly expected to place our faith in, leave his inept brother to run things in his absence? While Moench will ultimately do his best to paint this character in a positive light, this first appearance presents him as a figure to be blamed, not just for this action, but for failing to note/act on the segregation and intolerance occurring within his own society while he blissfully preaches co-existence and high ideals. He seems indicative of well-meaning and ineffectual politicians who reside in ivory towers and resort to nepotism at the drop of a pin.

- Why did Brutus allow Alexander to escape when he has the ability to identify and discredit him?




Plot synopsis: Jason and Alexander, a human and chimpanzee, are friends in a future society (set long before the first POTA film) where man is first beginning to fall below the level of apes in the social hierarchy. Their leader, The Lawgiver, preaches co-existence, but announces he is leaving on a secret mission and leaves his inept brother in charge for the duration of his absence. A secret society of "ape supremacists" is terrorizing the community, beating Alexander's father for being an ape sympathizer, and then murdering Jason's parents for daring to befriend apes. Jason swears revenge and, aided by Alexander, traces the apes back to their secret camp, where their leader reveals himself to be Brutus, one of The Lawgiver's most trusted officers, working directly beneath his brother. Brutus then murders his wife for threatening to expose his actions and blames Jason for the crime. Jason is then jailed, but Alexander frees him, and they run for cover in The Forbidden Zone.









(1)Vaughn, J.C. "A Writer on the Planet of the Apes." Comic Book Marketplace May 1999: 31 . Print.

The three-panel-row-from-the-same-perspective is a pretty standard comic technique. Eisner and Kurtzman used it, and it shows up a lot in Kanigher's war and Wonder Woman stories.

Happy 69th birthday, Doug Moench!