shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 19, 2015 15:27:24 GMT -5
Star Trek / Planet of the Apes: The Prime Directive #1 (IDW and BOOM!)  writers: Scott Tipton and David Tipton pencils: Rachael Stott colors: Charlie Kirchoff letters: Tom B. Long editors: Sarah Gaydos (IDW) and Dafna Pleban (BOOM!) grade: B- In the wake of the Star Trek: The Next Generation / Dr. Who crossover, it's exciting to see Planet of the Apes considered as worthwhile a franchise in 2015, especially as this series appears to align with the original film franchise and not the new rebooted film series. This first issue is, for all intents and purposes, a Star Trek story. The focus is on the original crew (and I'm similarly excited that it's done in keeping with the original Star Trek franchise and not the rebooted JJ Abrahms look and continuity), so there isn't a lot of POTA material to discuss at this early point. But, even though the plot has lots of logic gaps and conveniences shoved into it (Really? You're going to infiltrate the Klingon Empire with an espionage mission that could trigger a massive war, and you send the Enterprise's helmsman and communications officer to do it??), the actual logic behind the two properties meeting is working at this point. Essentially, the Klingons have somehow come into possession of advanced alien technology allowing them to travel to the alternate reality in which the Planet of the Apes takes place and, for unknown reasons, they are arming a gorilla general named Marius there. It's quite intriguing actually, especially as Kirk and the gang beam down, fully understanding that this is an alternate version of Earth's future. Shining utopia meets crumbling dystopia. To quote Spock: "fascinating." Regarding the execution of the story, itself, apart from some significant convenience and logic lapses, the characters are well written, the plot is enticing, the artwork is excellent, and really only the colors and inks fail to impress. Otherwise, this series has potential. But where/when are we on The Planet of the Apes? Spock indicates that the year in this alternate reality is 3978, meaning that this story occurs around the time of the first Apes film (and, indeed, the cover art for the next issue shows Kirk and Taylor meeting), but who in the world is General Marius? He clearly wasn't present in any of the original films. Important Details: - It's 3978 (the year that Taylor arrives on the Planet of the Apes in the first film) - The Klingons are aiding a gorilla general named Marius with more advanced rifles (circa the 1960s) - Confirmed that a nuclear world war is what devastated human society on the Planet of the Apes, which is heavily suggested by the original film series, but discounted in the Adventure Comics series. plot synopsis in one sentence: The Klingons are arming a gorilla general named Marius with advanced rifles (100 stamped sheet metal rifles), Kirk's crew infiltrates a Klingon base in order to steal plans confirming that the Klingons are violating the Treaty of Organa by expanding beyond their boundaries, but they are expanding into an alternate dimension via unknown alien technology, Sulu and Uhura blow their cover while stealing the plans, meaning a war with the Klingons is imminent, Kirk takes the Enterprise to the gateway into the alternate reality, and they beam down to the Planet of the Apes, discovering that sentient apes reside there. A decent enough start, but the series hasn't really offered anything yet to excite a fan of the Planet of the Apes. As of now, the planet is little more than a setting. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,866
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Post by shaxper on Jan 19, 2015 15:33:12 GMT -5
A potential spoiler for later issues in this series:  |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 19, 2015 16:00:59 GMT -5
I picked this up when it came out and I wasn't all that enamored by it, the coloring made the art just look very flat and uninteresting to me. Unless your review of the second issue is really stellar I don't think I'll be giving this another try.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,866
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Post by shaxper on Jan 19, 2015 18:02:52 GMT -5
I picked this up when it came out I've got to get to my LCS more often. How many weeks ago did this come out? |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 19, 2015 18:13:11 GMT -5
I picked this up when it came out I've got to get to my LCS more often. How many weeks ago did this come out? It was one of those weird New Years Eve books, which I picked like two days later I think. |
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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 19, 2015 19:45:04 GMT -5
If only...  From the same blog that gave us Captain America and the Maltese Falcon. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 23, 2015 19:38:32 GMT -5
Star Trek / Planet of the Apes: The Prime Directive #2 (IDW and BOOM!)  writers: Scott Tipton and David Tipton pencils: Rachael Stott colors: Charlie Kirchoff letters: Tom B. Long editors: Sarah Gaydos (IDW) and Dafna Pleban (BOOM!) grade: D Sigh. So here's where a decent concept goes horribly wrong. After explaining all we needed to understand about the basic plot last issue, Tipton and Tipton begin moving us through the plot points, and it's all so damn conventional. The enigmatic ally who seems like maybe he can't be trusted, the female doctor/specialist who empathizes too much and can't stay objective, and, worse than all that, a whole lot of tropes and stereotypical one-liners ("I'm a doctor, not a zoologist, Jim") make it abundantly apparent that the Tipton brothers have no real interest in providing any true characterization here. It's all tired caricatures being tossed around in order to recycle old plots into a new one. The worst offense, though, comes when we FINALLY get to our familiar Planet of the Apes characters and find no personality there to speak of. In the first two POTA films, Taylor was an anarchic misanthrope who detested mankind, and especially the apes for how well they emulated mankind's hypocracy, ultimately choosing to go away and be left alone. In this story, though, he's overly anxious to have Kirk and crew help him overthrow the apes and win the planet back for humankind. That's just not Taylor. And, when we finally get to Zira and Cornelius, one slight quip from Cornelius aside, they're just there to give information. The two most cherished characters in the entire POTA franchise are left utterly wasted. Think of all this crossover could do to further expand the scope of The Planet of the Apes. With their technology and outside perspective, the Trek crew could have finally given us glimpses of what the planet was like outside of that one insular Ape City, it could have offered us an opportunity to see Kirk and crew explore the shocking failure of humanity's dream...it could have done so much. But it's clear this story has no ambition. It's every bit the spectacle crossover that it looks like with no hidden depth to be discovered within. That's just damn disappointing. And, by the way, Rachel Stott's art got about a thousand times worse in this issue. It's like she just stopped trying. Important Details: A gorilla named Brutus gets shot (but not killed). It's possible this is a nod to Marvel's original Planet of the Apes comic, in which the chief antagonist was a gorilla named Brutus, but the timing is wrong. That storyline was set closer to Caesar's time (after the fifth film, when mankind could still speak and still shared some rights in Ape City). plot synopsis in one sentence: Kirk and Crew are detected by the apes, they beam back and discuss the planet where apes evolved from man, they beam down again and (conveniently enough) accidentally find Taylor just after the end of the first film, Taylor wants them to help humans conquer ape society, Kirk quotes the Prime Directive, they recruit Cornelius and Zira's help in stopping the Klingons from supplying weapons to the Klingons, and Taylor knocks out Chekov and steals his communicator. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 23, 2015 21:09:52 GMT -5
Looks like I dodged the bullet here, I nearly pulled the trigger on this the other day because the cover looked fun but your review is damn depressing. It's weird, sometimes the Tipton brothers come up with some pretty good stuff but other times its just complete crap and there's never any middle ground.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 24, 2015 8:56:02 GMT -5
Looks like I dodged the bullet here, I nearly pulled the trigger on this the other day because the cover looked fun but your review is damn depressing. It's weird, sometimes the Tipton brothers come up with some pretty good stuff but other times its just complete crap and there's never any middle ground. I wonder if, in this age of early solicitations and instantaneous data, writers and artists are affected by sales figures. In this case, it's entirely possible the Tipton brothers and Stott saw the preorder numbers for the first issue (17,307) before starting work on the second issue, figured not many people would be reading anyway, and went "meh." After all, doesn't the first issue of a limited series usually sell the most copies? I'd imagine very few folks come on midway through the story. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 24, 2015 9:53:24 GMT -5
Looks like I dodged the bullet here, I nearly pulled the trigger on this the other day because the cover looked fun but your review is damn depressing. It's weird, sometimes the Tipton brothers come up with some pretty good stuff but other times its just complete crap and there's never any middle ground. I wonder if, in this age of early solicitations and instantaneous data, writers and artists are affected by sales figures. In this case, it's entirely possible the Tipton brothers and Stott saw the preorder numbers for the first issue (17,307) before starting work on the second issue, figured not many people would be reading anyway, and went "meh." After all, doesn't the first issue of a limited series usually sell the most copies? I'd imagine very few folks come on midway through the story. It's possible I suppose, though I think it's equally as possible that they are just inconsistent writers as well. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 24, 2015 14:49:17 GMT -5
Looks like I dodged the bullet here, I nearly pulled the trigger on this the other day because the cover looked fun but your review is damn depressing. It's weird, sometimes the Tipton brothers come up with some pretty good stuff but other times its just complete crap and there's never any middle ground. I wonder if, in this age of early solicitations and instantaneous data, writers and artists are affected by sales figures. In this case, it's entirely possible the Tipton brothers and Stott saw the preorder numbers for the first issue (17,307) before starting work on the second issue, figured not many people would be reading anyway, and went "meh." After all, doesn't the first issue of a limited series usually sell the most copies? I'd imagine very few folks come on midway through the story. 17K for a mini series from IDW is a HUGE number. The regular Trek series sells around 10K... as does TMNT... in fact, I'd be that was the #2 or 3 book for IDW for the month (depending on if one or both My Little Pony series shipped). Plus, most indies make their cake on trades these days, so that's not all that good of an indicator. Edit: I decided to not be lazy and check... it came in as IDW's #2 title.. just one slot (150 copies worth) behind My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic... good for #144 for December. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 24, 2015 23:30:34 GMT -5
I wonder if, in this age of early solicitations and instantaneous data, writers and artists are affected by sales figures. In this case, it's entirely possible the Tipton brothers and Stott saw the preorder numbers for the first issue (17,307) before starting work on the second issue, figured not many people would be reading anyway, and went "meh." After all, doesn't the first issue of a limited series usually sell the most copies? I'd imagine very few folks come on midway through the story. 17K for a mini series from IDW is a HUGE number. The regular Trek series sells around 10K... as does TMNT... in fact, I'd be that was the #2 or 3 book for IDW for the month (depending on if one or both My Little Pony series shipped). Plus, most indies make their cake on trades these days, so that's not all that good of an indicator. Edit: I decided to not be lazy and check... it came in as IDW's #2 title.. just one slot (150 copies worth) behind My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic... good for #144 for December. The first issue is always going to sell multiples of the issues that follow. 17k would be outstanding for a regular given issue of their Trek series, but (and I'm only speculating) it may have been a disappointing number for a first issue, suggesting a smaller readership that would stay on with the series after the first issue than they had planned on. Assume three out of four people grabbing this book won't stick around for the second issue -- their readership drops down to under 5k. Now this is all wild speculation. I don't know what a good number for that first issue would have been nor how significant the average drop off is after the first issue. But it's possible I'm right. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 27, 2015 17:07:06 GMT -5
I think it's more like 1/2 than 3/4 for regular series... I've never paid that close attention to minis. I don't think they bump like #1s, though.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,866
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Post by shaxper on Jan 27, 2015 18:19:12 GMT -5
I think it's more like 1/2 than 3/4 for regular series... I've never paid that close attention to minis. I don't think they bump like #1s, though. Assuming you're right, that would mean a lower readership for this limited series than the regular Trek series, which may have come as a disappointment to them considering all the hype this series was given. Then again, it's also entirely possible they just slacked off after the first issue. Interestingly enough, the series is getting very positive praise from POTA fans on the POTA facebook communities. I'm frankly surprised. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 27, 2015 18:42:58 GMT -5
I think it's more like 1/2 than 3/4 for regular series... I've never paid that close attention to minis. I don't think they bump like #1s, though. Assuming you're right, that would mean a lower readership for this limited series than the regular Trek series, which may have come as a disappointment to them considering all the hype this series was given. Then again, it's also entirely possible they just slacked off after the first issue. Interestingly enough, the series is getting very positive praise from POTA fans on the POTA facebook communities. I'm frankly surprised. I guess any POTA comics are better than none but that's about the only positive I can see. |
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