shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:02:39 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes (Malibu/Adventure) #21  "The Terror Beneath, Part One of Four" writer: Charles Marshall pencils: M.C. Wyman inks: Terry Pallot letters: Mark Moore editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: F+ Oh my Go... This seriously must be the single stupidest comic I've ever read. I mean, if Ed Wood wrote comics, his stuff would seem like high literature compared to this crap. The basic premise: A cult of Breck worshipping humans inexplicably raise Governer Breck from the dead with god-like powers, and he goes around killing everyone. Really. That's it. I mean, it gets dumber, but it really didn't have to. I really think that put it at the top of the "What the F***" list based on the premise alone. But, of course, there are all the normal complete lapses in internal logic, as well as terrible, terrible writing. Allow me to share an example of the writing in this issue: Dunzell is on his death bed (sorry for the spoiler, but not really). Dunzell: ...must...tell...Alexan... Some guy who never gets introduced: I think he wants to tell you something, Alexander. It's not like this was a particularly outlying moment of bad quality in the story, just a neat snapshot of all the goodness you're missing by having me read it for you. Or, perhaps you'd prefer the moment in which Alexander, Coure, and the gang are racing to the hospital to see Dunzell in his final moments, only to be blocked by Frito and Jojo so that Marshall can execute a tremendously ill timed gag in which they recreate the Marx Brothers' "Swordfish" password routine from Horsefeathers. What is wrong with this man? For those actually keeping track, this story takes place in the same future time as the Ape Nation series (maybe a decade or two ahead). One major disappointment in this issue is that the clever implied ending of the previous major storyline (Countdown Zero), that August's child would turn out to be Simon, ended up not being the case. Apparently, Marshall was too stupid to see the awesome opportunity he'd created for himself and instead has had August raise a multi-generation family in Mexico, and her granddaughter has now inexplicably decided to follow her directions to Ape City, even though that isn't anywhere near where the majority (if any) of the Countdown Zero story took place. Never mind the question of who August's son or daughter in law was? Did her offspring mate with a wild human? The only redeeming moments in this entire story (and yes, believe it or not, there were two) were Simon turning out to be a sort of chaotic good hermit, residing within the Statue of Liberty and protecting Ape City from afar to make up for his past deeds, and the surprise ending (spoiler alert) in which Breck randomly kills Ollo. That's actually pretty shocking. Still -- laughably horrendous concept for a story, and the execution was typically terrible to boot. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:02:48 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes: Blood of the Apes #4  (Untitled) writer: Roland Mann pencils: Darren Goodhart inks: Bruce McCorkindale letters: Mark Moore editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: B- For three issues now, Tonus, our protagonist, has been a deranged, remorseless killer of humans and human sympathizers. Now, totally abruptly, he has a complete change of heart at the beginning of this issue, not because the boy he holds at gunpoint greets him with an enthusiastic and innocent "Hi!" instead of fear, but instead because he abruptly and arbitrarily finally decides he agrees with the love interest he's been debating with since the first issue. And, of course, there's no gradual nor partial change in view points. Instead, Tonus has a full blown Ebenezer Scrooge epiphany and boldly attempts to stop an entire army on their way to wipe out the humans he was trying to wipe out two pages earlier, ultimately proclaiming: "I used to think that way, until someone opened my eyes. Have you ever HEARD a man talk? With your own ears? It's incredible."Fortunately, the story does get better from there. The massacre of hundreds of innocent humans was quite moving, especially as the cliche but always touching baby is left crying next to its dead mother. In a surprise twist, Tonus' love interest, the one who put him on his new path in this issue, is killed as well, but not before somewhat arbitrarily revealing that she was really a human in disguise all along. Still, it's a pretty moving conclusion. It just lacked subtlety, good pacing, and believability regarding Tonus' transformation. And it does irk me that Mann never bothers to explain where the intelligent humans in late 20th century clothing, teaching the other humans to speak and read, came from. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:08:49 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes: The Sins of the Father!  writer: Mike Valero art: Mitch Byrd letters: Mark Moore editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: B+ An interesting tie-in to the first film, this functions as a sort of prequel occurring 30 years earlier in which a human slave has murdered an ape and subsequently has been found to be capable of speech and reasoning. It's narrated by a young Zaius (and, while this is obvious, it isn't actually revealed until the end for dramatic effect) as he watches his father, the then minister of science, attempt to solve the murder and decide what to do with the human. In most respects, it's a very well considered tie-in to the original movie that answers a few questions. However, it also works upon the assumption (stated numerous times) that ape has never killed ape up until this point. There are several problems with this foundational assumption: 1. If time is functioning in a semi-loop, then the events of the fifth film have occurred in the past, and Aldo and Caesar have both killed another ape. 2. If time is not functioning in a semi-loop, then this society does not have a rule that ape shall never kill ape. That was introduced in the fifth film. 3. Minister Augustus is far too familiar with the methodology and psychology of a murderer (and even the term "murder") if there has never been one before, yet he asserts that ape has never killed ape and that man does not possess the reasoning required to have a motive for executing a murder plot. So how does he know so much about murder if it's never occurred? Fiction? All in all, this is a solid story, but Byrd's art is pretty terrible. Not only do the apes look far too cutesy for such a serious story, but it's often difficult to tell who is who and frustrating when you cannot rely upon your eyes to recognize familiar apes from the first film and their familiar features. Great story, strong concept with one major logical problem, and lousy art. Still, I'd consider this one worth reading again. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:09:00 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes (Malibu/Adventure) #22  "The Land of No Escape, Part 2" (I think they meant "Part 2: The Land of No Escape") writer: Charles Marshall pencils: M.C. Wyman inks: Terry Pallot letters: Mark Moore editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: A- Charles Marshall's letter at the beginning of this issue is interesting for two reasons. One, he outright admits "I don't always like my writing," and two, he appears to be saying goodbye to his characters. Though it hasn't been said anywhere yet, it appears that Marshall is fully aware this volume is coming to a close and is using this final four parter in order to go out with a bang. Sure, the Breck with God-like abilities bit is absurd and makes no sense, and sure we care so little about these characters that I'm kind of okay with him killing everyone, but it's still exciting to see Marshall knock down the lego tower he's been building over the past two years with savage ferocity. This issue marks the deaths of Travellin' Jack (the Ape equivalent of Santa Claus!), and (presumably) all four of the Ape Riders. Meanwhile, we have the Lightfoot tribe teaming up with Heston and Packer (from the Ape Nation series) for a final confrontation with Breck, as well as the introduction of a tribe of savage apes living outside of Ape City (called "The Nameless Apes") who are both introduced and wiped out in this issue. Essentially, it seems as though Marshall is pulling his entire universe together for this one last hurrah. All we're missing are Thorne and Argos (from "Urchak's Folly") and Tonus, The Ape Slayer (from "Blood of the Apes"), but since those were the only two minis not written by Marshall, I don't suspect those characters will be showing up. I did enjoy how comically our human protagonist (granddaughter of August from "Countdown Zero") outwitted Frito and Jojo into helping her escape, and damn if I don't still sort of care about Simon, the Jason Todd of Marshall's Ape universe. His decision to team up with Alexander and Ape City was pretty exciting towards the close. I'll give Marshall this much: He's a bad writer, and his concept is downright idiotic, but he's doing a beautiful job of destroying everything. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:09:11 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes(Malibu/Adventure) #23  "Part Three of Four: Final Conquest" writer: Charles Marshall pencils: M.C. Wyman inks: Terry Pallot letters: Mark Moore editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: B A lot of the bad writing and lapses in logic are creeping back in noticeable ways this issue, making it a lot harder to read. Still, Wyman's art remains strong, and though the death toll takes a pause, we get a nice replay and confirmation of all the deaths thus far: The Forgotten Apes (including Dunzell) The Swamp Apes (including Echo) General Ollo and his soldiers Travellin' Jack The Ape Riders The Nameless Apes Amidst all the illogical moments in this issue that left me scratching my head as much as ever, there's a clever moment in which the "Seize her" that Dunzell has been muttering since the first issue (which I assumed referred to the new human protagonist) ends up being "Caesar," but then things take a turn for the stupid again as the Lightfoot shamen leader ends up resurrecting the spirit of Caesar, who is apparently also The Lawgiver, presumably to fight God-Breck. An uneven issue that falls back on many of Marshall's familiar weaknesses, but it's still kind of fun and full of an oppressive sense of doom and destruction. Considering all that Marshall has blown up, killed, and destroyed thus far, it doesn't seem improbable that he'll kill any and everyone by the end. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:09:23 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes (Malibu/Adventure) #24  "Part four of four: Last Battle" writer: Charles Marshall art and letters: Craig Taillefer editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: D Wow. All the big stuff that we'd been building to -- the war between apes and humans and the battle between Breck and Caesar -- are both ended far too quickly and easily, in favor instead of an exhaustingly long resolution in which Jacob switches from being ready to kill Simon at the thought of suggesting humans be treated as equals to being willing to "give it a try" in a span of a few pages. It's all really badly done. Add to this Wyman, Pallot, and Moore all jumping ship one issue early, leaving Taillefer to do a pretty clumsy job of doing absolutely everything, leaving bad spelling errors and even a missing mouth on Jacob in one panel. This was really, really just a lame issue. And the cutesy ending, in which Frito and Jojo find a scroll and read it aloud (in which Marshall thanks everyone who helped make this comic a reality) and then wonder out loud whether or not they'll get a mini series, felt obnoxious. Whatever awesomeness Marshall had begun to flirt with in the previous issue, this final resolution absolutely begs us to put the final nail in the coffin and never look back. Finally, thankfully, the main Malibu/Adventure POTA series is over, and only one non-Marshall mini series remains... |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:09:33 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes: Forbidden Zone #1  "Forbidden Knowledge" writer: Lowell Cunningham art: Leonard Kirk letters: Tim Eldred editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: B- How odd. Forbidden Zone #1 has absolutely the worst cover of the entire Malibu/Adventure Comics POTA line, with a poorly drawn ape guard surrounded by two poorly drawn ape prostitutes. This has NOTHING to do with the contents within. Instead, what we get is (for once) a well drawn AND well written story that completely and thoroughly ignores everything Marshall ever contributed to the POTA continuity. In short, it's a very welcome change. However, the story itself isn't all that interesting. Nothing much actually happens beyond Mendez (the pacifist mutant from the fifth film) defying Kolp (still running the mutant civilization since the fifth film) and fleeing to Ape City (called "Primacy" here), with Kolp ultimately deciding to pursue and wipe out Primacy at the same time. It's roughly 300 years since the fifth film (I'm assuming the radiation that has now given the mutants the appearance and powers they had in the second film has also extended their lifespans), the lawgiver is now very old, yet still mobile, and the rest of the cast is brand new. There really isn't too much to tell beyond that. Strong art and writing, but little story as of yet. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:09:43 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes: Forbidden Zone #2  "Danger Zone" writer: Lowell Cunningham art: Leonard Kirk letters: Tim Eldred editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: B- The story begins to gain some momentum at this point, though none of it comes off as particularly interesting. We have an eager young archaologist trying to uncover the past about humans while members of the council reluctantly plan to silence/kill him, his father, an outraged gorilla, leading a revolt against the council for supporting this work as well as allowing equal rights to humans, we have Mendez 10 (I guess the mutants have been cloning themselves and have not, in fact, lived continually for all this time) joining Primacy (the Ape City) and pleading for them to help protect him against a coming mutant invasion, and we end with the archaologist discovering the remains of a second nearby city also inhabited by seemingly hostile apes and men. Like last issue, the art and writing are solid, but it all lacks any kind of energy, even with so many things up in the air. Maybe it's just hard to care when you know this story is wrapping up in two more issues, never to be referenced again since this will mark the end of Malibu's disappointing foray into the POTA universe. Note: Though far from obvious at the time, it's clear by the fourth issue that Ape City and Primacy are supposed to be two entirely different cities in this storyline. The only way to discern that in the first two issues is by paying careful attention to the wording of the narration in two minor instances. It's far easier to assume (as I did) that "Primacy" is the name of what has always been familiarly called "Ape City" and that the two casts of ape characters we were seeing (the archaologist, council, and angry father, and the lawgiver and his human assistant harboring Mendez) were in different parts of the same city. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:09:55 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes: Forbidden Zone #3  "Battle Zone" writer: Lowell Cunningham art: Leonard Kirk letters: Tim Eldred editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade: well, uh... I have to apologize for this, but after three months of scouring ebay, mile high comics, mycomicshop, every local comic shop within forty minutes, two comic conventions, and even resorting to trying to place an order through the dreaded comicvendor (their site STILL claims they have the issue in stock), I simply could not find this issue ANYWHERE. Try to look, yourself. As Malibu's final mini-series, months after the main series was cancelled and long after the entire line had fallen into terrible unpopularity, I guess no one really ordered or bought this series. Even finding issues #2 and #4 was damn hard (and #2 cost me $8!!). #1 is the only one I've seen more than one copy of. So, in short, I do not have this issue, and I have no way of reading it, and even finding a synopsis of the issue online is proving difficult. You wouldn't believe how much work it took just to determine the name of the story in this issue! However, based upon a synopsis provided at the beginning of #4, I can tell you this much: - It turns out that the archaologist, the council trying to kill him, and his father leading the revolt are all from an entirely different city than Primacy (this was never clear in the previous issues!). Apparently, they are from Ape City, which is NOT Primacy. - The gorilla revolt has apparently turned on Primacy. I'm not sure how they discovered its presence, but this must have occurred in issue #3. - The mutants have also begun attacking Primacy at the same time, seeking Mendez 10 and death to those harboring him. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:10:08 GMT -5
Planet of the Apes: Forbidden Zone #4  "War Zone" writer: Lowell Cunningham art: Leonard Kirk letters: Tim Eldred editor-in-chief: Chris Ulm grade B+ The final battle royal. Once again, the art was strong and the writing was competent, but I just didn't care. At least part of the problem is that there are so many apes that look similar with different names, personalities, and motives, and after reading so many damn stories featuring so many damn apes with different names, personalities, and motives, I suspect my mind has grown a bit lazy, especially knowing that these characters are never coming back. Chances are, had I read this story on its own and without having trudged through the rest of Malibu's mostly awful POTA stories, I would have gotten more out of this one. As a result, I'm giving it a grade that does not reflect my enjoyment of the story, but rather the enjoyment level I might have experienced by reading this at another time and in a different context. Plot synopsis: Primacy wins, Ape City rewrites history so that they were the victors, and the few remaining mutants find comfort in their Omega bomb. End of Malibu/Adventure POTA run. WOOHOO!!!!!!!! |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 28, 2014 1:10:18 GMT -5
Summary of Planet of the Apes Vol. 2 (Malibu/Adventure)
(1990-1992)
Overview: As amateur as they come. Though Malibu was ambitious with their marketing of the POTA franchise (multiple colored covers of #1, an incentive cover to Ape Nation #1, and an early attempt to have a mini-series running concurrently with the main series at all times), they left the entire franchise under the creative control of Charles Marshall, an amateur writer who was absolutely and truly terrible at what he did (sometimes by his own admission) and yet who aggrandized his characters and made them out to be so much more amazing and special than they were. For the first half of the run, his stories are penciled by Kent Burles, who is just as bad at art as Marshall is at writing. M.C. Wyman joins him for the second half and does an excellent job, almost making Marshall's stories palatable, but Marshall had already lost his direction by this point. Truly, after issue #5, it's as if the series has no idea where to go and just ambles along for the remaining nineteen issues.
Worthwhile To Read?: No no no.
Key Issues/Highlights?: Even if you're a die-hard apes fan, I strongly recommend skipping everything but #19 and Sins of the Father (both well done tie-ins to the film franchise), and "Urchak's Folly" and "Forbidden Zone" (both decent minis that were not written by Marshall). Additionally, "Blood of the Apes," though a generally forgettable series (also not written by Marshall), was almost certainly the prototype for the current Boom! Studios series, so you may want to read it for that reason alone.
Additionally, if you absolutely must get a taste for Marshall's characters and continuity, read #6 (obnoxious story, but it gives a good overview of the characters and storylines), #12 (only good story in the continuity), and #13 (amusing filler issue featuring secondary cast members).
Worth Re-Reading?: #19 and Sins of the Father. Nothing else.
This volume includes: Planet of the Apes (Vol. 2) #1-24 & Annual #1, Ape City #1-4, Urchak's Folly #1-4, Ape Nation #1-4, Blood of the Apes #1-4, Sins of the Father #1, and Forbidden Zone #1-4
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jul 2, 2014 20:30:00 GMT -5
As a reminder, this thread is devoted to reviewing only original POTA comics set in the original film universe. So, while there was another POTA volume published by Dark Horse Comics between 2000 and 2001, it was based upon the 2001 Tim Burton re-imagining of Planet of the Apes and thus will not be included in this reviews thread.
The next volume set in the original POTA universe is the Mr. Comics volume, published between 2005 and 2006.
Background on Mr. Comics volume
"A planet where apes evolved from men? There's got to be an answer."
It's an odd thing, and one probably not often considered by the casual ape fan, but we never really do get a full answer to this question in the film series. Sure, we find out it's Earth, we suspect there was a nuclear war (Doug Moench's run confirmed this; Charles Marshall's denied it), and we later see Caesar incite an Ape riot in the 1990s and, later still, see human civilization all but destroyed with Caesar's Ape City standing in contrast with talking apes, but we never see the in-between.
How does Caesar's revolt in one city, devoid of any military weapons, initiate the downfall of human civilization?
What causes all the destruction that wipes out cities and creates forbidden zones?
How did Caesar's ape followers learn how to speak in such a short span of time?
How did Ape City come to be?
After five films, one prime time TV series, one animated series, and 76 original POTA comic book stories, no one ever bothered to fill in the potentially most interesting story in the entire history of the Planet of the Apes -- that gap between the fourth and fifth films.
Of course, the film franchise skipped that story due to budgetary constraints, Moench probably avoided it at the request of APJAC productions (which may not have ruled out returning to make a sixth film at the time), and Charles Marshall waited until he was mostly through his series to watch the fourth film for the first time since he'd been a boy (he was clearly more interested in his own awful characters).
Truly, the only efforts made by the comics to fill in this gap up to this point were made in "Quest for the Planet of the Apes" (vol. 1, #22) which still (apparently intentionally) left most of this area wide open but at least showed the creation of Ape City, and "Monkey Planet" (Ape City #3), in which Charles Marshall has Dr. Benday theorize as to how mankind fell and where the destruction came from (a second virus killed most humans and left the rest stupid, apes didn't know how to work nuclear reactors, and they blew up).
So along comes this new upstart publisher, Mr. Comics. They've acquired the rights to POTA and want to use it as their flagship title. While they could attempt to write an original series with entirely new characters, that direction crashed and burned with Malibu Comics, it's reasonable to assume people would be more interested in seeing familiar characters (particularly from the fan favorite fourth film), and this is the story that apes fans have been waiting three decades to see. In this light, it's sort of a no-brainer to tell the story of what happened to Caesar, his apes, and the civilized world, between the fourth and fifth films.
Once the six part Revolution on the Planet of the Apes mini concluded, there were plans to release a trade paperback and to start a second series: Empire on the Planet of the Apes, but Mr. Comics abruptly went under before this could happen. This can probably be attributed to the critical failure of Revolution (certainly Mr. Comics' only two other properties, Big Max, and Hoverboy, never got far enough to make a dent one way or the other), selling only 4,459 copies of the first issue, down to only 2,686 of the final issue (sales figures from The Comics Chronicles)*, and garnering some very unfavorable reviews. This continues to surprise me because Revolution is actually a remarkably well thought-out series that's highly respectful of the source material even while adding a twist all its own.
Essentially, it's an excellent POTA series with a ridiculously low print run. Hello, instant collector's item, folks! I'd run out and grab the one set available on ebay before too many people read these reviews and catch on .
__________________________________________________ ___________
*I contacted Ty Templeton and gave him the link to this thread. He has since informed me that he was told sales were about 20% higher than what I have quoted (perhaps due to re-orders and second wave orders). He has confirmed, though, that the cancellation of the second POTA series was due to poor sales.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jul 2, 2014 20:30:35 GMT -5
Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #1  (untitled/uncredited history section) presumably by: Ty Templeton and Joe O'Brien grade: A provides a useful abridged synopsis of all the franchise history that is relevant to this series. Also adds the following new information: - Taylor's ship was named "The Icarus." This has been a name used for the ship by fans since the 1970s, but it was never officially confirmed by a POTA license holder until now. - Armando renamed baby Milo as "Caesar." There is ambiguity in the fourth film as to whether he was already using the name "Caesar" before being purchased by Governer Breck. - Ape workers outnumbered humans by 3 to 1 across America, stirring a fear and hatred of apes. President Arthur Trundy was elected on an anti-ape platform and pushed for the Constitution to be amended to clarify "the divine superiority of the human race above all other creatures." - President Trundy created a national cable network and soon declared all private broadcasts illegal. - An earthquake and subsequent riots break out in California six months prior to Conquest for the Planet of the Apes, causing Governer Breck to declare martial law. "Revolution, part one: the end of the world" story: Ty Templeton and Joe O'Brien writer: Joe O'Brien art: Salgood Sam colors: Bernie Mireault editor: Ty Templeton grade: A- The art is only decent, the coloring is crude, and damn if the story isn't pretty awesome in spite of all that. One issue in, Templeton and O'Brien work furiously to make the transition from the fourth to fifth Apes films make SENSE, and it's working. We're outright bated with the mystery of why the military isn't taking action against the apes (the answer is presumably coming later in the series), we get a touching origin story for Aldo which also finally resolves Cornelius' explanation of how apes came to power in the third film with what actually happened in the fourth (Aldo still gets a chance to say "no" before he has even heard of Caesar), we have Caesar speculate (convincingly) upon why gorillas (who are naturally gentle creatures) are so violent in the first, fourth, and fifth films, and, perhaps most controversially, we get a more intimate glimpse inside Caesar's head as Dr. Reich (painfully obvious bad guy name) explains his theory that Caesar's having been in utero while traveling backward through time may have caused his brain to have developed in such a way that he sees outcomes and perceives the choices he makes in his life as inevitable steps towards a pre-determined outcome. The last bit was problematic with many critics of this story, and I'm not entirely sure I buy it myself, but it lends an interesting twist to Caesar and helps us to buy into his character, making him more special than just the one ape on the planet who could talk. minor details: -this story confirms that Caesar led his rebellion in San Diego and also shows that Aldo would have led his rebellion in Nevada if Caesar hadn't gotten things started first (and how odd that the two apes launched their separate rebellions only a day apart). How, then, does Ape City end up in New York??? Would Templeton and O'Brien have gotten around to answering this if Empire on the Planet of the Apes had seen publication? -this story takes place in the 1990s but is published in 2005. Clearly, Templeton and O'Brien are making no effort to change the dates provided in the films to make the events of POTA align with the real-world date. I'm glad to see this. "Caesar's Journal" writer: Ty Templeton letters/art(?): Bernie Mireault grade: B The journal is well written and feels very consistent with what we know of Caesar. It has some great quotable lines, for example: "There are moments when I fear we have traded the organized cruelty of humans for the chaotic brutality of being man's shadow." However, I'm not entirely sure the journal entry was necessary. In many ways, this and the issues that follow feel like they try to add unnecessary additional content that drives up the cover price. "A Planet of the Apes Tale: For Human Rights" writer: Ty Templeton letters and art(?): Attila grade: C A pretty unnecessary back story in which Chris Leung, a new protagonist in this series, attempts to assassinate Trundy three years earlier, while he was still a candidate, in the name of ape rights. I feel no attachment to this new character, and so I don't care. Furthermore, the idea of a human being willing to kill a presidential candidate over animal rights requires some selling to the reader. What possesses someone to do this? What are his convictions? We don't know. We also have no idea what Chris' age is. He lives with his parents in the present, yet is old enough to attend a political rally on his own with a gun three years earlier. Perhaps he's a "boomerang kid"? plot synopsis for all of this in one ridiculously long sentence: A day after the events of Conquest on the Planet of the Apes. the government media is attempting to downplay the ape rebellion and assure citizens that it's under control, Chris Leung (who spends his time on the internet and may be a blogger) doesn't believe it, Caesar is haunted by memories that belonged to his father of the world blowing up, Dr. Reich tries to convince the president that Caesar may be the harbinger of doom for the entire planet and explains his theory on how Caesar perceives time differently because of his being in utero while traveling back in time, Caesar lays down the law that ape shall never kill ape, Aldo is a janitor for a military base in Nevada and is sent to be experimented upon for performing his job badly but fights back and proclaims "No!" (as Cornelius said he would in the third film), Caesar's journal reflects his uncertainty about where things are going, questions why the military hasn't intervened, and expresses a desire to be the "Giver of Law" to his people, and we get a flashback in which Chrus Leung tries to assassinate then presidenial candidate Arthur Trundy, fails, but is not identified or incriminated for the attempt. A well thought out and mostly excellent first issue, but the bonus features are tiresome, and the concept of Caesar being able to perceive the future is a questionable one. Still, this is the most painstaking fidelity we've ever seen a POTA comic or, in fact, any licensed POTA work demonstrate towards the original franchise since...well...ever. In fact, even the films didn't listen to each other this carefully. |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jul 2, 2014 20:32:50 GMT -5
Because I was writing to him at the time over e-mail, I thought you might be interested to see Ty Templeton's thoughts on the creation of this series:
"I'm honestly not as worried about what is or isn't considered continuity so much as I'm concerned with what makes for a good, and relevant story. Obviously the details of the backstory are interesting, and filling them in and filling them out is fun to do, but APES, when done best, is a satire of events or something happening in the real world, translated into metaphor. The first two films in the series are anti-war films, made during the vietnam era. Conquest is a race relations polemic created in the mid seventies, shortly after the Watts riots, and clearly conscious of them. Our series REVOLUTION was written with the Bush war in Iraq strongly in our minds (all the politicians in our story are ineffective at everything but propaganda, for instance.) and since there are DOZENS of continuity problems between the films, the TV series, the Marvel comics and the cartoon show (to say nothing of the original novel) my sense of what is or isn't considered "canon" is whatever works best to tell a good story. (I tossed in a reference to the Marvel Comics Apes series in issue #5 or #6, just to show that the movies aren't the ONLY source we were working from.)"
what interested me about this response was that Ty and his co-creator were both clearly VERY vigilant when it came to continuity. Clearly, though, that wasn't their primary focus in writing this series, and I find that impressive.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Jul 2, 2014 20:33:07 GMT -5
Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #2  "part two: Lines of Communication" story: Ty Templeton and Joe O'Brien writer: Joe O'Brien art: Salgood Sam colors: Bernie Mireault editor: Ty Templeton grade: B+ Whereas the first issue of this series seemed to divert the bulk of its attention to filling continuity gaps in the film continuity, this issue is really where Revolution begins to develop its own flavor and direction. Caesar's "abilities" as a result of being in utero while traveling backwards in time grow more enigmatic, as it's now implied that he is somehow telepathically affecting apes across the nation (and possibly world?). Note that this explanation, as well as the explanation of how Caesar perceives time differently than others, is provided by a speculating scientist and therefore may prove to be inaccurate. Still, this would explain how the apes gain mastery of language and higher order reasoning in such a short span of time, as well as how Aldo is capable of uttering a full sentence and organizing a resistance at Area 51 (as shown in this issue), including sending an ape out in a fighter jet. Additionally, we see Chris Leung again and learn that he is motivated to share what is happening in San Diego with the world (remember the government has shut down private media and is denying the problem), are introduced to a Dr. Bryce Evans, who has drugged an ape and is somehow attempting to use him to save the world, learn that Bryce is the ex-fiance of the President's PR person, Nora Rhodes (of course we're immediately expecting the two to reunite and overcome their differences by the climax), and we learn of a secret military project named CHURCHDOOR, which Caesar is trying to learn more about and which the government is desperately trying to keep from him (this finally explains why the military hasn't launched a strike against Caesar yet). Essentially, the impediment of communication is a unifying theme across this issue, thus explaining the title of the story. As shown in the previous post, Ty saw this as being a central component of America's war on terror after 9/11 and was trying to use Revolution to bring this out. As is often the difficulty in working with an established franchise, O'Brien doesn't succeed in making me care much about these new characters introduced in this and the last issue. So, while, Chris Leung and Dr. Bryce Evans both face more immediate conflicts than Caesar, and while the cliffhanger ends with Nora Rhodes plummeting towards the earth in an unpiloted airplane that has been torn to pieces, I just don't care all that much. Perhaps putting these new characters under the same spotlight as Caesar sets them up for inevitable failure. Would we have accepted Jason and Alex, Derek Zane, or Alaric if they'd been introduced in a similar contrast? Still, it would help if O'Brien took the time to offer some hint of who these characters really were beneath the surface before plunging them into action. Leung once tried to kill the president and believes in freedom of the press. Nora Rhodes likes to deny problems and create the illusion that everything is under control. That's about all we know at this point. Still, in spite of under-developed protagonists and an approach to Caesar that is unorthodox at best, I truly appreciate the writing, the awareness of continuity, and the thematic angle of this story immensely. It reads as far more sophisticated than any previous ape story, including both Doug Moench's outstanding work and the films themselves. "Caesar's Journal" writer: Joe O'Brien art: Bernie Mireault co-plotter and/or editor(?): Ty Templeton grade: B- Still very well written and still feeling like unnecessary content. This entry informs us that Caesar's been seeing visions, both of this revolution and of the eventual destruction of the planet, since he was a child and also shows that he still thinks back fondly on Armando (two scenes after his death, we're never again given any indication that Caesar thinks of him in the films, especially in "Battle for the Planet of the Apes"), and it shows us that Caesar is trying to restrain his anger for Breck and instead use him as a political weapon. Most of this could have been suggested through a few lines of dialogue in the main story. Still, it does no harm by being presented in this format. "People News" writer: Ty Templeton art: Gabriel Morrissette color: Bernie Mireault grade: A+ The unexpected highlight of this issue, and told in only six pages. This one begins with the cover of a magazine resembling a hybrid of Time and People Magazine, featuring a blurry picture of Caesar on the cover and the caption: "He's Running San Diego and He Can Talk!" We'd briefly heard about this magazine in the main story for this issue, as well as the fact that the government had put a stop to its circulation. Now we meet the editor and writer behind this story and find them disagreeing about what to do with the government's edict, the journalist defiantly refusing to surrender her notes and storing both them and a copy of the magazine in a safe for future generations to see. The real shocker comes when the story then jumps thousands of years into the future to Cornelius and Zira on an archaological dig, uncovering the magazine, noting that Caesar resembles Zira, and speculating about the magazine briefly before Dr. Zaius abruptly intercepts the magazine, claims it's a forgery, and takes it away so that it is never seen again. The true shocker of this story is two-fold. First off, apes fans have generally always been under the impression that Cornelius and Zira going back in time altered the timeline so that the future Caesar creates is not the same as the one seen in the first film (though the possibility of the two becoming similar is suggested by Caesar's tear at the end of the fifth film), but this story shows that, according to Templeton, time is circular; Cornelius and Zira always went back in time, Caesar always led the ape revolution, and the Planet of the Apes was always established in the same way, with Taylor visiting and replaying the events of the first and second film each time. Secondly, this issue shows that Dr. Zaius is aware of the true history of the Planet of the Apes, of who Caesar was, and (most significantly) who Caesar's parents were. Presumably, it also suggests that Zaius knows that Taylor will come and will blow up the planet. Absolutely fascinating. |
|
