{"id":30056,"date":"2024-06-25T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30056"},"modified":"2024-06-24T17:30:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T17:30:21","slug":"planet-of-the-apes-archive-volume-1-terror-on-the-planet-of-the-apes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/06\/25\/planet-of-the-apes-archive-volume-1-terror-on-the-planet-of-the-apes\/","title":{"rendered":"Planet of the Apes Archive volume 1: Terror on the Planet of The Apes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Doug Moench<\/strong>, Mike Ploog<\/strong>, Tom Sutton<\/strong>, Herb Trimpe<\/strong>, Frank Chiaramonte<\/strong>, Virgil Redondo<\/strong>, Rich Handley<\/strong> & various (Boom! Studios)
\nISBN: 978-1-60886-990-9 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-61398-661-5<\/p>\n

The most effective and long-lasting exploration of human ambition failing and dystopia resulting is not the last 40 years of global government, but rather a film franchise built upon a seminal French science fiction novel released in 1963 – Peirre\u2019s Boulle\u2019s satirical La Plan\u00e8te des singes<\/em><\/strong>. A former secret agent and engineer, Boulle earned major accolades as an author. Your entire family has probable seen his other Oscar-winning blockbuster, never realising semi-autobiographical La Pont de la rivi\u00e8re Kwai<\/em><\/strong> was David Lean\u2019s The Bridge on the River Kwai<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

Originally translated in 1964 as Monkey Planet<\/strong>, his other epic became – after a major rewrite by screenwriter Rod Serling – 1968 US movie sensation Planet of the Apes<\/strong>. It inspired four sequels and – from September to December 1974 – a television series which lived on in reruns and reedited TV movies for decades to come, an animated series, books toys, games, a home projector pack, records and comics.<\/p>\n

… And that\u2019s all before Tim Burton\u2019s 2001 remake and the 2011 reboot of the still ongoing franchise…<\/p>\n

There have been many comics adaptations, beginning with two manga interpretations (1968 & 1971); a 1970 Gold Key movie adaptation and assorted international versions. In 1974 – no doubt thanks to the impending TV show – a Marvel Magazine continuation, combining serialised comics adaptations of the movies, features and articles began. When Marvel abruptly cancelled PotA <\/strong>in December 1976 the franchise lay fallow until Malibu Comics picked it up in 1990 (reprints, new stories and franchise mash-up Ape Nation<\/strong>). Other companies also added new material over the years and much of that history is covered in erudite Introduction \u2018Gorilla Warfare – and Tales of Terror\u2019<\/em> by expert\/editor\/fan-addict Rich Handley…<\/p>\n

This first monster compilation gathers a wholly new addition to the mythos, scripted in entirety by Doug Moench (Batman<\/strong>, Werewolf by Night<\/strong>, Moon Knight<\/strong>, Master of Kung Fu<\/strong>), who alternated these trenchant tales with two other Apes strands: \u201cFuture History Chronicles\u201d and expanded comics adaptations of the five original films, which are the subject of a separate, future, review…<\/p>\n

When Marvel secured the comics rights (also fully covered in Handley\u2019s prose piece) they undertook to fabulously and fantastically expand upon the premise via a fantastic procession of scenarios. The most significant dealt with the much-strained friendship of two teens: a human named Jason<\/em> and chimpanzee Alexander<\/em>. They had grown up together in an idyllic integrated community of apes and humans, guided by benign spiritual leader The Lawgiver<\/em>, but when the saint vanished on a pilgrimage, the garden of Eden began to rot…<\/p>\n

The storyline had been devised by Gerry Conway, but his schedule couldn\u2019t handle the increased workload and Moench took it all on. Initially, Terror on the Planet of The Apes<\/strong> was illustrated by Mike Ploog (Ghost Rider<\/strong>, Werewolf by Night<\/strong>, Man-Thing<\/strong>, Kull the Destroyer<\/strong>, Frankenstein\u2019s Monster<\/strong>, Weirdworld<\/strong>, The Spirit<\/strong>), who produced some of his very best work up to #19 – his longest continual run on any strip – after which Tom Sutton (Vampirella<\/strong>, Doctor Strange<\/strong>, Western Gunfighters<\/strong>, Grimjack<\/strong>, Star Trek<\/strong>) took over.<\/p>\n

Sporting an August 1974 cover-date and on sale from June 25th<\/sup> of that year, Planet of the Apes<\/strong> #1 blended photos and articles with Part 1 (of 6) of an adaptation of the 1968 movie plus all new ape-ventures set at a time when humans were still sapient talkers and lived in notional harmony with equally erudite orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas. That\u2019s where this book – re-presenting Terror on the Planet of The Apes<\/strong> stories from PotA<\/strong> #1-4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 19-20, 23, 26-28 – starts off, following a Photo intro <\/em>message.<\/p>\n

Chapter One<\/em> \u2018The Lawgiver\u2019<\/em> introduces best friends Jason and Alexander who witness chief Peacekeeper Brutus<\/em> (a gorilla chosen by The Lawgiver to safeguard everyone until his return) leading a murderous lynching and burning raid on the human sector. Despite being disguised by hoods and robes (this was a time when the Ku Kux Klan was constantly in the headlines for terrorising African Americans emboldened by Civil Rights successes), the youngsters see gorillas murder Jason\u2019s parents in the opening gambit of a scheme to make their kind the dominant species on Earth. In Chapter Two<\/em>\u2019s \u2018Fugitives on the Planet of the Apes\u2019<\/em> the witnesses\u2019 attempts to expose the atrocity lead to Brutus murdering his own wife and framing Jason and Alexander for the deed.<\/p>\n

After they spectacularly escape the city, another recapping Photo Intro<\/em> segues into \u2018The Forbidden Zone of Forgotten Horrors!\u2019<\/em> as Jason and Alexander spy on Brutus\u2019 terrorist base and are almost caught. This prompts another murder spree that the Peacekeeper blames them for. Wounded and scared, in \u2018Lick the Sky Crimson\u2019 <\/em>they head for the radioactive wastes of the Forbidden Zone in search of The Lawgiver and encounter weird mutants, bizarre machines and monsters. These terrors thrive in a buried city run by a gestalt of giant bottled brains calling themselves The Inheritors<\/em>. Worst of all, the chimp realises his human friend is becoming a vengeance-hungry savage in many ways the equal of Brutus…<\/p>\n

The power of mutual hate is further explored after Photo Intro 3<\/em> leads us to \u2018Spawn of the Mutant-Pits\u2019<\/em> where hideous drone-slaves pursuing them clash with gorillas Brutus has set on Jason\u2019s trail. Inker Frank Chiaramonte supplements Ploog\u2019s inspired pencils as they butcher each other, before Jason & Alexander are captured by the Forbidden Zone\u2019s hidden overlords and despatched to \u2018The Abomination Arena!\u2019<\/em> to fight fresh terrors beside a surviving gorilla…<\/p>\n

Another hairsbreadth escape leads them to the captive Lawgiver and a lucky rescue\/breakout in a stolen flying craft before Part 4<\/em> details their flight, crash and rendezvous with \u2018A River Boat Named Simian\u2019<\/em>. Here largely film-inspired antics take a big broad pause as we see how other parts of the Planet of the Apes recovered from Armageddon. Brutus strikes a deal with the cerebral Gestalt Commanders<\/em>: securing futuristic tanks, energy weapons and drone battle fodder in return for destroying the Lawgiver\u2019s city and civilisation. It\u2019s a deal neither side intends to honour but in the interim the fugitives he’s actually intent on eradicating are recuperating thanks to river traders bringing unity to scattered communities.<\/p>\n

Daniel Boone-inspired orangutan \u2018Gunpowder Julius\u2019<\/em>, his human pal Steely Dan<\/em> and a feisty, gloriously rowdy crew of frontiers-folk do much to soothe the poison brewing in Jason\u2019s soul, but the healing halts as soon as Brutus\u2019 forces catch them all celebrating. Launching a devastating assault kills many and instantly reignites the hate in the human\u2019s heart…<\/p>\n

Shot from Ploog\u2019s pencils, Part 5<\/em> \u2018Malague<\/em>\u00f1a Beyond a Zone Forbidden\u2019<\/em> sees the survivors encounter a happy band of ape and human Romani with Jason distracted and then beguiled by a beautiful young woman. Jealousy and hot heads might have led to catastrophe and damnation, but the duel for her hand is interrupted by Brutus and his multispecies army in \u2018The Planet Inheritors!\u2019<\/em>, resulting in a deadly stand-off until Julius thrashes Brutus in a vicious personal duel…<\/p>\n

With the Peacekeeper a prisoner, Jason, Alexander, their wise patriarch and Malague\u00f1a set out for the integrated home city, blithely unaware of how much has deteriorated since they\u2019ve been gone. Now humans are second-class citizens and although many apes are unhappy with the tyranny of gorillas, trouble is brewing and will boil over \u2018When The Lawgiver Returns…\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

This dramatic point sees the true plans of both Brutus and Gestalt Commanders explosively exposed prior to Terror on the Planet of the Apes Phase 2 <\/strong>opening with the introduction of a new character in \u2018The Magick-Man\u2019s Last Gasp Purple Light Show\u2019<\/em>. Although seemingly defeated, Brutus escapes punishment and flees, with incandescently enraged Jason following him back into the wilderness to extract true justice. Along the way he meets archaeologist\/ philosopher Lightning Smith<\/em>, a human whose pursuit of the secrets of the Ancients has unearthed a stockpile of pre-disaster wonders and a lot of woolly misconceptions about the masters of science who once ruled the planet…<\/p>\n

\u201cLightsmith\u201d and faithful companion Gilbert<\/em> (a mute but fully sapient gibbon) seek further revelations – including the location of legendary stockpile of lost wonders \u201cthe Psycho-drome\u201d. Proselytising technology at every stop, they take Jason under their wing, ultimately bringing him to their secret mountain home in \u2018Up the Nose-Tube to Monkey-Trash\u2019<\/em>. The base is a masterful example of acerbic satire, eventually revealing to us, if not the players, the last days of human hegemony. Meanwhile Alex and Malague\u00f1a have been tracking Jason, but sadly catch up just as savage, primitive \u201cAssisimians\u201d attack Lightsmith, leading to a shocking show of salvaged wonders and the obsessive hatred of tribal shaman Maguanus<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Brutus has not been idle: once again duping the Gestalt Commanders and taking their last technological armaments to end Jason and anyone else in the Peacekeeper\u2019s way. The tyrant finally finds him as Maguanus\u2019 minions are besieging them, and a tenuous double-dealing truce drives our beleaguered heroes into new territory to face \u2018Demons of the Psychodrome\u2019<\/em> (art by Ploog & Tom Sutton).
\n\"\"
\nTragically, the answers Lightsmith hungers for almost destroy him as the truth of the psycho-drome exposes an extraterrestrial component to the Ancients\u2019 downfall and a terrifyingly patient \u2018Society of the Psychodrome\u2019<\/em> (Sutton art) waiting for Earth to be pacified for them…<\/p>\n

As Jason, Alexander & Malague\u00f1a scrape from calamity to clash to catastrophe, Brutus almost claims total victory by stealing enough nuclear missiles to exterminate all humans. Thankfully he doesn\u2019t know how to use them and when Jason once more foils the plot in \u2018Messiah of the Monkey Demons\u2019<\/em>, an atomic inferno apparently ends the alien threat…<\/p>\n

However, a new menace appears when The Lawgiver\u2019s devoted young apprentice is co-opted by another technological faction to survive the fall of man. As our stars – safely transported a vast distance away whilst the nukes went up – cavort in snow for the first time, \u2018Northlands!\u2019<\/em> (art by Herb Trimpe & Virgil Redondo with tones by Rudy Mesina) sees them meet ape Vikings and witness another crime of ignorance and bigotry before heading back south in an ice-riding dragonship…<\/p>\n

Waiting for them is seemingly unkillable Brutus, the last remnants of The Inheritors\u2019 forces and new threat The Makers<\/em>. These human holdovers are kidnapping gorillas to make cyborg slaves and their unleashed \u2018Apes of Iron\u2019<\/em> seem likely to control the world, However, as seen in last chapter \u2018Revolt of the Gorilloids!\u2019<\/em> (Trimpe & Virgil Redondo) Jason and his allies won\u2019t go down without a fight…<\/p>\n

Frustratingly, the saga stopped there and remains uncompleted, but in postscript \u2018Still Apey After all These Years\u2019<\/em> Handley offers more information and partial closure with his efforts to share Moench\u2019s unpublished last scripts. He also posits what might have been had the author been allowed to complete the saga abruptly curtailed when the magazine was cancelled without warning. It left three separate story strands… well, stranded…<\/p>\n

Also of interest is a section on unique permutations of Marvel UK\u2019s weekly Planet of the Apes<\/strong> iteration (ask your grandad about \u201cApeslayer\u201d and see the reaction …or just google it).<\/p>\n

This first volume closes with a \u2018Full colour painted cover gallery\u2019<\/em> of issues #3, 4, 13, 17. 19 & 23 by Bob Larkin, #14 & 26 by Malcolm McNeill and #11 by Gray Morrow – all seen sans logos and livery.<\/p>\n

In equal parts vivid nostalgia and crucial component of current comics expansion, this compelling and lovely treat is pure whacky fun no film fan or comics devotee should miss… and there\u2019s more to come…
\nPlanet of the Apes \u2122 & \u00a9 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Stories and illustration \u2122 & \u00a9 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton, Herb Trimpe, Frank Chiaramonte, Virgil Redondo, Rich Handley & various (Boom! Studios) ISBN: 978-1-60886-990-9 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-61398-661-5 The most effective and long-lasting exploration of human ambition failing and dystopia resulting is not the last 40 years of global government, but rather a film franchise built upon a seminal … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Planet of the Apes Archive volume 1: Terror on the Planet of The Apes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,191,351,66,124,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptations","category-adventure","category-apes-monkeys","category-horror-stories","category-licensed-product","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7OM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30056"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30061,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056\/revisions\/30061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}