There were a host of movies, comics, and other extended media that expanded on the setting of 1968’s landmark science fiction film, Planet of the Apes, but since the release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes that continuity has been New 52’d. Spoilers: it was still Earth all along.
Written by Daryl Gregory
Drawn by Diego BarretoDaryl Gregory returns to the PLANET OF THE APES in this epic over-sized issue, featuring fan-favorite artist Diego Barreto (IRREDEEMABLE) throughout 32 pages of new story and art! It’s the return of what Jason Aaron (SCALPED, WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN) called: “The best PLANET OF THE APES comic ever. And one of my favorite comics of the year, period.” When the Lawgiver was assassinated by a human, Ape City fell into a vicious civil war. Ten years have passed since the horrific violence and a fragile peace is emerging. Voice Alaya has been deposed and awaits sentencing in Ape City’s prison. Meanwhile, Sully has begun to rally forces, both human and ape. Little do they know they’re both on a collision course towards an even greater danger…
First off, I’ll preface this review by saying I am judging the issue in question partially by a standard we, as in comic fans in general, don’t hold most comics to: accessibility. Despite this being a special, it takes place in the middle of Daryl Gregory’s current run, and I fully confess I am jumping in blind. The good news, though, is that this isn’t a big deal: even though this issue deals with events that have already taken place in previous issues of Gregory’s Planet of the Apes comics and sets up what is to come, Gregory writes his comic in a way that is more in line with the earlier years of serialized story arcs. Whether intentional or not, enough context is given through both the narration and the dialogue that a new reader who picks this up, assuming it to be stand-alone, will be able to acclimate themselves rather quickly. Sure, there’s still plenty that will be unfamiliar to those not familiar with the currents events of the Planet of the Apes universe, but in this case they are only minor impediments — and, if you like the issue, they’re more likely to be enhancements that encourage you to find out more. In a category where most DC or Marvel books would fail miserably, the “Planet of the Apes” special passes with flying colors.
That, of course, doesn’t mean the comic is not without faults. For one thing, that same accessibility is a double-edged sword: part of the reason it is easy to jump into this world in the span of only an issue is that the first handful of pages are loaded with exposition through the use of narrative captions. Gregory doesn’t make the mistake of pairing these wordy captions with static images (or, worse, blank pages), smartly framing them with action sequences instead, but it does seem to take a while for the comic to really get going. As a consequence, by the time we reach the end, it seems like very little has “happened,” even though a few years’ worth of history occurs in only the first few pages. The progression of the plot is pretty typical moving-into-the-next-act fare, as one faction musters its forces in an effort to turn the tide and a major character is faced with impending doom before the inevitable turnaround — unless Gregory pulls a GRRM on us — but typical isn’t inherently bad or good, instead making the story rely on other merits. For the most part, the dialogue is a little dull and without character, but the main cast on Khan’s boat are incredibly well-voiced and make a pronounced impression in the span of only a few pages (so much so that the reader may be more influenced to pick up previous issues by the ape who shaves than by anything else in the comic).
The illustrations by Diego Barreto are of high quality, stylized without betraying the franchise’s hard — well, harder than Star Was sci-fi roots. Particularly notable is Barreto’s ability to give the apes a great deal of identifiable emotion while neither portraying them as overtly human or relying on heavy stylization. Oddly enough, while one might think this would mean his use of expression when it comes to humans would be exceptional, his humans are relatively plain, and harder to relate with, visually, than his apes. Barreto gets a tip of the hat when it comes to his backgrounds; while they aren’t necessarily amazingly detailed one hundred percent of the time, his panels rarely have excessive negative space that needs to be filled in by the colorists, and his backgrounds bring an astonishing amount of character to the setting. The exception may be the scene set in the desert, where a few characters float aimlessly with no sense of grounding, but at least in this case the omission of the background makes a sort of sense due to the location. While his composition and sense of motion aren’t perfect, he’s more than capable at telling a story — well enough to make some artists with a steady job at Marvel or DC begin to sweat.
The day where you could pick up any comic that caught your fancy off the shelf and read it is long gone, but this “Planet of the Apes” special does a good job of balancing today’s focus on arc-based storytelling with old school accessibility. Considering that the new-reader semi-friendliness takes a bite out of dynamic story content, though, Ape readers new and old alike might feel a little bit cheated by the $4.99 price tag — for all of its pages, this is primarily a book of build-up for what’s to come. Still, the coming struggle between Ape versus Man (and Ape!) looks to be an interestingly complex matter, and especially considering the machinations of Khan and his crew.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – Not a sure-shot pick, but it may be worth the gamble.
