Planet of the Apes from the beginning (reviews by shaxper)

[shaxper]

Quit your job. Start a Kickstarter. We'll fund your reviews.

Damn tempting! Do you cover dental?

[shaxper]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[shaxper]

Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #3

"Caesar's Journal"
writer: (presumably) Joe O'Brien
art: (presumably) Bernie Mireault
co-plotter and/or editor(?): (presumably) Ty Templeton

grade: C

Caesar's Journal makes its way to the front of the issue this time around and feels more useful there, providing valuable recap before throwing us back into the story. It is now Day 14 of the Revolution, and Caesar continues to reflect on his visions of the future, as well as those of the past. Interestingly, he "remembers" the plague wiping out the dogs and cats of the world, even though Armando had to explain this to him in "Conquest." Also, he has a clear memory of his parents, even though they died when he was an infant. This is similarly troublesome because Caesar clearly does not remember his parents by the time of "Battle," even finding himself surprised by their appearance when he sees images of them in the records room in the Forbidden Zone.

Additionally, Caesar discusses the fact that the military continues to hold back from striking against him because of project CHURCHDOOR, which he apparently now knows about but does not disclose to the reader.


"Pt. 3: Intelligent Design"
story: Ty Templeton and Joe O'Brien
writer: Joe O'Brien
pencils: Tom Fowler
colors: Bernie Marshall
letters: K.T. Smith
editor: Ty Templeton

grade: A+

Momentum continues to build in this issue, and our new protagonists begin to shine stronger as well. Ex-fiances Dr. Bryce Evans and Nora Rhodes develop their stories in parallel, revealing that the rift in their relationship sprung about because Bryce is impulsive and Nora is a controller without laying so much explanation upon us that it interferes with the frenetic pace of this installment. Bryce has developed a plague that can kill only apes, Nora parachutes into San Diego (with at least one sign now spray painted to say "Ape City" instead), Chris Leung has begun broadcasting the revolution over the internet, he finds and kidnaps Nora, Caesar finds him and allows him to officially chronicle the revolution, Caesar brings Breck to judgment before Chris and Nora (as well as the viewing internet community), and an elite strike force attacks, holding Caesar at gunpoint.

From the start, Ty and Joe have had a lot of fun with subtle details that only true apes fans would get (President TRUNDY, Nora RHODES, etc), but having Kolp, Mendez, and Alma be the strike force that attacks Caesar was an extra cool little stunt, especially since it puts them in the garb we'll see them wearing in the fifth film.

O'Brien's writing keeps getting stronger with each issue, truly soaring at many points and feeling like true art -- something you don't often find in comics. Meanwhile, replacement penciler Tom Fowler brings his A game as well. I truly enjoy his art, though I can't decide how I feel about his depiction of Caesar. He always makes Caesar's body look unnaturally twisted, which is an interesting symbolic choice. Not sure what I make of it.

Whatever the case, this series is clearly operating on a level that's rarely seen in comics, with tremendous care and attention given to nearly every facet of the work. I'm even more impressed than I was when I first read this comic seven years ago.


"Hasslein's Notes"
writer: Joe O'Brien

grade: B

Another supplemental feature that feels somewhat unnecessary to me, providing an urgent memorandum written by Dr. Hasslein to the president immediately before pursuing and killing Zira and Cornelius in the third film. It does attempt to explain how a man who's expertise is the future would be so committed to destroying the future, and it expounds upon Templeton and O'Brien's theory of time travel, but this one is actually a bit over my head:

"It was the Icarus' return flight from the future that enabled it's original journey into the future in the first place. The paradox creates itself."

Does that mean that the destruction of the Earth propelled the Icarus through time, thus creating a sort of space-time wormhole through which the Icarus originally traveled in order to arrive in the future? But how could that happen if the Icarus hadn't already traveled in time, allowing it to be there in order to be propelled backward through time? Dr. Hasslein also explains something about his proposed curve in time (the basis of the "Hasslein Drive" used by The Icarus) actually being recursive, perhaps reconciling why Taylor believed he was supposed to end up in the far future even while the cause of the time travel was actually some kind of space-time wormhole. This might also help to reconcile Taylor's understanding of his intended destination in the far future with the idea presented in the second film that The Icarus somehow went off course and vanished. Hasslein's original theory wouldn't have had Taylor's ship vanish, per se; just accelerate beyond the speed of light.

Still not sure I get it, or maybe I'm just not sure it actually makes sense. Either way, it's intriguing, if somewhat unsuccessful in convincing me.

However, these supplemental materials still feel a bit intrusive since they do not share the wild momentum of the main story.


"Little Caesar" (rolling my eyes at this title)
writer: Ty Templeton
art: Salgood Sam

grade: C-

A flashback to Caesar's time at Armando's Circus, in which Armando is randomly confronted by an aggressive animal right activist, and in which he and Caesar ultimately discuss Caesar's gift (which is, apparently, no longer just the theory of some scientist). Caesar can apparently "see" animals doing something and then unconsciously telepathically enable them to do it, thus allowing Armando's animals to pull off seemingly impossible stunts. Caesar then shares that he "sees" a time in which "everything" can talk, including "horses, cats, dogs..." This last bit confuses me. By the present day of Revolution , all cats and dogs are already dead, yet they never talked. So what point is Templeton trying to make here, and what further point is he making when Armando is able to hear Caesar telepathically when Caesar isn't aware that he is talking to him?

This one leaves me with questions, and I'm not sure they're the questions Templeton wanted to leave me with.


minor details: In response to a letter requesting that Ty write another mini filling in the gaps between the fifth and first films, Ty indicates that he'll consider doing it and partnering with artist Kent Burles, who, he claims, "drew the best issues of the Apes Adventure Comics of the 80s, IMHO." Wow. For the first time in three issues, I disagree with Templeton on something, and I disagree BIG TIME. Kent was the absolute WORST artist ever to touch the POTA franchise, IMHO. Was Ty only saying this because Kent was planning on coming onboard to Mr. Comics?? I certainly hope so.

[shaxper]

Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #4

"Our Cast of Characters"
(credits unknown)

grade: D-

A new approach to recapping the events of the previous issues, these two pages provide brief summaries of all the principal players we've been introduced to thus far. What's odd about this summary, though, is how it unceremoniously reveals tidbits of info with which we were not previously familiar. For example, Chris Leung's parents died after their home was attacked in the first issue, and this has been a principal motivator in his documenting the revolution. It would have been nice to have known this sooner. Similarly, we learn that Caesar's mind is, in fact, unconsciously reaching out to apes across the world, and that the gorillas Aldo commands were technologically augmented and trained to be soldiers/pilots. It's also odd when Dr. Bryce Evans' summary labels him as "unstable" (why not leave that to us to determine?) or when we're told (though we were never previously shown) that one of Nora Rhodes' primary motivations in going to San Diego was to find Bryce. Finally, as an added bit of sloppy, Dr. Reich's summary cuts off in the middle of a sentence ("He believes"). This final bit of carelessness aside, I'm not sure if my problem is more with the summary giving away too much or the previous three issues giving away too little.


"Truth and Consequences"
story: Joe O'Brien and Ty Templeton
script: Joe O'Brien
art: Tom Fowler
colors: Bernie Mireault
letters: K.T. Smith
editor: Ty Templeton

grade: B-

I was just as pleased with the story and art of this chapter as I was of the previous issue's. However, the writing starts to fall apart in this one.

The story: Kolp and his strike force are defeated and leave willingly (taking Breck with them), Nora Rhodes chooses to stay with Caesar, foreign nations begin nuking their own cities to stop the ape riots (this explains how the planet was devastated in the future), and we see Caesar directly telepathically damaged by this, Dr. Reich reflects on how Caesar is both shaping time and is shaped by a time loop over which he has no control, Dr. Reich kills himself, believing the future is doomed to repeat itself, Breck and Kolp's strike force return to their underground bunker to see project CHURCHDOOR (it is hinted that this is the Omega bomb we saw under the control of the mutants in the second and fifth films), and Aldo and his gorillas take over the Whitehouse (President Trundy is not there).

The problems with the writing: explain to me how Caesar turned the tides on Kolp's strike force. Chris hit Kolp in the face with a camera, and suddenly all the other fully armed members of his team aren't shown anymore until they willingly leave while still fully armed and with Caesar in plain sight only a few feet away. Additionally, we've got Aldo barking orders in perfect English only hours after uttering his first monosyllabic word, and an absurd argument begins within moments of Nora and Bryce reuniting which made me find them obnoxious and cease to have any care for the couple at all. Meanwhile, Chris continues to receive no characterization whatsoever, so none of the three new human protagonists are working for me at this point, and Caesar isn't really doing enough in this comic to remain interesting on his own.

This is still the most thoughtful and intelligent Apes story ever written, but this issue feels far more clumsy, and I'm beginning to grow concerned about its direction. In four issues, all Caesar has really managed to do is get the word CHURCHDOOR broadcast over the internet and torture Breck for a few hours. And, while he wants CHURCHDOOR, he doesn't really have any kind of plan to get it. He's a remarkably passive figure in these issues, both in terms of action and internal development. There just isn't all that much going on with him.

So the story remains intelligent, but the excitement level and opportunity for sympathy with the protagonists is beginning to wane.


"Caesar's Journal"
writer: Ty Templeton
art: Bernie Mireault

grade: B

This one really confused me. First off, there are now editorial comments provided as if by some future historian. Secondly, we have Caesar dreaming that his grandchildren will fight "in a global war with human beings, destroying the moon in an orgy of violence and madness. THE MOON!?!?" Even the editorial comments address this excerpt as being fascinating because it's a prediction of Caesar's that didn't come true. What the heck is he talking about, and where is Templeton going with this?

One important point this undated journal entry makes is that Caesar eventually stops having his dreams of the future, and his memory of them begins to grow hazy. For example, Caesar is foggy on the point of what will happen to his future offspring (killed in the fifth film). This may be a convenient way of explaining why Caesar clearly does not have these abilities in the fifth film, though I still have a hard time reconciling this future-glimpsing, inadvertently telepathic Caesar with the naive character we first saw in the fourth film who needed Armando to explain everything to him.

Finally, Caesar raises the question that was already suggested by Dr. Reich's suicide in the main story: are Caesar's actions changing the future, or are they recreating it?


"Paternal Instinct"
story: Sam Agro and Ty Templeton
art: Sam Agro
colors: Bernie Mireault

grade: C+

A story of a cop (strongly implied to be Taylor's daughter) attempting to decide what to do in the midst of the ape riots. The cop must ultimately make a morally questionable decision in order to protect humans, but it's hardly a shocking or thought provoking enough ending to make this story feel worthwhile.

Additionally, Templeton and Agro miss a tremendous opportunity with this story. While I personally would love to pretend the Malibu/Adventure Comics issues never happened, Templeton continues to espouse his love for them in the letter column of this issue. Why, then, NOT have this woman's first name be Jo (Jo Taylor, Taylor's daughter, appeared in the Ape City mini series)? This woman looks JUST like Jo but is given the name "Tammy" in passing. I understand if there were legal issues with giving her the name of a character developed by another publishing company, but then leave the name out entirely and simply hint that this is Jo. THAT would have made this story feel more special.

[shaxper]

Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #5

On so many levels, this issue is the epitome of all that's been right and wrong with this series thus far, including brilliant concepts, clumsy internal continuity, ambitious but flawed external continuity with the larger franchise, great dramatic pacing, an utterly passive protagonist who has no pacing, and a secondary cast that fails to really catch our attention. Somehow, in spite of this, it's still proving to be a fascinating, thought-provoking, enjoyable read, even while it remains flawed on several levels.

My suspicion is that the problem lies in great talents doing jobs that aren't right for them. O'Brien, for example, is a DYNAMITE writer of dialogue, but his pacing, ability to reveal critical information, and sense of internal continuity suck royally. He should not be writing this story on his own. Meanwhile, Ty Templeton seems to have come up with a truly BRILLIANT vision for this title that is only partially being realized, but he is slipping as an editor, allowing some very careless errors to get through, as well as not getting his clearly talented writer to recognize and overcome the very obstacles I've mentioned above. Were Ty and Joe co-writing this story, and were a more vigilant editor on the book (who wasn't attempting to balance this chore with attempting to conceive, market, and manage an entire emerging independent publishing company at the same time), I'm convinced Revolution would have been solid gold; a series that more people would have stopped to take notice of.

Though I don't claim to be an expert on the matter, I assume that one of the critical errors that causes many start-up indy titles to fail is the assumption that, on a limited start-up budget, they can afford to work without a dedicated editor and full time director of marketing. I suspect both of these jobs are critical to the early success of an independent publisher, and yet both roles are being juggled here by Templeton while he also attempts to run Mr. Comics and be the brains behind two of its three titles (Revolution and Hoverboy, the latter of which ended up stuck on hiatus for two years and only had one issue see print).

In spite of all this, though, I'm still finding Revolution a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile series. For what it's worth, I also thoroughly enjoyed Big Max #1, the single non-POTA comic that Mr. Comics managed to put out before the company went on hiatus.


Recap pages
(uncredited)
grade: D-

Yet another creative new attempt to recap what's already happened by providing summaries of each issue thus far. However, once again, information is thrown in that CLEARLY wasn't revealed up to this point.

Some examples:

-It was already news to us in the previous recap that Chris Leung's parents had died in the first issue, but now we learn that we were already supposed to know that they were the FIRST humans to die during the Revolution. There is absolutely no way we were ever shown this previously. This also leaves me with a burning question -- why in the world is Chris taking Caesar's side if Caesar's revolution caused the death of his parents??

-Bryce was the one who broke off the engagement with Nora. We definitely did not know this before, and it doesn't jibe with how he was first introduced in the second issue, at which time he was obsessed with proving his worth to Nora.

-China was apparently the first nation to bomb its own cities to stop the ape rebellions. They were vague about which nation(s) had done this when it was first shown.

- apparently, we saw that Project CHURCHDOOR is, in fact, the Omega Bomb (from the second and fifth film) in the previous issue...except that we actually didn't.

- motivations are now attributed to most of our cast of characters via these synopses, though they were barely hinted at in the actual issues.

Also, and this drives me crazy, whoever wrote these summaries HAS NO IDEA HOW TO USE COMMAS, repeatedly and blatantly misusing them throughout these synopses.


"Part Four: weapon of choice"
story: Ty Templeton and Joe O'Brien
writer: Joe O'Brien
pencils: Salgood Sam
colors: Art Lyon
letters: K.T. Smith
editing: Ty Templeton

grade: A

Things continue to heat up with Breck about to launch the Omega bomb, Caesar inciting the apes to war (I'm glad he's finally doing something, but war against who? Does this just translate to "help me knock down that door so we can stop Breck?" Not all that exciting a move then, is it?), Bryce considering using his virus to kill all the apes, and Nora hijacking media channels to beg the president to bomb San Diego in order to stop Breck from nuking the world. Not too shabby, though I still want Caesar to do something more in this story.

Art-wise, I'm convinced Salgood Sam must have an uncredited inker. Otherwise, I don't know how to explain how his art looks so much BETTER this issue. The pencil-work looks similar or the same to what he was doing before, but the inking makes all the difference this time around and is truly breathtaking in its realism at times.

In terms of continuity, Ty and Joe take the fun to a new height. Sure, we see the flaming remains of New York City in the wake of a cataclysmic battle between man and ape and see the arm of the Statue of Liberty emerging from beneath the rising East River (a fun nod to the first film), and get President Trundy to use the phrase, "It's a mad house!" but the most impressive moment has got to be Trundy and his advisers discussing the "hidden bunker at Mt. Rushmore" (though they do not have enough fuel to get there directly), as well as the mention in the synopsis section that the Chinese were the first to launch nuclear weapons (against their own cities).

This all nods back to POTA (vol. 1) #14, in which Jason, Alex, and Lightsmith discover the secret bunker at Mt. Rushmore and hear an audio recording there that reveals the following:

">KLICK< Mr. President, as our chief advisor[sic] I should like to speak candidly. On top of this damn mess with the Africans and Chinese blowing two-thirds of the country to hydrogen smithereens, now the apes are acting up.

Yes, I KNOW, Henry. The damn stupid stinking BEASTS! If only we could get out of this silly Lincoln tunnel, I'd round up every last one of the goofy monkeys and slap them into the psychedrome."

The references in this issue seem like more of a nod than a serious attempt to align the two continuities, though. After all, "the apes acting up" was the impetus for the nuclear detonations, not an unrelated event that occurred in the aftermath, and the president and his advisers are headed to Fort Liberty in a helicopter in this issue, so it's unlikely they ended up in the Lincoln Tunnel (though not impossible, and they ARE over New York City, where the Lincoln Tunnel is located, at the end of the issue).

Make of it what you will; I find this nod to Moench's run absolutely delightful, as well as an excellent gesture consistent with the spirit of making a serious effort to fill in the gaps in POTA continuity. Templeton has repeatedly indicated in the letters column that he sees a way in which ALL the licensed apes stories (original films, Burton film, 1975 TV series, and all comic volumes) can work together in one continuity. I find that intriguing and wish he'd had more time to fully explore this.

Finally, while Caesar still isn't doing much in this issue, we at least finally see him obtain a serious motivation this time around. In the first issue, he seemed entirely unsure what to do with himself. In ensuing issues he became interested in obtaining CHURCHDOOR so that the military wouldn't lead a strike against him. Now his motivation is to prevent Breck from using CHURCHDOOR to destroy the world, though this motivation is presented by McDonald as if it's been his goal all along. I get the sense that O'Brien is just as indecisive with Caesar as Caesar is with his own motivations in this story. What is he really trying to do in this series, and what concrete steps is he going to take to obtain his goals? With only one issue left, this all remains so fuzzy.

minor detail: why is an ape broadcasting the newsfeed that gets interrupted by Rhodes? Isn't this still a government controlled media channel, and apes haven't acquired the power of speech yet. I'm assuming this was an art error?

So this story truly does fire successfully on most cylinders this time around, though Caesar's lack of meaningful involvement in the story is still troubling.

(review continues in next post...)

[shaxper]

(...continued from previous post)


"Ape Shall Not Kill Ape"
writer: Ty Templeton
art: Kent Burles
colors: Bernie Mireault
letters: K.T. Smith

grade: B

In yet another loving nod to past volumes of POTA comics, Templeton brings Kent Burles on (POTA vol. 2) to pencil this story. In a previous letters column, Templeton indicated that Burles would be coming on to do some artwork and suggested that this was because he thought so highly of Burles' work on the Malibu/Adventure volume. I suspect, instead, that it's both because Burles did the artwork for the early issues (you know, the ones that people actually bought and read before giving up on the series) and because, as a generally lousy artist, Burles doesn't seem to have done anything since and was probably quite enthusiastic about coming to work for Mr. Comics for (presumably) very little money. Fortunately, I suspect once again that we have a ghost inker on these stories and, as a result, Burles distinctive awful style of drawing apes doesn't look quite as terrible as it used to.

This is a pretty silly story on the surface, as a lawgiver preaches co-existence with the youths of his village (presumably Ape City since Caesar and Aldo are referenced) when a lawgiver of a tribe from the hills randomly shows up, beats everyone up, and kills the original lawgiver, modifying ape law so that the primary law is no longer "Ape Shall Never Kill Ape" and instead "Beware the Beast Man."

Beneath the surface, though, there's more effort by Ty to connect dots along POTA continuity. I'm assuming copyright issues prevent Ty from outright referencing characters and events from a POTA volume printed by a different publisher, so we have no true bearing as to when this story takes place in relation to the Malibu/Adventure volume, but it seems safe to say this is shortly after the events of the Malibu/Adventure volume, both suggested by the return of Burles' art and the major turn of events at the end of the story that clearly hadn't occurred yet in the Malibu/Adventure volume.

So here are the continuity points Ty establishes/repairs in this story:

- This story provides a simplistic, though effective, explanation of how Caesar's vision of co-existence, established for Ape City in the fifth film and challenged/defended in both Moench (vol. 1) and Marshall (vol. 2)'s storylines, gives way to the society that fears and subjugates humans seen in the first film. This further affirms Templeton's idea of time being cyclical and the events of all five films occurring continuously, rather than having the events of the third through fifth films rewrite the future seen in the first two films. However, it also lends a futility to the main story of Revolution since we now know that Caesar's struggle is for naught; his vision for his people will fail, and the world will be destroyed in the far future.

- A "lawgiver" is akin to a town wiseman/religious leader and is not a single individual. This allows us to reconcile Moench's "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" storyline (POTA vol. 1), in which the Lawgiver is a main character, with Revolution and vol. 2, both of which indicate that Caesar was the Lawgiver (or at least the first Lawgiver), which (itself) initially contradicted the end of the fifth film, which showed a Lawgiver who clearly was not Caesar.

However, this still does not jibe with the first film, which makes reference to a singular lawgiver and has a town wiseman/religious leader (Zaius) who is not referred to as "Lawgiver."

- The Lawgiver of this story implies that the gorillas left or were expelled after Aldo killed Cornelius in the fifth film. This works with POTA vol. 2 in the sense that we know Aldo's followers left Ape City after the fifth film and that General Ollo was one of them. However, there were still some gorillas living in Ape City in POTA vol. 2, so this explanation arguably creates more continuity problems than it solves.

One other continuity problem with this story: In POTA vol. 2, we met and learned about all the ape tribes near Ape City, and none were as civilized and organized as the one we meet here. In fact, the tribe residing in the hills in POTA vol. 2 was the Lightfeet, and they were essentially pacifists.

So, while I give Templeton major credit for, once more, attempting to nod to previous Ape continuity and make it all work, this story arguably does more damage to continuity than good. Of course, the impression I've gotten from Templeton all along is that, while he's very good at continuity, he's not all that concerned with the minor details and would probably laugh at a nit-picking review like this one.

To quote the man again:

"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."

Still, if you're going to go out of your way to acknowledge continuity, then I'm of the belief that you should take pains to make it work. Otherwise, just ignore it entirely and tell a good Apes story for the sake of telling a good Apes story, just as Moench made no effort to connect the continuities of his three major Apes works ("Terror on the Planet of the Apes," "Future History Chronicles," and the Derek Zane adventures).


"Caesar's Journal"
writer: Ty Templeton
art/lettering(?): Bernie Mireault
grade: D+

As usual, Caesar's journal entry this time around leaves me confused. It's from an unknown date, presumably after more nuclear weapons have dropped (maybe just one that destroys San Diego). In this journal, Caesar explains that he has re-read his previous entries and has no memory of writing the ones that describe his visions of the future, nor does he recall ever having such visions.

WHAT??????

Seriously, I have no idea what to make of this, and I'm starting to find that feeling both familiar and incredibly frustrating.

Maybe Caesar's memory is progressing backward due to his weird relationship with time, and he knows less as time progresses? That doesn't really make much sense, but it's the best I can conjure here.

----------

All in all, this was the most fun and best done issue of Revolution yet, though it was hardly perfect. Let's see if it all wraps up neatly next issue!

[shaxper]

Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #6

Well, the ending comes and is every bit as big and powerful as one could have expected. Still, there are problems to be found, from unclear artwork, to nagging lingering questions, to the total lack of resolution for some of the primary cast, to the excessive amount of typos found throughout this issue. Brilliant but clumsy; I think that's an appropriate epitaph for Revolution on the Planet of the Apes.

"This is How Man's World Ends"
(credits unknown)
grade: C+

A reasonable new approach to summarizing the story thus far via a countdown to doomsday. The summary is much briefer thus far and, as a result, has less opportunity to get things wrong than usual.


"Part Six: Survival of the Fittest"
story: Ty Templeton and Joe O'Brien
writer: Joe O'Brien
pencils: Tom Fowler
colors: Art Lyon and Bernie Mireault
letters: K.T. Smith
editor: Ty Templeton

grade: A-

So much to love, be bothered by, and be plain confused by in this story.

To begin with, we get fun homages and cosmic parallels, including Caesar and Breck replaying Zaius and Taylor's roles at the end of "Battle for the Planet of the Apes," reciting the very same lines as they nearly head towards the same doomsday confrontation.

There's also some outstanding action, especially as the apes wage a final assault on Breck, led by fighter jets straight down into the heart of a nuclear silo.

But, then, there's the randomness and uselessness of much of the supporting cast. What was the point of ever having included Bryce or Nora in this story? They make absolutely no contribution to the series in terms of plot, theme, nor entertainment value. They're just...there, even at the end.

When you think about it, Templeton must have had plans for these two to play a larger role in the planned second POTA series, especially with Bryce's synthesized, species-specific virus, which almost certainly ends up backfiring or getting altered to cause the cognitive downfall of mankind (which, by the way, would connect nicely with explanations provided for man's cognitive downfall in both in POTA vol. 2 and in Jim Whitmore's "Outlines of Tomorrow" article in POTA vol. 1 #11). Still, it's odd to bring an entire series to a close without these characters having actually done anything yet.

Yet, in contrast, Chris Leung seems to have found a meaningful role by the end of the story, though the nature of that role is left somewhat mysterious. At first, Chris just walks off when the battery on his camera dies (Really? He doesn't feel any need to WITNESS the climax of the most significant moment in human history just because he can't film it??), but, by the end, he appears to have a newfound sense of purpose, leaning against a tree in the newly erected Ape City and writing in the final panel.

On the surface, what Chris appears to be writing is the final narrative sequence with which we are presented just prior to seeing Chris in that final panel. It's worth repeating and goes as follows:

"One day, someone will ask, 'How did this happen? How could we, with all our technology and civilization, be defeated by simple APES?" The answer is, we weren't. We did it to ourselves. Apes didn't conquer the planet. They inherited it. Our language, our clothing, our culture. Everything they do is a reflection on us. "They're us, " Mr. MacDonald said. He was right. We saw the apes, and we saw ourselves. Maybe that's why we caged them in the first place.

But what else did you inherit, Caesar? What about hate? The need to dominate? What about hope? What future do you dream now, Caesar?"

However, it seems that there's more to what Chris is writing than this, especially since he's still shown writing once the narrative sequence has concluded and since Chris simply trading up a video camera for a notebook isn't a big enough transformation to be worthy of the primary focus of the last panel of the entire series; I do believe there's more going on here.

My guess is that Templeton meant to hint (and further address in the next series) that Chris is writing the journal entries that will later be attributed to Caesar. This makes sense as an alternate way of documenting the revolution, particularly with a new awareness of who his audience will be. It makes even more sense if you consider it in the context of the Christian Gospels, each written by anonymous authors who claimed to be the apostles Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John (history has proven that they weren't) and lent their own unique "spin" to the story of Jesus' revolution.

Incidentally, I apologize if that parallel offends anyone. I have not presented anything here that has not been verified by respected Church historians.

Anyway, if you stop to consider, it's entirely reasonable for Chris to have written those entries, flavoring the entries with bits of background information that someone closely following Caesar would have known. And as for forseeing the future, while the visions of the future written in the journals proved to be true, none were specific enough as to have been beyond Chris' ability to predict. The only exception to this is the second story in this issue, in which the names "Milo," "Cornelius," "Zira," and "Taylor" are said to be repeatedly used throughout the journal entries.

So did Caesar every really predict the future? It's never confirmed anywhere other than in these entries. And, if this really was a fabrication created by Chris with the intent of chronicling Caesar's revolution through a religious lens, why add the bit about Caesar doubting his own vision about apes destroying the moon?

The more I think about it, though, it seems that Chris was supplementing Caesar's already existing journal with visions of the future. That would explain why Caesar's final entry states that he did not recall writing those previous ones, nor ever having glimpsed the future.

But, then, why would Chris feel the need to supplement rather than create his own chronicle of Caesar's revolution? By the end of this series, we still understand next to nothing about the motivations of this character, and no matter what speculation I throw at his final actions in this story, he remains an unintended enigma of a character.

A second theory is that, given a second POTA series, we might have learned that Nora Rhodes was the secret second writer of Caesar's journal entries. After all, it's been made clear several times that her character is all about obtaining control by controlling information. This action would give her existence in the series a significant justification, and it would also continue with the parallels to the writing of the Christian gospels in that Nora would be akin to St. Paul, taking the initial gospel and modifying/organizing/amplifying it in order to create a controlled heirarchal system out of an initially grass-roots reform movement.

But, of course, this is all conjecture based on very little evidence, and I'm officially babbling like a moron at this point.

----

Back to my analysis of the larger story (Sorry. There's just so much worth exploring, analyzing and discussing in this issue!), the biggest failure of this issue is a total (and, I believe, unintended) lack of clarity as to what the heck happens at the climax. President Trundy requests the codes to launch a nuclear strike on San Diego, MacDonald presses a detonator near the Alpha-Omega bomb, we see something happen to or around the bomb, there's a big "WHAM!" and a white light, and somehow Caesar is totally fine afterward even though he was in the same room. So, did MacDonald blow up the bomb, was there a nuclear strike, or what? How did Caesar walk away unscathed, and what the heck happened to Breck? What a disappointment that Fowler failed to make this clear.

I'm assuming MacDonald blew up the bomb, explaining how Caesar and the (soon to be) mutants survived, and that the president launched his nuclear strike sometime after, when the apes had already fled the city. Sure enough, we do see nuclear blasts occurring all over the continent around the same time that the apes are taking their long march out of San Diego in search of a new home.

So that's apparently "how man's world ends;" the American government bombing its own major cities to put a stop to the apes.

Lack of clarity on these points aside, the ending is quite moving, as we watch the apes ride out of San Diego to build Ape City, with Lisa beginning to speak and Chris Leung writing in the foreground. The action of this issue was hurried and unclear, and the resolution seemed to come too quickly, but it was still quite powerful and beautifully illustrated/colored.

lingering nagging doubts:

- If the Alpha-Omega bomb was destroyed (as it appeared to be in this issue), then isn't this now a different timeline from the one seen in the first and second Apes films? Or maybe Breck and the mutants build another bomb? Or maybe something entirely different happened and Fowler just utterly failed to portray it accurately.

- So we've now clearly established that Ape City is built outside of San Diego. Yet, when Taylor travels into the future in the first film, Ape City will be right outside of New York City, complete with Statue of Liberty. Surely, Templeton doesn't mean to imply that the statue was washed clockwise around the North American continent to wander from New York City all the way to San Diego.

- If Caesar is unaware that he is telepathically influencing apes across the world, how does he know that Aldo and his fighter pilots are coming?


(review continues in next post...)

[shaxper]

(...continued from previous post)


- The Russians are the second nation to launch tactical nuclear weapons, thus conflicting with the history of the fall of human civilization chronicled (and referenced last issue) in POTA (vol. 1) #14. In that story, the Chinese and "the Africans" had been the two nations to launch tactical nuclear weapons.


Minor fun detail: Not only is Templeton having fun connecting the various POTA stories to one another, but he also managed to put a Rollerball arena in San Diego in this issue, thus homaging the eponymous sci fi classic.


"Catch a Falling Star"
writer: Ty Templeto
art: Steve Molnar
color: Bernie Mireault
grade: A+

A perfect final note to end the series on, just as we felt all had been (mostly) resolved. This story gives full attention to Templeton's theory of the nature of time in the POTA Universe, with Dr. Zaius visiting Dr. Milo just prior to Taylor's ship crashlanding and to the events of the first Apes film. Zaius reveals Caesar's journal to Milo, as well as the fact that he, Cornelius, and Zira, will travel back in time, directly creating the events of the third and fourth apes films, as well as of Revolution on the Planet of the Apes. He argues that time is not, in fact, linear nor circular, but more like "latticework of streams and cross streams" that Virgil perceived in the fifth film, and he explains that time has only fallen into a circle because of the unintended/unnatural disruption caused by the travel backwards in time, creating a loop that was never supposed to be. He therefore kills Milo in order to prevent the loop from continuing, but the journal changes before a dying Milo's eyes, showing now that Zaius is the one who goes back in time with Cornelius and Zira, and ending with time looping back again and Milo once again being present and poised to go back without Zaius anticipating it this time. Interesting concept, and while it's hard to believe Zaius would go back, knowing full well what will happen, there are ways in which this could have occurred by accident, therefore allowing time to loop back again with Milo going back in time -- essentially a "figure 8" of time travel.

As stated earlier, the big problem with all of this is that it means Caesar DID see into the future and DID write all of his journal entries, thus leaving us with unresolved questions about what Chris was writing at the end of the main story and just what the heck the deal really was with Caesar seeing the future and then not seeing the future.

Another potential problem with this issue is that Zaius and Milo are clearly residing in a modern city that does not resemble the pre-industrial society we saw in the first Apes film (Milo is even wearing a T-shirt and jeans). However, if we keep in mind that time needs to loop around one more time before it becomes the future we saw in the first and second Apes film, with Milo being the one to go back in time instead of Zaius, then perhaps this different depiction of Ape City is intentional. Perhaps the second loop in the "figure 8" results in a vastly different future society, though conveniently with a Dr. Zaius and Dr. Milo still existing and still occupying the same roles in their societies, and still poised to go back and create the first loop in the "figure 8" again.

This might also help to explain why Caesar's Ape City is in San Diego instead of New York and how the Alpha-Omega bomb was (presumably) blown up when we know it's still intact in the second film. We're on a different side of the "figure 8". The future that follows the Caesar revolution we've witnessed is the one in which Zaius kills Milo and goes back, himself. It's not until the next time through the loop (the other side of the "8") that the timeline of the first two films plays out again.

(note: If you're confused by this explanation, this visual I've created may help.)

Is all of this hurting your head yet? Man, I love the way Templeton thinks.

I should also note that the dialogue in this story provides a pretty awesome summary of the events of Revolution and the parallels we've glimpsed between this issue and the first two films by saying the following:

Zaius: Tell me. Do you believe in the divinity of Taylor and Caesar?

Milo: What...? That they were chosen by God to travel through time and destroy each other's worlds?

What an interesting way of bringing both the events of this story and, in fact, the entire Apes franchise into perspective.


Minor details for the issue, as a whole:

In the letters column, Templeton is still confident that there will be a trade put out of Revolution and that its sales will dictate whether or not there will be future Apes series put out by Mr. Comics. I guess sales of Revolution proved to be much lower than expected, even by this point.


Sad that this proves to be the end of the line for Mr. Comics. Still, I felt the series ended on a strong note, only leaving a few uncertainties that may have been clarified in a second Empire on the Planet of the Apes storyline (mostly in regards to Chris Leung's writing, the true nature and extent of Caesar's abilities, the final fate of Governor Breck, and an opportunity for Bryce and Nora to finally do whatever they were supposed to end up doing).


Still, this was one heck of a ride, and I felt Templeton brought things to a strong and mostly satisfying conclusion that invited me to think and re-examine much of what I understood about the underlying concepts of this series.

[shaxper]

Summary of Mr. Comics volume
(2005-2006)

Overview: The most ambitious of the POTA series thus far, and also the briefest. This volume attempts not only to fill the void left between the fourth and fifth Apes films, but also to connect all the continuity points left dangling throughout the various Apes films and comic series and also bundle them up into a single unifying theme about preemptive militarism, cosmic balance, and the inevitability of fate. It's ambitious, well thought out, but unevenly executed stuff. The art varies, the concepts and writing are strong, and the plotting and minor issues (like typos) are highly problematic. "Brilliant, but clumsy" describes it well. And, while it's not as fun a series as POTA vol. 1 was, it's certainly the most intelligent POTA story ever written.

Worthwhile To Read?: DEFINITELY! Have patience with the awkward pacing and utterly confusing aspects of the series. The pay-off felt very worthwhile to me, even while we were still left with questions that probably would have been resolved in the planned follow-up series (it never materialized due to low sales).

Key Issues/Highlights?: The lead stories in each issue make up only one six part story, so it's pretty much an all or nothing scenerio there. However, two of the B stories prove to be absolute stand-alone gems: "People News" in #2 and "Catch a Falling Star" in #6.

Worth Re-Reading?: Again, and again, and again!

[shaxper]

Another way of explaining how the time stream is presented in Revolution of the Planet of the Apes

The final story in this series, "Catch a Falling Star," might be the single greatest contribution this volume makes to the POTA franchise in how it finally reconciles the timelines involved in the POTA films, and I don't feel I explained it well in my review of that story, so here's another attempt.




Together, the two sequences create an unending figure 8 loop, Sequence #1 always leading to Sequence #2, and Sequence #2 always leading back to Sequence #1.

[shaxper]

Ty Chimes In

I'm extremely grateful to Ty Templeton, mastermind behind Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, who has graciously agreed to review my reviews and provide feedback. Here's what Ty had to say:

Excellent analysis of the series, and you have hit much of what we were planning in Empire with your theories.

Yes, absolutely, Chris was intended to be instrumental in the recording of Caesar's life...we were even toying with the idea of making Chris the long forgotten "first" Lawgiver, as it amused the hell out of me to discover the first of the lawgivers was, in fact, a human being, now long lost to history. And as to our warring couple, they had a major role in the Empire series, especially the disease fatal to simians...much of the next series was concerned with the quasi-religious elements of Apes Lore, with science and religion merging in the wake of mankind's extinction through a mutation of the simian plague.

Sigh...would have been fun to do.


Ty added the following in a later message:

There an unpublished story by Sam Agro from Revolution that finally appeared in a fanzine published in England called "Sacred Scrolls". It very much features the religious questions raised by the story line, and is about a Catholic priest fighting off a gorilla under a statue of Jesus. Interesting stuff...it might even be online somewhere.

I've since researched and learned that this was published in Simian Scrolls #16, though I can find neither a hard copy nor scan of it available online.



************************************************** **********************

And now a plea to those of you reading this thread...

In our correspondences, I've pushed Ty to approach Boom! about possibly releasing a trade of Revolution on the Planet of the Apes and, if it did well, finally publishing the sequel as an original trade paperback. However, it might help if Ty knew that there were people out there interested in reading Revolution. I know my readers tend to stay quiet and not chime in too often, but this would be a great time to speak up. If my reviews have made you curious about reading this series, SIGN THE PETITION, and let Ty and anyone else reading this know that there is finally an audience and demand for this overlooked masterpiece. With less than 3,000 copies published of some of the latter issues, you're not likely to find a full set of these anywhere; a trade is most people's only hope for ever reading this series!

THE PETITION: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/i...planet-of-the/
************************************************** **********************

[Kan-Man]

Very interested in reading this series - in fact, I'm off to ebay now to see if it's available. Great stuff, as always, Shax.