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.

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?

- 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.

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.

Planet of the Apes (Boom!) #1



"The Long War, Part 1"
writer: Daryl Gregory
art: Carlos Magno
colors: Juan Manuel Tumburus
letters: Travis Lanham
editor: Ian Brill

grade: B+


You gain a lot of perspective by reading almost forty years worth of POTA comics back to back in one stretch, but there's a cost that can come with this as well. "The Long War" concerns itself with the themes of racial divide, intolerance, and the concept that separate can never be equal. To someone new to POTA, or to a longtime fan who's waited years to see a new POTA volume in print, this central focus might seem original or at least refreshing. But, to someone who watched Moench (POTA vol. 1) and Marshall (POTA vol. 2) beat these concepts to death along with the horses they rode in on, it's hard not to roll my eyes at this point.

Don't get me wrong. This story is VERY well done thus far. And yet it feels so "been there, done that" even as minor aspects of this story and premise actually feel purposefully borrowed from previous apes stories (though no clear nod to these stories appears intended). I suppose it might all be coincidence, but here are the recycled elements I am seeing:

-A downtrodden human society, led by a tough female leader, living on the fringes of the ape city. Though it's handled far better here, so many aspects of this premise feel lifted directly out of the Blood of the Apes mini series from Malibu/Adventure Comics. Of course, the humans residing in segregated slums was also portrayed as far back as in the first issue of the first POTA volume.

- Society breaking down because the lawgiver is dead or close to death. This was amply covered in POTA vol. 1 and also felt very Star Trek VI (Chancellor Gorkon). Incidentally, I'll touch on parallels between this story and Star Trek VI again later in this review.

- Friends/near-siblings, brought up together, yet divided by distrust sewn between their species. This was the core of POTA vol. 1

- Pregnant protagonist symbolic of her desire to create a better future for her unborn progeny. Sure, Fargo did this first, and probably a million stories before even that, but the "Countdown Zero" storyline from POTA (vol. 2) had dibs on this concept within the Apes franchise (although you might argue that Escape from the Planet of the Apes did it even before that).


Let me be clear. This is not a criticism, per se. It's even possible that Boom! was purposeful in making this series feel like a mosaic of past POTA volumes. It just begins to feel old when you read it all together, as if it's doing certain things a bit better but not adding anything all that new to the mix either.

Perhaps Revolution on the Planet of the Apes just spoiled me. Its focus was so different from what had come before, dwelling on militarism, pre-emptive warfare, and hardcore science fiction, and taking a break from the same old beaten path about the need for racial harmony. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing bad about preaching for racial harmony, but what is a new POTA story going to say about racial harmony that hasn't already been said in the POTA franchise?


Anyway, this first issue does add a few unique dimensions to the standard Apes story:

- For once, Ape society isn't depicted as being arrested at one stage of technological development (which never made much sense) but rather as moving towards its own industrial era.

- A mixture of humans who are and are not mute by this point.

- Additionally, the finer details of what it means to lead a second class civilization, portrayed most realistically when "Casimir" came to Sullivan, desperate for work, and all she could advise him to do was to make sure he signed the roles and that he'd be advised if anything came up.

- The shadowy conspiracy behind the assassination of the Lawgiver seems far more thought-out than the KKK-resembling gorillas from POTA vol. 1, especially since I suspect it's actually an uneasy alliance between human and ape groups to keep the tension rising between the two species (again, if you've seen Star Trek VI, this should all feel quite familiar).


Regarding how this volume does or does not intersect with previous POTA comic continuity, there are no clear answers yet. We know that this civilization is approaching an industrial age, suggesting this series takes place further down the timeline than any apes story seen previously. Of course, when the world ends at the end of the second POTA film (sorry for any spoilers there), the apes have not yet reached this level of sophistication, suggesting either that this is a different and far away ape society that also has a Lawgiver and a belief in Caesar (POTA vol. 2 suggests that most ape civilizations do) or that Caesar's existence in the past changed the timeline so that the events of the second film never occur (which would contradict Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, though I wouldn't be surprised if this creative team never read it).

There's also the issue of the younger generation of humans starting to be born mute. That would place this volume well after the "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" and "Future History Chronicles" series from POTA vol. 1, but before the Derek Zane stories from vol. 1 and all the stories from vol. 2. The given year in this issue of 2680 (1,200 years before Taylor) supports all of this.

So it's possible, at this point, for this series to be part of the same continuity of all that came before provided that this is not the same ape city that Caesar founded and that Taylor ultimately visits later down the road. Only time will tell if this team is watching past comic continuity at all and, if so, which one(s).


For what it's worth: odd parallels between this story and Star Trek VI:

- Peace between two bitterly divided races threatened by the death of a leader preaching peace.
- That leader being assassinated by a joint conspiracy of members from both races, bent on triggering or maintaining hostilities
- That leader's final words articulating a heart-breaking concern that the peace will die along with him
- That leader's daughter taking his place and becoming tainted by the assassination and distrusting/hating the other race as a result
- Gorkon's daughter and Alaya looking disturbingly similar, right down to the facial structure, basic dress design, and hairdo.

So yeah, we've got an amalgam of POTA vol. 1 and 2 meets Star Trek VI. Fortunately, all aspects of the story aside from its utter lack of originality are well executed: The art is strong, the back story seems well considered, the writing and pacing are strong, and the characters appear to have depth (though there's only so much you can glean in a first issue). Still, there's a disturbing amount of "been there, done that" feeling to this first issue, as well as of, "Oh, come on. You just ripped that off from another story" that I hope will soon pass. I respect the idea that a beloved but infrequently published franchise needs to return to familiar ground every time it starts up again (and apparently steal shamelessly from another franchise as well), but I also think a Planet of the Apes story that just spins its wheels and never attempts to charge into bold new territory is a bit of a contradiction.


plot synopsis in one long paragraph: The apes are entering their own industrial age and co-exist uneasily with humans, who are treated as a lower class, reside in one slum section known as Skintown, and are led by Sullivan (or "Sully), their pregnant mayor of sorts. The younger generation of humans are degrading genetically and cannot speak. The Lawgiver, who has preached co-existence between the two species, is assassinated by an unknown assailant, his "daughter" Alaya takes over and decides this has been done by the humans, she recognizes that The Lawgiver's death leaves a power vacuum and that other interested parties are looking to step in, she confronts Sully, we learn that the two were both orphans taken in by The Lawgiver in youth and raised as sisters, and Alaya gives Sully ten days to produce the assassin or the ape militia will sweep into Skintown.

Planet of the Apes (Boom!) #3



"The Long War, Part 3"
writer: Daryl Gregory
pencils: Carlos Magno
colors: Nolan Woodard
letters: Travis Lanham
editor: Ian Brill

grade: B

The story advances, though some of the charm is lost. Nix has lost the cloud of complex ambiguity that surrounded him last issue, now portrayed as an all-out war criminal who has no problem with wiping out an entire town of innocent humans in order to find one assassin. Brother Kale is finally given an opportunity to share his viewpoint in this issue, but it's hardly as intoxicating, nor is it given as much time; he believes in freedom and revolution, and he's willing to take it too far. That's pretty much all we're given.

Meanwhile, the infamous assassin from the first issue has returned and, unless it's a second and different assassin, it's now clearly a human female. Of course, I'm still expecting that there are numerous assassins, and that both Brother Kale's organization and the Caesarists (ape supremacist political party that has been suspiciously out of the picture thus far) are behind the Lawgiver' death, working together in an uneasy truce for their own gains.

Truly the only aspect of this issue that struck me as at all intriguing was the divide occurring within the ranks of the humans, Sully giving in to ape demands and abuses with only a concern in her people's safety, Chaika willing to stage a full scale revolt, and many of the younger humans in Skintown flocking to Brother Kale and thirsting for full-scale vengeance.

Continuity Watch -- Alaya seems to imply in this issue that there has only been one Lawgiver, and that he was the one who wrote the Lawgiver's Scrolls. This conflicts with Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, which stated that every ape city had a "Lawgiver." It also poses problems in merging with the continuity of POTA vol. 1 since the Lawgiver of that series resided in Ape City, not Mak (which is said to exist to the West of Ape City).

Mak is almost certainly based upon the city of "Phis" (once "Memphis") depicted in vol. 2's "Blood of the Apes" mini series, complete with its own slum for humans (most of whom could no longer speak), led by a strong female "mayor," smuggling modern weapons that are a threat to the apes, and established on the other side of a body of water and connected to the main city by a bridge? I'm assuming copyright issues would prevent Boom! from using the name "Phis." Arguably, Nix could even be based upon Tonus, the anti-hero protagonist of that series who ultimately learned that killing humans (and apes when they got in his path) was not the way. Of course, Nix is a far better developed character who is less likely to flip-flop as arbitrarily as Tonus did.

We also learn in this issue that there are civilized states across the continent in addition to Ape City, and that "Red Creek" was the site where something terrible occurred with Alaya, Sully, and possibly Nix all present (but the Lawgiver absent). This may have been the site of the culminating battle of the Eastern Campaign, in which (we've also now learned) Nix's White Troop gained victory against the human revolutionaries.


Plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: Sully stops the White Troop's onslaught by asking her people to stand down, Chaika nearly manages to shoot at Nix during the discussion but is stopped by her father, Bako, Chaika grows impatient with peace and seeks out Brother Kale's congregation, at which point Kale comments on how she and her father are alike, Bako goes off to see "someone" when Sully states that she will not permit the hiding of the Lawgiver's assassin, Nix appears to be assuming power over Alaya and is already planning to round up Bako as a suspect, another assassination attempt is made on Alaya, but she manages to shoot the assassin (who appears to be a human female), and Bako returns to his home to find Chaika dressed as the assassin, shot in the stomach and presumably dying.


Decent issue that held my interest, but it hardly excited me. Since Chaika's been little more than eye candy prior to this issue, I'm not all that invested in her fate. It's also heavily implied that Bako was the first assassin, but I don't feel I have enough of a read on his character to care much about him either at this point.

Planet of the Apes (Boom!) #5



"The Devil's Pawn, Part 1"
Writer: Daryl Gregory
art: Carlos Magno
colors: Nolan Woodard
letters: Travis Lanham
editor: Ian Brill

grade: B+


How odd. I didn't realize the first story line was over. Essentially, it isn't. Everything is still continuing from the events of the previous issue -- tensions are just in a new phase, I suppose..

What I'm beginning to find fascinating about this series is that the themes are relevant and daring, and the art, writing, and characterization are all quite well done, yet I don't particularly enjoy reading it. I haven't found a likable character to lock on to, nor any satisfying turns of events since things keep getting worse. This book is very real, very powerful, and very important -- and yet I don't like it, probably because it seems far too close to reality for comfort.

Sure enough, in this issue we see both sides faced with an opportunity to make the right decision -- the apes to settle up with the humans and invite them to truly share this society, and the humans to resist the temptation to meet fire with fire. Instead, the apes begin mercilessly executing humans who break curfew, Sully is on the verge of making a deal with Brother Kale to arm Skintown with modern weaponry, and we even learn that imprisoned humans are being carted off to reconditioning camps (I'm expecting a hybrid between Ape Management seen in the fourth film and a Nazi concentration camp).

Though the question is largely moot at this point, I'm still unclear on who the original assassin was. The synopsis at the beginning of this issue implies it was Chaika both times, yet it was implied in the third issue that Bako was the first assassin. Maybe I misunderstood, or maybe we're coming back to this later on.

There's also still the issue of who is giving Brother Kale these weapons. I'm still hoping we'll learn the Caesarists are the source, enabling the humans to fight as a means of coming into political power on a platform of putting the humans in their place once and for all. Still odd that we've heard NOTHING of the Caesarists since they were introduced as a serious threat to Alaya's political office in the first issue.

Continuity Watch -- a little more info is offered about some of the other civilizations in this world, including "Central City" (a name used interchangeably with "Ape City" in the 1975 TV series) and "The Lake States". So we have actual states out there in addition to isolated cities? Clearly, this is a different North America than what either Moench (POTA vol. 1) or Marshall (POTA vol. 2) were writing. We can buy the explanation that this is far further in the future than Moench's "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" and "Future History Chronicles" stories were written, but it's unlikely that this is after the events of vol. 2 since ALL humans are mute in that series (with the exception of Simon). So it's safe to assume that this is not in continuity with vol. 2 at this point, though there's still no doubt in my mind that the City of Mak is based upon Phis from vol. 2's Blood of the Apes mini series.


The plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: The apes have blockaded the humans from entering Mak at all, Casimir (once just a poor guy seeking work in the first issue) is organizing industrial sabotage in order to send a message to the apes that they cannot continue productions without human workers, Wyn is caught in one such sabotage attempt, Alaya sets up human reconditioning camps to make captured humans replace regular human workers with wage-free slaves, Brother Kale approaches Sully with an offer to provide her people with advanced weapons against the apes and, after the apes massacre his followers who refuse to obey curfew, Sully seems ready to agree.


Once again, the story is complex, well executed, timely, and damn important. I just don't enjoy it, and I wonder if I'm even supposed to. I suppose, if the primary purpose is to make a commentary rather than entertain, then I'd at least like to be invited to think more about such a commentary. Revolution on the Planet of the Apes often left my brain spinning for an hour after reading it. This series is more straightforward in what it wants you to think, making it abundantly clear what decisions/courses of action are wrong in the author's own mind. So, if I can't enjoy these stories, and if I am not invited to weigh the issues and then arrive at my own conclusions, am I just supposed to flip through the pages and feel passively bummed out because I approve of the theme?

Sure, there's room for lengthy conversations about what the alternatives are when two sides are so locked into a course like this one, but the reader isn't invited to consider this. There's no clear invitation given for the reader to be an active participant in these explorations at all, to consider alternate approaches to dealing with economic and social inequality, terrorism, and even international diplomacy. The parallels are rich, but the invitation to truly explore these concepts is not.

Still struggling with this, and so, while I think highly of this project, I'm still not sure how to properly appreciate it yet.

Planet of the Apes (Boom!) #7



"The Devil's Pawn, Part 3"
Writer: Daryl Gregory
art: Carlos Magno
colors: Nolan Woodard
letters: Travis Lanham
editor: Ian Brill

grade: B

The balance is lost again. In the first six issues, I often saw this series waver precariously between thoughtfully exploring both side of an issue, to painting two-dimensional heroes and villains, to returning to brilliant complexity once again. This was most commonly depicted in the character of Nix; however, in the past two issues, I feel Alaya's characterization has taken that path, quickly and inexplicably moving from a complex, scared, angry, mourning leader ruling out of gut emotion to a black and white villain with little rationale or motivation provided as she authorizes the construction of internment camps, authorizes the guards to do what they will with the non-compliant humans there, and (this issue) falsifies The Lawmaker (the grandfather she just lost!)'s legacy, blatantly undermining the vision he worked his whole life to perpetuate and running full-scale in the opposite direction.

What changed Alaya from the (presumably) loving step-sister of a human to a leader who believes that human life is worthless? Was it the death of the Lawmaker, or was she already on this path? We aren't given any indications either way, and I find that profoundly careless on the part of Gregory.

In parallel, we're learning just as little about Sully, our protagonist. We can easily conjecture why she fought so hard to keep the peace and why she's since changed her mind, partnering with a man she practically equates with the devil, but it remains unsaid/unexplored, and I'm still waiting to see how her thoughts about Bako have been altered by recent events. She must realize now that Bako was aware of Chaika being the assassin and was covering for her on that final morning. What questions, suspicions, doubts does that raise about him, herself, and the loyalty of her people? Bako was her trusted right-hand man.

But no. None of this gets explored at all.


Essentially, beyond promoting Wyn and Hulss (Alaya's chimpanzee advisor) into more prominent characters who are foreshadowed to soon to play larger roles in the series, this is simply an action-intense issue, perhaps written as a way of keeping fans used to seeing guns firing and fists flying on each page a little more entertained. And it works; it really does. This is a FUN issue, but for a series that has regularly strived to explore deep complexity and rich characterization, some significant dimensions to this series remain lacking. I should understand the main protagonist and principal antagonist by now, and yet all I have is a basic back story and a crudely simplistic understanding of their motivations.

Oh, and Wyn and his people completely bust out of the internment camp in this issue, killing most of the ape guards as they do so and only suffering light casualties. Again, don't introduce the concept of an internment camp if you're going to treat it so lightly and make it out that any resourceful character with a brain and courage can overturn the camp and bust everyone out. 12 million deceased would beg to differ.

Continuity Watch -- not much. We already know that this series conflicts with the continuity of the second volume and the Mr. Comics series for a variety of reasons at this point. No clear sense of whether it holds with the continuity of POTA vol. 1 at this point.


Plot synopsis in one ridiculously long sentence: the supply of advanced weapons being provided to the humans is making a difference, but they are still not winning and the supplies are running out, Sully is now thoroughly relying on Brother Kale without reservation and just as willingly dealing with Laughing Jack, the ape arms dealer, whom she previously kept at a distance, Hulss is beginning to see through Alaya and is planning to move against her, Nix and Alaya make some more overt parallels to the American war on terror (including ranking the #1 and #2 terrorists they are seeking and scoffing at the idea of "negotiating with terrorists"), Wynn leads a revolt/escape at the internment camp, Alaya forges a Lawgiver scroll reversing his previous beliefs about co-existence and giving the infamous "Beware the beastman" warning, she delivers it at the Caesar's Day celebration, an older human foreshadows "Mark my words, men. That boy [Wynn]'s going to change the world," and we learn that Nix has ordered the construction of primitive tanks to be used in a final assault on Skintown.