Happy New Year, and welcome again to the Marvel Rundown! This week, we journey to the Planet of the Apes, in a SPOILER-LITE assessment of Beware the Planet of the Apes #1! Then, head all the way down to the Rapid Rundown for spoiler-free blurbs on a few of this week’s new points!
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Beware the Planet of the Apes #1
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Álvaro López
Colorist: Alex Guimarães
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Taurin Clarke
Reviewed by D. Morris
In the Philip Ok. Dick novel A Scanner Darkly, the lead goes on a date to see the eleventh movie within the Planet of the Apes sequence at a drive in. A gag on the time of launch for sci-fi followers, it’s laborious to explain how inescapable Planet of the Apes appeared within the 70s. Between 5 films, each a dwell motion and an animated television present, and naturally, comedian books from Marvel, people had quite a lot of Apes materials. Yet 55 years after its unique launch, the unique movie continues to be iconic. Its mixture of biting social commentary with the unusual and absurd setting stays potent. The variety of homages and parodies proceed to at the present time. And in fact, there are nonetheless Planet of the Apes movies. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes out in May. Sadly, we’re solely as much as ten movies.
Thanks to Disney shopping for twentieth Century Fox, Marvel as soon as once more publishes Planet of the Apes comics! Last yr noticed a sequence written by David Walker and Dave Watcher happening in the newest films. So anybody anticipating a comply with up with Beware of the Planet of the Apes, written by Mark Guggenheim and drawn by Álvaro López, is perhaps dissatisfied it’s not. However, the title ought to be a touch for followers that this story pertains to the 60s-70s movie. Beware… takes place earlier than Charlton Heston arrives within the unique movie. It ought to nonetheless be a well-recognized arrange for followers of the basic movie. The gorillas search out people like Nova, the chimps Cornelius and Zira examine them, and sure, Dr. Zaius makes an look.
This first concern does an uncommon factor with its construction. Pages and panels from Marvel’s unique adaptation, by Doug Moench and George Tuska, get often inserted to this concern. This strategy offers a visible trick distinctive to comics medium. It works finest within the opening pages the place Charlton Heston’s Jim Taylor witnesses apes on horseback attacking people. Then it transitions into the latest previous the place apes search out people. The remainder of the difficulty this strategy principally turns into a approach to reference the movie. Moments from this concern get juxtaposed with panels from the sooner comedian adaptation. It works higher in moments reminiscent of when readers initially meets Nova, a personality from the film. It’s extra annoying than helpful when Cornelius names Nova “Dark Eyes”, a random callback to the movie.
That criticism apart stated Álvaro López’s artwork on this concern is great. It sits properly subsequent to the George Tuska panels from the 70s. López’s figures and faces have weight and expression to them. It’s laborious to get that throughout in non-cartoony animal figures however Lopez makes the expressions on the characters clear. He makes certain Cornelius and Zira stroll like chimps standing upright, not like people. He additionally makes certain they each have distinguishable options from one another. Most importantly for a Planet of the Apes comedian, he’s nice at rendering a destroyed monument.
The story on this concern to this point isn’t a lot. Zira’s nephew Lucious disappears so she and Cornelius go searching for him. They run throughout Nova, stumble into an underground facility, after which go into the Forbidden Zone. A thriller will get arrange on the finish but it surely’s not sufficient for a purchase. That stated López’s artwork is the actual promoting level right here so it’s undoubtedly a STRONG BROWSE.
Rapid Rundown!
- Star Wars – The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight #4
- Centuries earlier than the Skywalker Saga, the Republic was in a golden age, and the Jedi Order was at its zenith. The Republic and the Jedi had been setting the stage for bringing peace to the Outer Rim with an enormous state-of-the-art house station Starlight Beacon when the mysterious Nihil started raiding Republic planets. Eventually, the Nihil had been in a position to destroy this image of hope with their distinctive expertise and Jedi killing creatures, the Nameless. And that is the place this sequence picks up, displaying us the aftereffects of this devastating occasion for the Jedi, the Republic, and the Nihil. Over the final three points author Charles Soule, together with artists David Messina and Jethro Morales have proven how numerous Jedi have handled this new risk to them, however this final concern switches to the principle villain of this period, the formidable Marchion Ro. Told over practically a yr after the autumn of Starlight Beacon, Ro consolidates his energy and allies behind a strong drive area that cuts off part of the galaxy from the Republic, making ready for his subsequent encounter with the Jedi. After the erasure of the Expanded Universe, I wasn’t fast to embrace new Star Wars books or comics, and the High Republic period has been hit or miss, however this sequence as a complete works for its epic scale filling within the house and setting the stage for the subsequent massive storyline. —GC3
Next Week: Ultimate Spider-Man marks a contemporary begin for the Parkers!
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