The Planet of the Apes franchise is in good hands with Marvel Comics, as is seen with Beware the Planet of the Apes miniseries. Not only does it bring back comic continuity, but it also fits into the classic films. A kind of prequel and sequel hybrid, writer Marc Guggenheim has a great concept on his hands that’d fit well within the movie series.
Beware the Planet of the Apes‘ opening issue is new-reader friendly, albeit a bit slow. It opens with excerpts from the classic comic Adventures on the Planet of the Apes by Doug Moench, setting up key human characters and the setting. Three men land on the planet via a spaceship and are soon driven off. Though they don’t play a heavy part in the rest of the issue, they add a wrinkle to the setting before Charlton Heston’s George Taylor enters the series.
Most of this issue spins out of an ape named Lucius encountering a human woman and, soon after, disappearing. His aunt Zira is worried sick for him and, throughout the issue, encounters other apes demanding she not go looking for him. He may be in the Forbidden Zone, and this is a place apes never go. A lot is set up here, and it’s easy to see the potential of where it’s going, but it’s a slow boil read for sure.
The integration of classic comics art is fabulous.
Credit: Marvel
The issue ends with a solid cliffhanger on par with George discovering the Statue of Liberty in the first film. It’s an iconic reveal that’s depicted wonderfully in a double-page splash by Alvaro López. There’s also a fantastic map showing the various zones traveled in the series, which is a fun way to build on your imagination and understanding of this world. López does a good job depicting emotion with the human woman, who cannot speak, yet you mostly gather their feelings and intentions.
That map is key in some sense, as this series opens up the world quite a bit. Later on, we find out Lucius has been kidnapped by gorillas who seek to destroy the apes. They’ve already enslaved gibbons, and they need to be stopped. Ties to the humans who communicate through their minds are also a major element in the series. In many ways, Guggenheim opens up this universe for a lot more potential as stories can take place outside of the main areas.
As far as the larger context in the Planet of the Apes franchise, it’s pretty clear that Guggenheim has a good idea at the core of this story. It naturally builds on the world while not messing with the original series, either. There’s also potential here to show that humans that came before George may have severely messed up any chance of apes seeing humans as anything more than creatures to be put in cages.
Speaking as someone who isn’t a super fan of this series, Beware the Planet of the Apes is a good adventure, opening the world and showing the potential of the license. It has a slow start, but it’s neat to see how this builds on a previous comic story while integrating key characters from the original film. In many respects, this stands alone, building on the larger lore while naturally leading to the first film.
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