Planet of the Apes (comics)

"Planet of the Apes" comics are tie-ins to the "Planet of the Apes" universe. They have been released by several publishers over the years and include tie-ins and spin-offs.

Publishers

Gold Key Comics

Gold Key Comics produced an adaptation of the second film in 1970.

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics released a number of titles, the longest-lived being "Planet of the Apes", which appeared in graphic novel format, and ran for twenty-nine issues from 1974 to 1977. Besides adaptations of all five movies, the magazine featured original "Apes" stories, with writing from Doug Moench and Gerry Conway and art from Mike Esposito, Mike Ploog, George Tuska, and many others. Articles about the making of both the movies and the "Planet of the Apes" television series were also a mainstay.

In 1975 "Adventures On The Planet Of The Apes" offered color versions of the adaptations of the first two films in five or six issue arcs, for total of 11 issues. It was written by Doug Moench.

The stories from the U.S. magazine were edited and were released by Marvel UK in a weekly title of the same name over 123 issues from 1974-1977. This included adapted reprints of the Killraven comic, renamed as "Apeslayer" and with alien apes as enemies. The British title changed names to "Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives", then to "The Mighty World Of Marvel" #231-240, reprinting both "Apes" and "Incredible Hulk" stories from the U.S. runs.

Power Records

Power Records made adaptations of four of the films which were included with Book-and-Record sets, and also appeared in LP format. The company also produced an audio-only series on LP that featured the main characters of the television series, Virdon, Burke and Galen, in original stories.

Adventure Comics

Adventure Comics produced more original storylines, set after the time of Caesar. These included a 24-issue monthly title, a one-shot ("Sins of the Father"), a "Planet of the Apes" annual and five original miniseries: "Urchak's Folly, Forbidden Zone, Ape City, Blood of the Apes" and a crossover with "Alien Nation" called "Ape Nation". Adventure also reprinted Marvel's adaptations of the first three films as well as a four issue series featuring installments from Marvel's "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" saga.

Brown-Watson Books

Brown-Watson Books published a trio of UK-published hardcover comic annuals based on the TV series.

Dark Horse Comics

The Dark Horse series was written by Ian Edginton and was a tie-in with the Tim Burton movie. It consisted of a film adaptation, a miniseries, a brief ongoing run, a Toys R' Us minicomic and a three-part serial in "Dark Horse Extra".

Mr. Comics

Mr. Comics had the license until 2005 and released a six-issue miniseries, "Revolution on the Planet of the Apes," by Joe O'Brien, Ty Templeton Sam Agro and other writers, with art by Gabriel Morrissette and additional artists. Further stories were slated for release, including the next planned title, "Empire on the Planet of the Apes", but the graphic novel collecting the "Revolution" was canceled, as was the "Empire" follow-up.

Chad Valley

Chad Valley, a U.K. toy company, produced 32 short film-based comic strips containing illustrated scenes from various TV series episodes, packaged as the Chad Valley Picture Show Planet of the Apes Sliderama Projector (very similar to the many Give-a-Show projector sets of the 1970s). These strips are extremely rare and difficult to come by, and contain many continuity errors.

Argentine Comics

In addition, an Argentine company published seven Spanish-language Apes comics in the 1970s, featuring original tales about the TV series characters. It was written by Jorge Claudio Morhain, and Ricardo Barreiro, with art by Sergio Mulko and T. Toledo. To date, the Spanish stories have never been published in English, but translations have been made available on fan sites.

Hungarian Comic

In 1981 a Hungarian company published a comic adaptation of Pierre Boulle's original novel, titled "A Majmok bolygója" ("The Monkey Planet"). This adaptation was written and drawn by Hungarian comic artist Ernő Zórád. To date, the Hungarian comic has never been published in English, but a translations has been made available on fan sites.

Manga Adaptations

There are two manga adaptations of the first film in Japan, both called "Saru no Wakusei" ("Planet of Monkeys"). The first was written and drawn by Jôji Enami and published in the manga Bessatsu Bôken'Ô in the late 1960s. The second was drawn by Minoru Kuroda and published in the Manga Tengoku Zôkan in the 1970s.

Filipino Parody

In the 1990s, a Filipino parody adaptation called "Planet op di Eyps" was serialized in Pilipino Funny Komiks.

Publications

Some of the comics have been collected together as trade paperbacks:

* "Planet of the Apes" (with Ian Edginton, for Dark Horse):
**"Human Wars" (with Pencils: Paco Medina, Adrian Sibar; Inks: Juan Vlasco, Norman Lee, Christopher Ivy, 2001)
**"The Ongoing Saga Volume 1: Old Gods" (with Pencils: Adrian Sibar, Paco Medina; Inks: Norman Lee, Juan Vlasco, 2001-2002, Titan Books ISBN 1-84023-429-6)
**"The Ongoing Saga Volume 2: Blood Lines" (with Co-writer: Dan Abnett; Pencils: Sanford Greene, Pop Mhan, Paco Medina, Adrian Sibar; Inks: Norman Lee, Pop Mhan, Juan Vlasco, 2001-2002)

In addition, Adventure Comics released trade-paperback compilations of Marvel's adaptations of the first three films, as well as a collection of its own first four monthly issues, entitled "Monkey Planet."

ee also

*List of comics based on fiction
*List of comics based on films

External links

* [http://pota.goatley.com/menu-comics.html Comics section of Hunter's "Planet of the Apes" Archive] featuring complete versions of Gold Key, Marvel UK and Hungarian PotA comics
* [http://pota.goatley.com/powerrecords.html Power Records section of Hunter's "Planet of the Apes" Archive] featuring complete versions of Power Records PotA Book & Records
* [http://potatv.kassidyrae.com/comics.html Comics section of "Planet of the Apes TV Series" Site] featuring fully translated Argentinian PotA comics
* [http://www.theforbidden-zone.com/articles/comics.shtml Welcome Back to the Planet of the Apes] , "Comics Scene" #13 (1990) about the Adventure Comics run on PotA
* [http://www.comics-db.com/Dark_Horse_Comics/P/Planet_of_the_Apes/index.html Comics databse entry for the Dark Horse series] as well as Marvel's [http://www.comics-db.com/Marvel_Comics/P/Planet_of_the_Apes/index.html "Planet of the Apes"] and [http://www.comics-db.com/Marvel_Comics/A/Adventures_On_The_Planet_of_The_Apes/index.html "Adventures On The Planet Of The Apes"]
* [http://www.darkhorse.com/search/search.php?frompage=userinput&sstring=planet+of+the+apes&x=0&y=0 Dark Horse individual pages] :
**" [http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=40-512 Human Wars] "
**" [http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=11-563 Old Gods] "
**" [http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=11-711 Blood Lines] "
*" [http://www.titanbooks.com/actionadven.html#planet Titan's Old Gods] "
* [http://www.mrcomics.ca/freestory.html People In The News] preview of the Mr Comics series
* [http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=004556 Interview with Joe O'Brien about the Mr. Comics series]