To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Planet of the Apes film, Boom Studios will release two comic book issues this year. The first one, Planet of the Apes: The Time of Man, will come out on October 31, 2018. The second, Planet of the Apes: The Simian Age, is slated to be released on December. Both books will feature the characters from the original series and the recent trilogy.
The Time of Man #1 will focus on the apes’ conflict with their worst enemies – man. One story will revolve around the original film version of Caesar pre-Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Another will be the first post-War For the Planet of the Apes story about a group of surviving humans. It will be written by Dan Abnett, David Walker, and Philip Kennedy Johnson and illustrated by Carlos Magno and George Schall. The covers will be by Michael Allred and Fay Dalton. It will be priced at $7.99.
The Simian Age #1, on the other hand, will be a collection of stories about character studies of the apes from both iterations. Koba from the new trilogy will be the main focus in a story that takes place between Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It’s about an early conflict between him and Caesar. There’s also a previously unknown story of an ape living inside the Statue of Liberty’s head. The creative team will include writers Matt Kindt and Jeff Jensen, and artists Matt Smith and Lalit Kumar-Sharma. Mike Allred and Fay Dalton will also create the covers. There are no details yet regarding its exact release date and pricing.
It’s a logical step to focus on both versions since the original started the whole phenomenon, while the recent version is a highly successful reboot. In an article discussing the 50th anniversary, Geek.com states that the 1968 movie that’s main message focused on tolerance, still reverberates to this day. This narrative was again present in War for the Planet of the Apes. Although technology has added a new layer to the franchise, its themes remain powerful and relevant.
Furthermore, War’ grossed over $490 million. It clearly signifies that this epic series is very much alive and well, not to mention influential even across different verticals. Aside from the new comics, Fox released a 50th Anniversary DVD of the original Planet of the Apes earlier this year. It has bonus features including an interactive documentary. The recent trilogy, meanwhile, has been widely adapted. FoxyCasino uses the story of Caesar’s rise to power as the premise for their Planet of the Apes game. The game highlights his desire to liberate his fellow apes and live in peace away from humans. Many of the main characters in the series make appearances as you play the game. These iterations can help fans get their ‘Apes fix while waiting for the Boom Studios’ new releases, or even the next film to come out.
Considering that the events in Planet of the Apes occur in the year 3978, there’s still a lot of ground to cover. Whether through another novel, film trilogy, game or comic book, fans will have plenty of stories to go ape over in the coming years.
