recent read; Planet of the Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone

Planet of the Apes: Tales From The Forbidden Zone

This is the book apocalyptic apes dream of.

It's hard to be unbiased about this book because I am an ApeHead since childhood. Anything new in the Planet of the Apes realm is like a nostalgia life preserver. I discussed that recently.

Tales from the Forbidden Zone gives us sixteen tales set across the various Planet of the Apes classic universes. Meaning - the original five movies, television series and Saturday morning cartoon. It does not include the 2001 movie or the recent movies.

The stories are enjoyable. I preferred some more than others but that is the nature of anthologies. Rather than delineate all sixteen, I will mention a few of my favorites. Your mileage may vary.

"Unfired" by Dan Abnett starts off the book with a bang, focusing on a group of underground mutants (Beneath the Planet of the Apes) making a daring pilgrimage across the open wilderness.

"The Unknown Ape" by Andrew E.C. Gaska starts in the cartoon universe (Return to the Planet of the Apes,) but we soon learn that Planet of the Apes time travel also creates the ability to cross dimensions into the other Apes realities. This is a fun crossover.

"Message in a Bottle" by Dayton Ward is an intriguing story in the television series setting. It almost serves as the first step in a 'season two' arc, bringing the astronauts' story back to its science fiction roots and away from "The Fugitive with Apes" rut the show quickly fell into. As a fan who wished for exactly that in regards to the show, this story really stood out.

"Milo's Tale" by Ty Templeton explains how Cornelius and Zira met Milo and came to be on the spaceship (Escape from the Planet of the Apes.) It also delivers a convincing backstory for Milo, explaining how he was such a knowledgeable ape given the primitiveness of the society presented in the original Planet of the Apes.

Finally, Jonathan Maberry closes out the tome with "Banana Republic," exploring the political machinations and alliances of ape society, coupled with the discovery of an ancient place of evil.

Tales from the Forbidden Zone is a welcome addition to the Planet of the Apes universe. If you enjoy that universe, you'll enjoy this book. Perhaps if it performs well, there could be another volume. So, buy yours today and go ape!

It's a mad house! Go ape!

"Weaponized nostalgia." - Chuck Wendig

The world has gone ape. Yes, in more ways than one. I'll stick with the non-political one.

My childhood crossed the 1970s-80s. I was a child in the 70s, teenager in the early 80s.

In hindsight, my first fandom was PLANET OF THE APES. I was an ApeHead.

What also surprised me, in hindsight, is how much of the fandom marketing machine I missed. It's also a bit of a shock to remember how much merchandise was available. It really was the first franchise merchandise blitz out of Hollywood. Sure other movies and shows had toys and a few coloring books, but POTA really went ape.

I watched the movies, the short-lived television show, and the short-lived cartoon. I had the action figures. I had activity books. I had the Topps trading cards of the t.v. series.

But I never knew about the novelizations. I spotted one in the library during junior-high years later. I never knew a thing about the comics, either, surprisingly enough.

Now, Titan Books are allowing me to relive my childhood and then some.

First, they've released an anthology of new stories set in all three universes - movies, t.v., cartoon.

 But wait! There's more!

Two omnibuses collecting the original movie novelizations are coming, too.

 
Wait. Not done. They are also publishing an omnibus of the original television episode novelizations.

Nope. Still not done. Not yet available but listed in Tales from the Forbidden Zone (and personally confirmed for me) a fourth omnibus with the original novelizations of the cartoon series.

Stop the presses.

Nope, can't.

Also rumored - perhaps a collection of the comics.

Tangent to Titan Books - The Topps Trading Cards book.

I knew the t.v. cards, I had those. I didn't know there had been cards from the original movie, too.

Last night, I picked up the new #1 of the PLANET OF THE APES / GREEN LANTERN cross-over comic.

Yeah. Combining the Apes with Green Lantern with the old Mego action figures packaging for the artwork.

Talk about weaponized nostalgia!

If nothing else, it will be a great year to be an ApeHead!

comics

Sorry for lack of posts.  Been busy and tired.

Most of last month's reading was spent in comics, largely in the behemoth collected story, The Return of Superman.

Some good stuff in there, but also some of goofy stuff, too.  Series that have gone on so long that they keep adding on crazy stuff to keep going, or retcon deaths or retcon character behavior, do seem to get out of hand.  I find myself preferring self-contained story arcs.

But it was good to read, finally, the original story for myself.

I am also continuing to follow the various Planet of the Apes stories coming from Boom Studios. I like that we get to see the wider Ape world beyond Ape City, and they are setting up interesting plot lines and elements that later become exposed in the original movie.  (For instance, when Zaius accuses Taylor of being a mutant, and references "nests" of mutants - did you ever wonder why Zaius had that idea in his head?)

Snuck in a read of Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures; Volume 1, which features a host of guest artists doing short one-offs with Robo's writer, Brain Clevinger.  I can't rave about this comic enough.  Get yourself some, you'll be glad you did!

Planet of the Apes (television series)

Maybe this is coming from rosy-lensed glasses of my youth and long being an Ape-Head. But, I re-watched the first episode of the 1970s Planet of the Apes television series last night, and thought it was very strong. Some very suspenseful moments, a good setup. Very good classic scifi with hints of a much larger backstory.

Alas, the ratings failed early. Attracting only younger viewers, suit execs ordered the show dumbed down for kids. Ape menace and scifi threads were dropped in favor of action where buffoonish gorillas were constantly being whacked over the head with logs. As one actor noted, it became The Fugitive with apes. Who gets captured and who escapes this week?

The tactic didn't work, anyway, and the show continued to dwindle.

Too bad they didn't even get the old standard 24 episode season, and only managed 14 episodes. It would have been great if they could have explored more lost technology and possible mysteries of the gaps between their time and the future of the Apes.

Planet of the Apes (via Boom Studios)

For prose, I have been reading Tim Willocks' The Religion, which is great so far.  But it is a thick, meaty read, so I've been knocking off some comics when I don't have time for a deep reading session.

Somewhere I had read about the new Planet of the Apes comic from Boom Studios, and read that it was set in the timeline of the original movies.  Even though I am a huge ApeHead, this information slipped to the back of my mind (as did the new movie, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which I have not yet seen.)

I was at the comic store, and spotted the back issues on the shelf, and figured, why not?  I bought the first issue.  I bought #2 & #3 the following week.

I'm glad I did.  I like this comic.  It remains faithful to the original setting, while creating its own niche.