Review- PLANET OF THE APES ARCHIVE VOL. 1: TERROR ON THE PLANET OF THE APES

PLANET OF THE APES ARCHIVE VOL. 1: TERROR ON THE PLANET OF THE APES (Boom, First Printing, 2017; Hardcover)

Collects material from the Planet of the Apes Magazine #1-4, 6, 8, 11, 13,14, 19, 20, 23, 26-28 (cover dates August, 1974- January, 1977)

Writer: Doug Moench

Artists: Mike Ploog, Frank Chiarmonte, Tom Sutton, Herb Trimpe, and Virgil Redondo

I am thrilled to see these black and white Marvel magazines from the 1970s finally get a proper high end hardcover treatment. I am disappointed that BOOM decided to collect them by story rather than chronologically by issue. Aside from the three film adaptations from these magazines which Malibu collected in trade paperbacks and the first four chapters of this story reissued in comic form in the early '90s, this stuff has been out of the public eye for over 40 years.

Like the original film, this story uses a wafer thin allegory on racism to drive its point home. Jason, a human, and Alexander, a chimpanzee, are forced to work together to save each other and the city that humans and apes share at this point in time in Apes continuity. This being a comic book, Moench and company are free to go off of the rails with sets and characters. We are introduced to some great characters, such as Gunpowder Julius, Steely Dan, Lightsmith, and Gilbert. All of them have clearly defined personalities and all are as important to the overall story as Jason, Alexander, and the head of the Ape Supremacists, Brutus.

This being the '70s, some things haven't aged well. Take Jason, for example. He is supposed to be an adolescent, but his hotheadedness and impulsive lashing out at those who care for him border on emotional abuse. This is somewhat common in Bronze Age comics. People were portrayed as macho with short tempers and a self-righteous attitude. This is easy to say here in 2018, where things are so much better with kids being prescribed psychotropic drugs on the regular and school shootings being a routine event. Come to think of it, maybe kids should be allowed to blow their top once in a while.

Terror On The Planet Of The Apes is widely considered the highlight of the Apes magazine series. I owned some of these as cheapo back issues circa 1983, and the few parts that I read never wowed me more than any of the other stories in each issue. I enjoyed them all equally. Pieced together and read as one story, I get why these had such a huge impact at the time. They are still good reads but I am looking forward to the stories in the other Archives even more. #4 was my favorite as a kid, the story where a human was blind and the ape crippled (or vice versa) and they tied themselves together to survive in the wasteland with all sorts of weird monsters. I haven't read or seen it in 35ish years but I am really looking forward to revisiting that one.

I am thrilled that BOOM has collected the entire series minus the Apeslayer stories (licensing?), but wish that it were done chronologically. Oh well. Just a couple of years ago this line was nothing more than a fantasy. Now it is real and I own them all.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Linework restoration: BOOM scanned and cleaned up original magazines for this volume. They were granted access to the film for the next three volumes in the series. The restoration in this volume is acceptable but not great. It's readable but linework is occasionally washed out with the filtering process, particularly on Ploog's uninked pencils-straight-to-press stuff.

Paper stock: Thick coated semi-glossy stock.

Binding: Sewn binding with eight stitches per signature. Book lays reasonably flat. These super squared spines are annoying, as they have a hard edge to them when you hold them in your hand. I understand that these books are not meant to be read but to be displayed on bookshelves for shelf porn threads, but readability should be a consideration.

Hardback cover notes: Matte casewrap with a cover stamping where the logo is. While it is not embossed, it is a nice touch.