It’s Christmas on the Planet of the Apes, which means there’s a guy with a cart who travels around with presents.
Now, I’m a fan of comic books playing with narrative tropes and doing special issues. But a Christmas issue with a Santa analog? Marshall’s lost his grasp.
He’s been faltering for the last couple issues, but the combination of Santa ape and then Marshall narrating from the female chimp’s point of view? Apes is getting dangerously close to without value. It’s already got crappy art, it can’t handle weak writing too.
Once again, Marshall seems to be running out of story. He pads with showing off little apes playing soccer or the interlude with the stranded chimps. Maybe it’s just his finite cast–the setting is huge, but we only follow six or seven apes.
A comic book is a serialized narrative, yes, but it’s not a TV show.
D
CREDITS
Travellin’ Jack; writer, Charles Marshall; penciller, Kent Burles; inker, Barb Kaalberg; letterer, Mark Moore; editors, Mickie Villa, Dan Danko and Chris Ulm; publisher, Adventure Comics.