Corinna Bechko
Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm 12 (August 2013)
So did Boom! cancel,Cataclysm, did the writers quit or did the license go away? Something obviously happened. This issue jumps three years ahead of the previous one, then another five years from where it opens. Bechko and Hardman follow Professor Milo (from the second movie) so they can avoid having to have Charlton Heston appear. […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 11 (July 2013)
Big reveals, small reveals. Along with the biggest of them all–the twelfth issue is the finale, something I didn’t realize. Bechko and Hardman have always have problems with their Apes series because they’re direct–sort of direct–prequels to the first movie and they still haven’t really got everything set up. The ape society is still too… […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 10 (June 2013)
Maybe killing the talking human is why Cornelius doesn’t remember her when Chuck Heston shows up, but it’s hard to say. But she doesn’t die this issue, just gets her throat slit. Meaning maybe her vocal cords are damaged… which seems like it’s been in an Apes comic somewhere before. The problem with this issue […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 9 (May 2013)
I can’t believe I’m going to make this statement–Bechko and Hardman are playing too loose with Apes movie continuity. I don’t even like the movies. But they’ve got a talking human here eight years before Charlton Heston shows up and Cornelius sees and hears her. Kind of changes things up. As an issue, of course, […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 8 (April 2013)
The story arc, so far as it involves the ape expedition to the valley–I’m liking Bechko and Hardman not getting locked into actual titled arcs–comes to a close. There are a lot of surprises. One of them is somewhat confusing, as it either should have been clear and wasn’t due to the art or it […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 7 (March 2013)
It’s funny how the Zaius subplot is actually where Bechko and Hardman have the most problems, even though it’s mostly a talking heads subplot. They’re keeping the Zaius subplot… well, it’s kind of the soil. It feeds into the other two plots and presumably could make major changes for them when they all collide. But […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 6 (February 2013)
As far as expansive mythology goes, Planet of the Apes doesn’t have much. The standards repeat themselves very quickly. But Beckho and Hardman manage to repeat one of those very same standards and hide it all until the final reveal. They raise all sorts of other possibilities–this issue of Cataclysm, almost against itself, has a […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 5 (January 2013)
Bechko and Hardman continue their setup for the first Planet of the Apes movie with… well, I guess it’s kind of a post-disaster story. They’ve introduced all of the primary apes from the first movies, except maybe the nasty gorilla from the second one, and are doing a mundane prequel. There’s action, sure. There’s a […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 4 (December 2012)
Are you kidding me? The grand reveal is so obvious I had it figured a page into the sequence. Bechko and Hardman–and I know I’ve complimented them on their adherence to Apes movie mythology–try way too hard to bring everything together with Cataclysm. They fail, most obviously, because they leave it with it with a […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 3 (November 2012)
Boom! needs better editors. Maybe they just didn’t want to piss off Hardman, who’s very high profile even if he is just writing the book, but someone should have–strike that one, needed to–tell he and Bechko not to fake a subplot. The issue opens with the revelation of a great conspiracy. The issue’s big moments […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 2 (October 2012)
With Cataclysm‘s second issue, Bechko and Hardman run into a predictable problem. They’re explaining something about a licensed property. In this issue, the reader learns why the ape civilization changes so much in the original Apes movies. So what? They don’t create any memorable characters–even returning cast like Dr. Zaius isn’t used as the protagonist; […]
MorePlanet of the Apes: Cataclysm 1 (September 2012)
Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman come up with something unexpected here in Cataclysm. Historically, Planet of the Apes comics have one big problem–there’s not enough material from the movies to translate into a serialized narrative. Bechko and Hardman have a neat solution–a disaster. Not just any disaster, but one tying into the movies’ canon. Sort […]
MoreBetrayal of the Planet of the Apes 4 (February 2012)
Well, I guess Betrayal does change some things to make the ending more in line with the first movie. All apes can be scientists–doctors–but I don’t think there were any chimp doctors in the first movie. I think they were still stooges to the orangutans. Humans are banned from the city. Those two changes about […]
MoreBetrayal of the Planet of the Apes 3 (January 2012)
I wonder if Betrayal got four issues because Hardman agreed to do four issues. There’s not enough story for four issues; there’s probably only enough for two. Bechko and Hardman are introducing all these characters–or, if they’ve introduced them before, they’re now giving them more page time. But there’s still the pointlessness. So what if […]
MoreBetrayal of the Planet of the Apes 2 (December 2011)
The second issue of Betrayal has fantastic Hardman art and still no compelling story. Bechko and Hardman seem to think setting a comic near the original movie is enough, but they’re ignoring the years of Apes comics before this one. While truly original content is off the table, the Ape prison introduced here is a […]
MoreBetrayal of the Planet of the Apes 1 (November 2011)
It’s almost like a mantra… there are no new Planet of the Apes stories to be told, regardless of title, creator or company. Betrayal is no different. There are pro-human apes, anti-human apes and a conspiracy against either or both. It’s the way Apes comics have always been. Except the art. Gabriel Hardman brings professionalism […]
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