Planet 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 all deal with its repercussions and it’s a weak move.

Otherwise, the issue isn’t bad. It’s relatively engaging, with the writers’ disaster situations being compelling enough. They do fail Couceiro, however. They don’t give him time to properly establish the setting. The art looks great, but the ape civilization never feels fully realized.

The series started pretty strong and it’s still very well-done, only it misses the mark a lot. Couceiro deserves a lot better material; Bechko and Hardman definitely take the Apes property seriously, they just need some help with structure.

CREDITS

Writers, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; artist, Damian Couceiro; colorist, Darrin Moore; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editor, Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

Planet 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; he’s just part of the disaster movie cast they’ve got going on.

Bechko and Hardman take twenty-two pages to do what they could have in four or five. Couceiro’s art is excellent, but having good art doesn’t excuse the wasted pages. He does come up with some stunning disaster imagery, however, especially as it ties into the familiar Apes visual mythology.

One can’t fault Cataclysm as a piece of licensed property–the team does an outstanding job tying into Apes. Bechko and Hardman just don’t have any story for an actual comic book.

CREDITS

Writers, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; artist, Damian Couceiro; colorist, Darrin Moore; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editor, Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

Planet 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 of. One could be picky about it, but I was so impressed with where they go, I can’t imagine one would want to be.

Cataclysm is the best kind of licensed property comic. It relies on the source material, relies on the license holder’s comics, and mixes the two with some creativity to encourage the reader’s imagination. Licensed properties have to be unexpected to succeed, otherwise they’re just fanfic. Bechko and Hardman succeed. Cataclysm engages.

Very nice art from Damian Couceiro too. He does well both with the talking heads and the action.

CREDITS

Writers, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; artist, Damian Couceiro; colorist, Darrin Moore; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editor, Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

Exile on the Planet of the Apes 4 (June 2012)

Bechko and Hardman wrap things up quickly, maybe even getting their Apes series in a place where a sequel might not be pointless.

The issue itself concentrates, with the exception of the good chimps ambushing the gorillas with science, on events cursory to the battle scene. There’s the discussion of the leaders, there’s the follow-up to it, but none of the actual battle makes an impression. Maybe because there’s nothing to invest in Exile.

The best thing about the comic is its last few pages and only then because they imply that better sequel I mentioned.

Laming’s artwork continues to impress, though he doesn’t have very much to do. It’s a fight in an office park. A post-apocalyptic office park, but an office park just the same.

But the finish does give Laming a brief chance to try out new Apes settings and he does well with them.

CREDITS

Writers, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; artist, Marc Laming; colorist, Darrin Moore; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editor, Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

Exile on the Planet of the Apes 3 (May 2012)

Bechko and Hardman have a difficult task this issue. They need to make the humans sympathetic, but the humans’ stupidity gets in the way. The writers fail and basically prove what the bad apes always say–man is an animal.

There’s only a little action, at the beginning and the end, but I can’t remember what else goes on. And I just finished reading it. There’s a lot of talking, but it’s all planning. Unless it’s the scenes with totally unnecessary characters.

Speaking of characters, it would be nice if Bechko and Hardman bothered writing any. The rebel gorilla is the closest thing to an actual character, but he’s still way too slim. The female chimp protagonist is just another stand-in for Kim Hunter.

The script really doesn’t do Laming’s artwork justice. It doesn’t give him interesting subjects to draw, whether scenery, action or conversation.

It’s a boring comic.

CREDITS

Writers, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; artist, Marc Laming; colorist, Darrin Moore; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editor, Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

Exile on the Planet of the Apes 2 (April 2012)

I really like the Laming art a lot. He brings personality to the apes during their conversations, lots of pensive thoughts and so on. He deserves a much better script.

Bechko and Hardman continue their boring political history. Exile really does fell like a history lesson, except the Planet of the Apes doesn’t have an interesting history because it’s so small. It’s really the history of one settlement. It’s funny when the writers introduce Milo–who I think is Sal Mineo’s ape who dies three minutes into the third movie–but so what? If they’re setting up the first movie, they’re heading toward an inevitable conclusion.

And here’s the problem with that approach… What if they don’t make it? What if Boom! cancels their future limiteds? Or if they losethe license? Bechko and Hardman, while they produce okay licensed material comics, aren’t going to have much if they don’t finish.

CREDITS

Writers, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; artist, Marc Laming; colorist, Jordie Bellaire; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editor, Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

Exile on the Planet of the Apes 1 (March 2012)

Exile on the Planet of the Apes has way too much to do with Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman’s last series, Betrayal on the Planet of the Apes. There’s a little synopsis of the ground situation, post–Betrayal, but it’s not enough. It doesn’t go into all the characters who the reader’s supposed to remember.

Marc Laming–not Hardman–does the art this issue. Laming does quite well with the art, actually. He’s able to do the action, he’s able to do the talking heads… however, why does a Planet of the Apes need a bunch of talking heads?

The script isn’t bad at all. But it’s a bunch of politics and medieval science. And really not enough medieval science; Bechko and Hardman don’t explore the ludicrousness of the apes’ science enough.

The end’s confusing (since I don’t remember Betrayal). It’s another pointless Apes comic, but it’s perfectly fine stuff.

CREDITS

Writers, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman; artist, Marc Laming; colorist, Jordie Bellaire; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editor, Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

Betrayal 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 cover it.

Bechko and Hardman establish Zaius as a bad guy at the end, not out of some willful evil but through his embracing of ignorance. Maybe if the comic had been Zaius’s story, how he became corrupt, the ending might have some resonance. But it does not.

There’s a set-up for a sequel, with a gorilla and a human hanging out. Sadly, there’s nowhere for the story to go. The secret ape prison is closed too. Bechko and Hardman are inexplicably reductive.

Great artwork though. Hardman’s art just gets better throughout.

Betrayal 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 the good guys are in danger? I don’t even know the female chimp’s name. And the sympathetic Doctor Zaius stuff continues, but without any ties to other stories in the franchise, the character’s presence is far from imperative. For a second, I thought Betrayal might tie a little into the first Apes movie… but it doesn’t seem to do so.

Even worse than boring is the pacing. Bechko and Hardman don’t pace the story to take advantage of Hardman’s art. And there’s no other reason to read the comic, so the art should rock….

Betrayal 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 bore. Betrayal isn’t even an exercise in constraint–Hardman’s (great) art opens up the planet from the movie’s confined one.

Maybe the one interesting aspect–in terms of continuity and franchise–is evil Dr. Zaius from the first movie being… ahem… humanized. But I think the second movie already did something similar (and I know comics have in the past). Having a heroic gorilla general is pretty cool, but the narrative doesn’t even follow him. Instead, Bechko and Hardman check in on their pedestrian conspiracy.

I wish it were better, but it probably can’t be.