Planet of the Apes 14 (November 1975)

Ploog looks so loose in his portion of this issue, I’m wondering if he didn’t have inking help. The art’s still good… it’s just not of Ploog’s usual caliber when he’s inking himself.

The group—the human, the ape, the girl—are sitting around in the President’s secret residence in Mount Rushmore. Their guide has electricity and it’s all very post-apocalyptic, realizing what was before stuff.

It’s a good story. Moench is a lot more interested in that aspect of Planet of the Apes than the ape society. Maybe because no one ever concentrated on the realization stuff in the movies.

The Escape adaptation continues. Moench’s script is good. He doesn’t pause on the jokes, waiting for a smile, he just includes them. It makes it a lot smoother than otherwise.

Rival keeps caricaturing, even when the villain appears. It just makes the villain look more evil, which works.

CREDITS

Up the Nose-Tube To Monkey-Trash; writer, Doug Moench; artist, Mike Ploog. Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Part Three: Trouble In Paradise Lost; writer, Moench; artist, Rico Rival. Editor, Archie Goodwin; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 13 (October 1975)

Ploog’s back on the original story with Moench, continuing their long-term storyline about the human and his ape friend. Moench’s heading West, into the congenital United States, and it makes almost no sense. I’m pretty sure the imagery has shown the Golden Gate bridge in Apes land at one time or another. I don’t think anyone ever worked out a map, just winged it.

Moench’s trying not to wing it. Besides moving very fast, it’s interesting to see. Post-apocalyptic, but not exactly.

And Ploog has eased the art a little. Some luxurious ink washes, but not all. It’s excellent, but indistinct.

Whereas Rival’s art on the Escape adaptation is distinct but not excellent. His caricature approach brings out the absurdity—his government bureaucrat meeting is all officials with their eyes bugged out—and it fits the story. When the tone changes, of course, hopefully Rival will get serious.

CREDITS

The Magick-Man’s Last Gasp Purple Light Show; writer, Doug Moench; artist, Mike Ploog. Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Part Two: Strangers In A Strange Land; writer, Moench; artist, Rico Rival. Editor, Archie Goodwin; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 11 (August 1975)

Moench and Alcala wrap up their Beneath adaptation. Moench doesn’t match the off-putting final moment, though he does manage to make the whole thing personal to the characters. It’s much better than the movie; it has great Alcala art and no bad Charlton Heston acting. I just wish Alcala had more interesting subject matter.

The original story–with Ploog art, yay–sort of wraps up the storyline Moench started in the first issue. The human protagonist embraces hatred, which is rather depressing, but it’s also pretty darned cool.

Planet of the Apes is willing to be downbeat, to let the bad guys win. It’s not simplistic, even with goofy theme apes. Moench does go overboard with the dialogue. He writes two Lawgiver speeches and they go on forever in mediocre (at best) parables.

Also in the finale, Moench reveals there were subtle recurring themes throughout.

It’s rather well executed.

CREDITS

When the Lawgiver Returns; writer, Doug Moench; artist, Mike Ploog. Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Part Six: The Hell of Holocaust; writer, Moench; artist, Alfredo Alcala. Editor, Archie Goodwin; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 8 (May 1975)

Moench and Ploog are back with another installment of their human and ape fugitives. The mountain men apes and the gypsy apes are back too. This time they get into a battle with the mutants, after they capture the renegade gorilla who’s trying to kill them.

Confused yet?

Moench does a great job keeping it all straight–though he does reveal the Lawgiver to have almost no authority or common sense.

Once again, Ploog enjoys the ink washes. The art is fabulous. Though he does lose track of apes and people during the big battle scene. Moench has a lot of players in it–for a plot development reason–and Ploog can’t track them all visually.

The adaptation chapter is pretty good, with Moench concentrating on character for most of it. The finale is all action and feels a little forced, especially the cliffhanger.

Alcala’s art is again utterly fantastic.

CREDITS

The Planet Inheritors; writer, Doug Moench; artist, Mike Ploog. Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Part Three: The Warhead Messiah; writer, Moench; artist, Alfredo Alcala. Editor, Don McGregor; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 6 (March 1975)

How did Tuska manage to screw up the reveal shot at the end of Planet of the Apes? It’s inconceivable, yet he ruins it.

Wow.

Sorry, didn’t mean to skip the original story. In it, Moench introduces gypsies. Mostly ape gypsies, but a couple humans too. Again, no idea how they found out about traditional Hollywood gypsies to continue the practice two thousand years in the future.

Or a thousand. Damned Apes timeline.

It’s all right—the story’s really about Moench’s human protagonist working out some emotional things. It’s nice to see Moench spend the time on that recovery.

It’s also nice to see Ploog ink himself. He goes crazy here, lots of ink washes… he must have been sick of Chiaramonte inking him too.

The adaptation, besides the awful Tuska art (he doesn’t even take time on scenery now), is fine. Moench hits the familiar moments, paces it well.

CREDITS

Maleguena in a Zone Forbidden; writer, Doug Moench; artist, Mike Ploog. Planet of the Apes, Part Six: The Secret; writer, Moench; penciller, George Tuska; inker, Mike Esposito. Editor, Don McGregor; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 4 (January 1975)

I hope Moench had fun with the original story in this issue of Planet of the Apes. While journeying through the Forbidden Zone, the heroes discover a settlement of mountain men apes. Moench uses them as a gag—and a plot device—and while the protagonists never know to ask how they learned about the lifestyle to adopt it… the reader does.

Of course, ignoring logic is part of the Apes franchise, so the magazine fits right in.

Chiaramonte’s back, sharpening Ploog’s lines (the human hero’s nose is a constant reminder of how fluid it used to be).

It’s not a bad installment, just silly. It’s filler; it doesn’t do anything to progress the overall story.

As for the adaptation, Tuska goes crazy with differing body sizes. Moench’s hit the “meat” of the film and can’t do much original. It’s the weakest of the scripts, but it’s not Moench’s fault.

CREDITS

Terror On the Planet of the Apes; writer, Doug Moench; penciller, Mike Ploog; inker, Frank Chiaramonte. Planet of the Apes, Part Four: Trial; writer, Moench; penciller, George Tuska; inker, Mike Esposito. Editors, Moench, David Kraft and Don McGregor; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 3 (December 1974)

Ploog’s got Frank Chiaramonte inking him this time. The result is all those smooth Ploog lined becoming all of a sudden sharp. Chiaramonte seems to concentrate on making the apes look more like the movie apes, removing the Ploog fluidity.

Moench and Ploog’s original story is, again, really well-paced. The first part of the story is all action, with Alex the chimp and Jason the human on the run from mutants and gorillas. It slows for the second part, introducing the bickering mutant brains who use zombie drones. Moench comes up with some great details.

He also plots Return of the Jedi. It’s so similar I can’t believe no one’s ever mentioned it.

The adaptation continues without a hitch. Moench uses this installment to move emphasis from Zira to Taylor. It’s nicely done. And with Chiaramonte inking the other story, Tuska’s art is no longer as shocking a change.

CREDITS

Terror On the Planet of the Apes; writer, Doug Moench; penciller, Mike Ploog; inker, Frank Chiaramonte. Planet of the Apes, Part Three: Manhunt; writer, Moench; penciller, George Tuska; inker, Mike Esposito. Editor, Tony Isabella; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 2 (October 1974)

I love the way Moench plots the original story. It opens with a title suggesting the heroes on the run will end up in the Forbidden Zone then he does everything he can to keep them out of it.

Moench also gets a lot of mileage out of the diversions (they do end up in the Forbidden Zone) and he shows a real understanding of pacing. He’s able to convince the distractions will work, even with the title forecasting the plot developments.

Plus, he’s got Ploog art. And the Forbidden Zone proves to be full of creatures for Ploog to render… though Ploog on the apes is more than enough.

On the adaptation part, Moench finds a good sequence of the movie to summarize and he turns Zira into the installment’s protagonist. Again, the pacing helps a lot.

But Tuska can’t differentiate between apes. The story frequently becomes unnecessarily confusing.

CREDITS

Terror On the Planet of the Apes; writer, Doug Moench; artist, Mike Ploog. Planet of the Apes, Part Two: World of Captive Humans; writer, Moench; penciller, George Tuska; inker, Mike Esposito. Editor, Tony Isabella; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Planet of the Apes 1 (August 1974)

I guess since Marvel started their Planet of the Apes magazine after the final movie, they didn’t worry about mixing up the magazine. For example, this issue starts with a story by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog (Gerry Conway gets story credit) set after the final movie… in the new Apes timeline. But the second half of the magazine is an adaptation of the first movie by Moench and George Tuska, with Mike Esposito inking. It’s set before the new timeline.

Or I’ve completely wrong.

Moench’s got a human protagonist in his original story (with a chimp buddy). He gets in some analogies to the KKK and human racism; it works okay. Ploog’s art is great. Moench has strong dialogue here.

But he also has it in the adaptation, which he makes into a simple story of bickering astronauts. He does it well. Tuska’s better on scenery than people though.

CREDITS

Terror On the Planet of the Apes; writers, Gerry Conway and Doug Moench; artist, Mike Ploog. Planet of the Apes, Part One; writer, Moench; penciller, George Tuska; inker, Mike Esposito. Editor, Tony Isabella; publisher, Marvel Comics.