Calum Petrie reviews Rod Serling’s Planet of the Apes: Visionaries…
Taylor is Thomas, and Ape City isn’t a crude, primitive grouping of huts, it’s a bustling and urbane metropolis filled with cars and skyscrapers and a vibrant ape culture. Apes wear modern clothes and drive modern cars, they have talk shows and nightclubs and alcohol. How does a human fit into this world, and what will his presence mean to how Apes—and humans—view themselves.
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Rod Serling’s Planet of the Apes: Visionaries here
Planet of the Apes: Visionaries a wonderfully crafted story, based upon the original script for the first movie from The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. It does carry a lot of similarities to the final 1968 film, particularly with regards to the general storyline, though its deeper delve into fleshing out the world makes this graphic novel stand out in the lore of the franchise.
A rough outline of the story; deep space exploration has led four astronauts to go into stasis which will wake them up in two years once they reach their destination. When something goes wrong and three of the crew wake up with the shuttle crashed, they must figure out where and when they actually are.
The base story line is nothing new; it is something familiar and comforting but from there on out it starts to move into a realm of its own. Once the apes move in there is a magnificent jump in culture, technology and character development. This actually makes for a fantastic read as you are treated to a whole new dimension to the story you thought you knew.
The art style in this graphic novel does have a more classical style, more to the 1980’s comic atheistic, and the design choices look to have this series aimed at a more mature audience. The character designs themselves are brilliant; all of the ape-based characters have a unique style and easy to identify and pick out when many characters are within the frame.
The use of colour in this issue often reflects the characters reaction to the surroundings; in the beginning everything is bright, new and full of wonder. Later in the issue when the darker emotions come into play the colour pallet swaps to a darker tone mirroring Thomas’ character.
The length of the story can be read comfortably in an hour, which makes it ideal on a journey or just relaxing once you get home and wish to switch your brain off. The end of the book has a nice breakdown with the creators, in which they talk about their inspirations for the characters and how they chose to adapt Serling’s script.
I very much enjoyed this graphic novel, more than I thought I would with the subject matter. The original-era Planet of the Apes films transfer much more easily to print media where the limitations of CGI and costumes/make-up are not present. When this book ends with the story being totally wrapped up, there is a sense of finality where I knew the story wouldn’t have to be extended; it’s a stand-alone tale that tells a brilliant story and ends on a powerful note.
Rating – 9/10
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