Review: Tarzan/Planet of the Apes
I love my mash-ups! First came Star Trek and Planet of the Apes, now here’s Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes. Our story opens with Gorilla’s on the hunt for humans and is set in North America circa 2016, that’s right, present day USA! As one of the soldiers is about to take aim, Lord Greystoke descends and wraps his legs around the ape’s neck, great opening, then we cut to Africa in 1901 where a young Tarzan is playing with his ape brother Milo. The success of this story depends on a re-working of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. In a situation that could have been contrived, the creative team makes it work with a few unique twists that will leave fans of both franchises happy. A great little tale that only the world of comic books could bring us.
The Creative Team
David Walker and Tim Seeley seem to grasp the complexity of uniting these two franchises and bring a serious tone to what could have been a tongue in cheek story. They clearly know the characters from both franchises well and their personalities come to amazing life on the pages of this trade paperback. I especially enjoyed the way the future apes seemed to communicate and interact with the Mangani, the fictional apes that originally raised Tarzan. For those not familiar; these apes exist in our modern world but are more intelligent than most apes and have their own language. They also visit other Edger Rice Burroughs worlds which makes this more intriguing.
Fernando Dagnino gets the characters down and shows us the worlds of both franchises as the tale unfolds. He brings us some great battle scenes and his portrayal of the various beasts that occupy the various worlds in this tale are spot on. He brings the various worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs to life in a way that works for this story. There isn’t much of the Apes home world until the end, but what little we see is also well done. Great stuff as his pictures compliment the story nicely.
In Conclusion
It took a creative imagination to bring these worlds together, even more creative than Star Trek/Planet of the Apes and this creative team manages to pull the tale off and give us a few twists in the telling of this tale of two worlds gone mad. The portal that bridges these universes is found in a clever world of its own, and, when you think about it, exists in the only Edgar Rice Burroughs world that it could possibly exist in. I can’t help but be reminded of the Star Trek Episode “City on the Edge of Forever” when I see it. Great stuff. There’s also a conversation between Dr. Zaius and Dr. Milo that we never got in the original POTA franchise. I highly recommend this story I believe fans of both franchises will be satisfied. The characters intermingle in a strange yet plausible way. I loved every page!
Tarzan/Planet of the Apes TPB
Writer – David Walker, Tim Seeley
Art – Fernando Dagnino
Colors – Sandra Molina
Letters – Nate Piekos
Publisher – Dark Horse/Boom
Publication Date: May 17, 2017
Format: FC, 144 pages; TPB, 7” x 10”
Price: $19.99
Age range: 12
About the Author
Kevin Given Kevin Given has studied with "Longridge Writers Group" and "Writer's Boot Camp" a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the "Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter" franchise which includes 2 novels and 8 comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of "Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter" #1 and "Files of Karl Vincent" #1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series "Dracula Rising" (working title) and developing "Foul Blood" into comic book form.
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