Kent Burles introduced descendants of the Battle characters, such as the chimp Alexander (the grandson of Cornelius and Zira’s son Caesar) and a bloodthirsty gorilla named General Ollo (a disciple of the war doctrines of General Aldo). In the four-issue miniseries Ape City (Aug.–Nov. 1990), Marshall and penciler M. C. Wyman—in Moench-like “Terror” fashion—unveiled original ideas that included baboon ninjas, a giant ape named Cong, and Terminator-like Vindicators sent from the past on a mission to avert Earth’s monkey-planet future. Marshall and Wyman also teamed up for Adventure’s first color comic, 1991’s four-issue Ape Nation, perhaps the oddest comic-book crossover ever (not counting Archie Meets the Punisher), between the Planet of the Apes and Alien Nation continuities. The jewel in the Adventure crown came in the form of a 1991 POTA miniseries titled Urchak’s Folly, written and penciled by Australian cartoonist Gary Chaloner, an Apes fan since his youth, attracted to the Marvel’s series, in part, by his fascination with the art of Mike Ploog. “I’m a long-time admirer of Will Eisner’s work and currently working on Will Eisner’s John Law [an online comic available at johnlaw.us.com],” says Chaloner in a November 2006 email. “[Since] Ploog was an Eisner assistant, the stylistic connection must have attracted me.” Chaloner’s Urchak’s Folly was an homage to Apes novelist Pierre Boulle’s other classic. “It’s Bridge on the River Kwai with a time-travel twist,” Chaloner explains. “A man from the Victorian era,
Thorne, is transported to the future ruled by apes. In a large, mysterious valley, he’s captured by a group of militant gorillas, led by the insane Urchak, whose expedition west from Ape City has been blocked by a river. The gorillas have enslaved a group of trogs—half-human, half-ape—and are forcing them to build a huge bridge across the river. The trogs are led by a woman who is making her way east, to Ape City, to await the arrival of a messiah… a man called Taylor.” Chaloner endeavored to make Urchak’s Folly compatible with the Adventure Comics continuity, but “tried hard for it to be a stand-alone story. I also relied heavily on continuity from the feature films, mentioning Taylor [and featuring] a journal that recounts events concerning Zira and Cornelius.” Urchak’s Folly earned Chaloner the 1992 OzCon Award for Favorite Writer. Adventure’s POTA monthly was initially well received, its first issue selling out and going into multiple printings. But its readership quickly dwindled, the entire franchise jeopardized by fluctuating market conditions and mired in Marshall’s earnest but overly ambitious plan to expand the Apes mythos—or in this case, monkey around with fans’ memories. “The art and stories varied wildly and in trying to expand the POTA universe they took some pretty wild diversions,” observes Alan Maxwell. “The series is not remembered fondly by too many fans.” Adds Chaloner, “Perhaps those stories weren’t close enough to the films, both visually and thematically. It’s always a tough call working on a project that has such a loyal fanbase. If you are even a little off-target with your vision, then it won’t go over with the fans.” After an Annual, a Blood of the Apes miniseries, and reprints of some of Moench’s Marvel material (the first three movie adaptations and a Terror collection), Adventure/Malibu’s POTA was cancelled in 1992 with issue #24. The publisher’s Apes line ended in 1993 with the miniseries The Forbidden Zone. BEWARE THE BEAST MAN, FOR HE IS THE DEVIL’S PAWN For the rest of the 1990s, fans were teased and tormented as a new Apes movie was in development. Filmmakers as diverse as Oliver Stone and James Cameron were attached at various times, and Planet of the Apes was considered as a starring vehicle for both Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Clooney. Eventually it was announced that master visionary Tim Burton would direct a “reimagining” of Planet of the Apes. Burton was known for his freakish cinematic eye candy—but not for cohesive storytelling. Would the director of Beetlejuice transport moviegoers to the star system of Boulle’s Betelgeuse? Or did he have something else in mind? Burton’s heavily hyped Apes bowed on July 27, 2001, with Mark Wahlberg as reluctant (and unlikeable) human hero Captain Leo Davidson and Tim Roth as the savage ape General Thade. As you’d expect from a Burton film, the makeup, costumes, and sets were astonishing. But the director had blundered into a real-life Forbidden Zone, attempting to “fix” what was never broken. His brutal reimagining strayed too far from viewers’ expectations,
A rare Ape study by artist Tom Sutton, in preparation for his POTA illustration stint. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
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Comics Gone Ape!