Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a six part series published by BOOM! Studios, detailing the gap between the films Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It reintroduced Apes fans to characters from those films and introduced new ones. It launched in November 2014, written by Michael Moreci with art by Dan McDaid.
Synopsis: Bridging the gap between the Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes films, fans bear witness to the fall of humanity and the rise of Caesar's civilization. While the apes of the world have yet to advance as a species, Caesar must find a way to unify them to one cause. On the other side of the country, Malcolm must venture into the decaying Americas with his family to find a cure for the plague slowly killing his wife, Rita. Powers will shift as civilizations collapse and rise.
Plot: After the birth of Ash, Caesar sent the aggressive militaristic chimp Pope on a mission into the ruins of San Francisco, where he discovered a forgotten group of un-evolved apes left behind after the initial rebellion. Drunk with power, Pope and some of followers, including Rex the gorilla, enslaved the ignorant apes and planned to use them to attack Caesar and take over the colony. Chimps Fifer and Cora, however, disagreed with Pope and sent word back to Caesar, who sent Koba to confront Pope and his militia of apes. Forced to kill Rex and Pope in order to re-establish control, Koba banished their remaining followers and took the savage apes back to the colony. Koba regretted killing fellow apes, and resented Caesar for putting him in the situation where he was forced to do so.
Meanwhile, on the other side of America, Malcolm found his wife, Rita, was being slowly killed by the plague. They and their son Alexander had to leave their home to try to find a rumoured cure in Austin. Along the way they encountered a human gang trafficking kidnapped humans, and Alexander was captured as Rita was getting sicker every day. Allying with a vigilante community headed by Shavers, they rescued Alexander and some others before discovering that the traffickers were taking their prisoners to facilities run by the United States Centers for Disease Control, who were running experiments in a desperate attempt to find a cure to the Simian Flu, and that the rumour of a cure was just a ruse to lure more victims to Austin. Rita quietly left her family, feeling that they would be safer staying with the community rather than looking for a non-existent cure for her.
Issues:
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes #1
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes #2
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes #3
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes #4
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes #5
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes #6
External Links[]
- Trying not to be intentionally difficult: Michael Moreci Interview - 'Simian Scrolls' #18 (2015)
- Make do and Mend: The Dawn of the Planet of the Cows, with artist Dan McDaid - 'Simian Scrolls' #18 (2015)