Planet of the Apes: The Simian Age is an anthology special by various writers and artists celebrating the Planet of the Apes franchise in both its original and rebooted incarnations.
"Celebrate over 50 years of one of cinema's most influential franchises with this one-shot collection of stories highlighting the simian citizens of the world of Planet of the Apes! Featuring stories from both the original films and new series canon, including the life of an Ape Soldier in General Ursus's army, and a story set before Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, revealing Koba's early struggles to remain loyal to Caesar." [1]
Synopsis
“Taking place in both the original series and new, the stories in PLANET OF THE APES: THE SIMIAN AGE #1 span from the birth of simian morality to ape’s peak as the dominant species of Earth,” said Cameron Chittock, editor, BOOM! Studios. “For fifty years, the Planet of the Apes franchise has held a mirror up to humanity, and THE SIMIAN AGE shows us what happens when a burgeoning civilization is given the choice to kill or to show mercy, and the fallout of that decision.” [2]
"Mother of exiles"
Plot:
The story follows a married couple of Chimpanzees, Amy and Thomas, who were exiled to the forbidden zone after Thomas led a protest against the use of shaming punishments by the gorillas to enforce the new wartime austerity codes. Their daughter, whom she called Helena, was taken away one night without any explanation. Despite Amy’s best efforts, Thomas was broken in ways that defied her care and skill, but the two still managed to live together in the Statue of Liberty she nicknamed the lighthouse.
One day, Amy encountered Taylor and Nova outside her home. She quickly grabbed a scalpel to defend herself but couldn’t think of anything else to do except hide until they left. Once alone again, she found a mutant human with a strange mask. She debated using the scalpel to defend herself once more but quickly dismissed the idea. Instead, she used the scalpel to unlock the strange creature’s mask and cared for them, but she couldn’t bring herself to let the creature inside the lighthouse. The stranger pleaded with Amy to let them in, but after growing tired of begging, the mutant built a makeshift raft and started to drift out into the ocean. Meanwhile, Amy questioned whether she had made the right decision by keeping the creature out of her life.
Cast of characters:
- Amy
- Thomas
- Helena
- George Taylor (mentioned)
- Nova (mentioned)
- Unnamed mutant
"Apex"
Plot:
This story centers around the gorilla soldier Apex as he struggles with his inner demons while recalling his training to become a soldier. The key to his training was repetition, to the point where one could execute a mission without thinking, so that it became instinct. The exhausting training kept the soldiers too busy to question what they were doing. He tells his partner, Y-von, that he finds the exercises humiliating, and she urges him to do something about it if he believes it´s wrong.
Apex along with the rest of his platoon, are deployed to the forbidden zone to a hidden conclave infested with humans, with the mission to kill them all. Once they arrived, the humans, who had prepared a trap for the gorillas, began taking them out one by one. Ursus ordered them to fire, but the humans quickly surrounded and attacked. While Apex managed to kick away a human trying to strangle him, he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. It was then that Apex realized he wanted to break free from the cycle of death perpetuated by the apes and began to reconsider his view on things.
He decided to start a revolution to end the cycle of madness once and for all. Apex realized that their ultimate law, "Ape shall not kill ape," was wrong—it should be "Ape should not kill." With this new perspective, he regrouped in the forbidden zone with Y-von, two other gorilla soldiers, and a group of humans to form a small ragtag team with the goal of bringing down the current regime.
Cast of characters:
- Apex
- Y-von
- General Ursus (unnamed)
- Zaius (mentioned)
"Cloud and Rain"
Plot:
While on a mission to find food supplies for the apes, Cloud found a human toy that he wanted to keep for himself, though his friend Rain was also intrigued and asked Cloud to let her see it. When Koba saw the human-looking toy, he quickly snatched it from Cloud's hands and tossed it away before reminding both of them to scout the woods for food, such as berries, so he that could deliver a report to Caesar about the area.
When they found the berries, Cloud couldn’t hold himself back and started eating them, though Rain reminded him of Koba's instructions. Cloud asked her not to tell Koba. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a scream and found a human with a broken ankle. Cloud offered him some berries, but Koba lashed out to attack the human, tossing Cloud and Rain aside. The human tried to explain that he just wanted to leave and meant no harm to the apes, but Koba ignored him. Taking a rock, Koba raised it above his head to kill the human. Cloud reminded Koba that Caesar had forbidden killing humans, but Koba responded, "Koba no Caesar," before using the rock to kill the begging human. After that the three of them started a campfire, where Koba told the pair that humans made apes weak and gave little to no value to them. Koba told the pair how even though Caesar was an ape and their leader, apes could be stronger and better. He then proceeded to order them not to inform Caesar about the human's murder.
The next day, the three apes met with Maurice to deliver the food supplies they had collected. Later, Rain found Cloud while he was eating some berries. Frustrated for obeying Koba, he calls her a traitor before heading to where the human's corpse was, intending to inform Caesar about what had happened. However, Koba caught him in the act and killed him the same way he had killed the human. A funeral was held for Cloud, and during Caesar's announcement, Koba blamed the humans for his death, stating that apes would never kill other apes.
That night, Rain remembered Cloud as a brother but was interrupted by Koba, who choked her and threatened her never to go behind his back and tell Caesar what had happened with the human. Due to the strange circumstances surrounding Cloud's death, Caesar decided to establish the first ape law to protect their future: "Ape shall not kill ape".
Cast of characters:
Gallery
Reprints
The stories contained in this anthology were later re-released along with those from Planet of the Apes: The Time of Man in a compilation under the title Planet of the Apes: When Worlds Collide which included behind-the-scenes material from the story "Apex". The same cover from The Simian Age was used.
"A collection of Planet of the Apes stories spanning both the original and new series canon, in celebration of the iconic franchise’s 50th Anniversary.
In celebration of the original film’s 50th anniversary, stories from both eras of the Planet of the Apes franchise are featured together in one collection for the first time ever. These all-new stories include the reveal of the ape who calls the remains of the Statue of Liberty home, and the first look at the world left behind following the events of War for the Planet of the Apes.
Featuring bestselling authors Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT), Jeff Jensen (Green River Killer), and Dan Abnett (Guardians of the Galaxy), Planet of the Apes: When Worlds Collide is an unprecedented examination of the iconic franchise that fans of the original and new series will not want to miss."[3]
From script to Page:
ApeX Page 1 by Matt Kindt and Matt Smith with colors by Joana Lafuente
Panel 1: CU of an soldier ape. This is our hero. The ape who´s POV we will be in for the entire story. He´s a young soldier ape here training. We just see his eyes up close - angry. He´s in basic training. His name is APEX...or "Ape-X" - he´s going to be a rebel leader by the end of these ten pages.
The soldier apes should be dressed in traditional gear here.
If you want - to make Apex stand out visually - maybe we have an "X" sharped scare above his eye? He got this scar when he was younger so it´s old.
(APEX CAPTION): I went through basic training like all good soldiers. Took my beatings and got my scars.
Panel 2: Pull back - we see Apex holding and stabbing with an M-16 rifle bayonet attached. We don´t see what he´s stabbing yet.
(APEX CAPTION): The key to training was repetition.
Panel 3: Pull back - we see him stabbing again - blood spattering - but not too graphic here. Let´s keep it a PG-13 amount of blodd spatter.
(APEX CAPTION): Practice so long that eventually you can complete your mission without thinking.
Panel 4: URUS: Stop!
Pull back - we see Apex standing with other apes - they´ve been ordered to stop by General Ursus. We see a line of apes - 5 or 6 - all stopping - holding their rifles with bayonest at the ready...we don´t see what they´ve been stabbing...but I´m sure you can guess.
Panel 5:
(APEX CAPTION): It becomes muscle memory.
Ape X Page 10 by Matt Kindt and Matt Smith
Splash page...we see Apex crounched in the jungle - and we see humans and apes around him - all dressed in revolutionary gear...camo pants and Apex has a beret on...inspired by one of my favorite t-shirts ever. Apex has a gun and so do all the other revolutionaries. He´s made a small community that is going to fight for peace...they have guns only as a last resort...(and to make the final image look cooler.)
We see Apex and Y-von! She´s his right hand-man!
(CAPTION): Months later. Somewhere in the Forbidden Zone.
(APEX CAPTION): "Ape shall not kill."
Trivia
- This anthology marks the end of comic publications by BOOM! Studios and the cease of future releases.
- The punishments inflicted by the gorillas under the new wartime austerity codes included: green paint for gluttony, yellow body paint for cowardice, red body paint for unauthorized reproduction, among others.
- The existence of body paint punishment for unsanctioned reproduction could suggest that interspecies reproduction is prohibited, similar to how it was in Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, where the hybrids resulting from such unions were alienated from both the caste of their father's race.
- Although not named on the story itself the General that led Apex´s platoon to the conclave in the forbidden zone is Ursus, as revealed by solicitations of the anthology and the behind the scenes published in the reprint of these stories along with those of Planet of the Apes: The time of Man.
- Y-von is the first openly named female gorilla that appears in the franchise as a whole.
- While Rain is a character portrayed as a female in War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations, here she is drawn with a more male and bulky looking body, this could be an artistic choice or a misconception by the authors about her gender.
- For simplicity sake this wiki takes the original gender the character was referred as in their original appearence in the novel.
- Ursus´war cry "The only good human is a dead human" is said by Koba.
- This issue reveals the creation of the "Ape shall not kill ape" law in the Chernin Entertainment Continuity.
Locations
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