Planet Of The Apes [2023] #2 - Marvel Comics

PLANET OF THE APES No. 2, July 2023

Oddly containing two separate storylines which both tackle the Army of Man’s “misguided attempt to end the spread of the ALZ-113 retrovirus” by storming Switzerland and killing all of the world’s apes, the pacing of this comic probably caused a fair few bibliophiles to scratch their heads in frustration. Indeed, considering that the book’s fourteen-page central tale predominantly consists of nothing more than Doctor Sembene having an argument with the Secretary General of the United Nations over the telephone, it seems somewhat illogical for editor Sarah Brunstad to then allow this publication’s sole source of pulse-pounding action to be exclusively bottled up until its very end with the tiny tale “The Smartest Gorilla In The World”.

True, David F. Walker’s ponderous depiction of a surprisingly idyllic life in Western Malaysia in 2013 and the harsh military training of chimpanzees living at the International Simian Research Centre in Ghana three years later, certainly paints an intriguing insight into the contrasting lifestyles on an Earth where Humanity is slipping “ever closer to the brink of extinction”. But this entire narrative is so sedentary in its delivery that those readers who manage to wade through its increasingly wearisome, word-heavy dialogue will surely wonder why the uninspiring physician’s diatribe about the decline of mankind wasn't intermixed with artist Dave Wachter’s prodigiously pencilled depiction of Pug’s brutal battle against the Exercitus Viri at the periodical’s conclusion.

Just as disconcerting though, is just why Sembene is so bitterly opposed to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) in America taking some of his facility’s specimens in the first place, or what the United Nations actually plan to do with the monkeys when they’ve got them. It’s made crystal clear from the tone of the conversation that both the Doctor and his political superior have very strong polar opposite opinions regarding the decision. However, as the relevance of the “direct order” is never put into context, apart from the Secretary explaining that Ghana now holds “the only sizable population of Great Apes still in captivity”, it will be debatably difficult for any within this comic’s audience to ascertain just who is potentially making the “inexcusable” mistake.

The regular cover art of "PLANET OF THE APES" #2 by Joshua Cassara & Dean White