Back in June Marvel announced that it had reacquired the license to Planet of the Apes. Now the comics company has heralded an April 2023 first publication, with the creative team of writer David F. Walker and artist Dave Wachter. Walker has written such titles as Shaft, Power Man and Iron Fist, Secret Wars: Battleworld, and the Apes-related projects Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes and Planet of the Apes: Ursus. For his part, Wachter has been the artist on Star Wars: The High Republic, Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon, Blade: Vampire Nation and X-Men: Legends.
Over the decades, comic books based on various aspects of the Planet of the Apes franchise have moved from publisher to publisher, starting at Marvel (if you don’t count Gold Key’s adaptation of Beneath the Planet of the Apes) and moving to Malibu, Dark Horse, Mr. Comics and, most recently, Boom! Studios. Of them all, the black and white comic magazines from Marvel in the ’70s remain the most treasured, and now comes news that Marvel had reacquired the license — not a complete surprise given that Disney owns both Marvel and Apes studio Fox.
“Marvel’s re-acquisition of the Planet of the Apes license is incredibly exciting. BOOM! Studios, Malibu Comics, and others have done admirable work, but Marvel’s classic magazine, containing stories by Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton, Alfredo Alcala, and other great talents, is the gold standard. Marvel’s Apes tales, such as ‘Terror on the POTA’ and ‘Future History Chronicles,’ are some of the franchise’s best, and it’ll be intriguing to see what the publisher has planned next for the simian saga,” says author Rich Handley, whose work includes nine Planet of the Apes books, including the Tales from the Forbidden Zone fiction anthology and BOOM!’s hardcover reprints of the full Marvel run.
Comments Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski in a statement, “We’re thrilled to welcome Planet of the Apes back to the House of Ideas! The new saga in the pipeline is going explore the limits of what this beloved franchise has to offer through bold comics storytelling, and we look forward to setting foot on this new adventure!”
One would imagine — though there’s no confirmation of this — that stories will be a mix of those set in the classic film series universe, the reboot trilogy, the world of the TV series and maybe even the Burton remake (be nice!).
As noted, the new Planet of the Apes comics will arrive in April of next year.