Captain's Library BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Conclusion

When Last We Left the Apes and Mutants...

Ape leader Caesar, and his advisiors, orangutang Virgil and human MacDonald, search the radioactive Forbidden City for electronic files about Caesar's parents and what the future holds for Earth.

The trio find the info, but the mutated human inhabitants of the ruined city find them.

Though the explorers escape, the mutants, now aware of their existence, follow...

It's unknown how many differences between this adaptation and the movie (such as General Aldo attacking Virgil instead of Ceasar's son Cornelius) were the result of working from an early draft of the script, or an attempt to keep the story "kid-friendly".

Captain's Library BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

Cover of British Magazine. Art by Ron Wilson and Mike Esposito

A decade after the conflict that devasted the Earth, ape leader Caesar leads an expedition to the Forbidden City in search of videotapes of interviews with his parents which would explain what the future holds for both apes and humans...

Tomorrow:

The Apes of Wrath!

(Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Note: the above cover is from the British reprint of the Marvel b/w magazine version of Battle.

As you might have guessed, it was grittier than the Power Records version.

In fact, it was a bit more graphic than the film itself.

BTW, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens today.

Why not go see it?

Captain's Library BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Part 1

With Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opening tomorrow...

...let's look back at the flick from the original series it seems most thematically-linked to...

Tomorrow:

The Forbidden City!

(You'll see why it's forbidden!)

If the comic looks unfamilar, it's because this is the never-reprinted Power Records comic adaptation of the 1973 movie.

It was packaged with a 45 rpm record that presented the comic story like an old-time dramatic radio show with a full cast, music and sound effects.

However, Power didn't use the movie's cast, music or sfx.

They used their own in-house people instead.

In addition, the story seems based on an early draft of the script.

And Marvel Comics did a serialized adaptation of the film for their b/w magazine, but it's almost 100 pages, so Power (which had adapted a number of existing Marvel comics into audio adventures) decided to do an all-new, shorter, comic...in color.

Packaged by the Arvid Knudsen & Associates studio, the exact credits are unknown, but it's speculated that one or more Phillipino artists handled the illustrations.

To me, it looks like Tony DeZuniga, who was doing work for Marvel, DC, and Warren.