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REVIEW: Timeline of the Planet of the Apes:
The Definitive Chronology |
Reviewed by Tom Mason, former Planet of the Apes editor at
Malibu Comics, and writer for Comix 411.
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BOOK REVIEW:
Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology
Jan. 12, 2009
Heads up, monkey lovers! Uber-Apes fan and writer Rich Handley has put his stinking paws on the history of one of the most beloved and maddening sci-fi franchises ever: Planet of the Apes. The origin of the species that began with Pierre Boulle’s novel, Monkey Planet, has encompassed movies, television shows, comic books, animated cartoons and so much more. Who can forget their Planet of the Apes lunchbox or their Mego action figure? Creators as varied as Rod Serling, Tim Burton, Paul Dehn, Doug Moench, Ian Edginton, Mike Ploog, Dale Keown, Gary Chaloner and Lowell Cunningham have been drawn into its orbit.
Now Rich has deftly organized all of the projects, spin-offs, and remakes and created Timeline Of The Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology, a massive reference book suitable for the monkey shelf of your bookcase. Rich chronologically organizes every recorded event of Planet of the Apes history starting from before Caesar’s birth and going way beyond [spoiler alert] Earth’s destruction. Rich says, “This book covers every film, television episode, cartoon, novel, comic book, short story and audio-tale produced under the Planet of the Apes banner over the past four decades.” He even includes a number of rejected and unpublished tales previously unavailable to fans.
Originally produced for a publisher that went belly-up, Rich pulled back his completed manuscript and is self-publishing through his own Hasslein Books imprint. Packed with 350 cover images, a recommended viewing/reading order, time travel trivia, a title/creator index of published fiction and a wealth of POTA inconsistencies and discontinuities, make the book a must-have item for any true fanboy.
Someday, the apes will rule us all, and it’s nice to see how they plan to do it.
[Full Disclosure: I used to edit the Planet of the Apes comic books for Malibu Comics and many of the folks who worked on them are represented in Rich’s book.]
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