KONG ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #6

“When Chaos Reigns”
Writer: Ryan Ferrier
Artist: Carlos Magno

Kong and Na-ti are running from General Ursus and his army. They come to a cliff at the edge of the ocean. Ursus has his men take a huge wooden spear and start stabbing Kong. Zaius, Cornelius and Zira arrive and try to put a stop to this. Ursus is totally power mad and while they argue Na-ti is shot by Ursus. She falls and Kong falls with her to catch her. They crash through the ground and find themselves in the underground ruins of New York.

Meanwhile back at Ape city the council is going to cover up the whole expedition and its findings. They also plan to make the forbidden zone totally off limits to apes. Zira and Cornelius decide to leave Ape City and get the news of Milo’s discovery of Taylor’s spaceship. Ursus takes his army into the ground after Kong. While tracking him the mutants use their mental powers to project fire which forces the apes to flee. At the end Na-ti is dead and Kong manages to reach the ruins of the World Trade Center where he dies. The mutants see this as a sign that the end is near and plan to detonate the bomb.

So the series comes to a sad end. I figured that Kong was going to meet a tragic end. Appears that Na-ti and the apes in general will also meet one. Indeed the ending set up changes nothing that the original movie didn’t set up. I liked this series. It was done in a clever way to integrate the Apes universe with Kong’s. It managed to stay true to both universes and tell a fascinating if not a tragic story. I wonder what other crazy crossover the Apes universe will get.

KONG ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #5

“Untitled”
Writer: Ryan Ferrier
Artist: Carlos Magno

The raptors have escaped and are causing untold death and destruction in Ape City. General Ursus and his troops rally and start to kill the raptors. The last ones are attacking a cage of humans with Ni’ta inside. The apes start to attack with a flamethrower. Kong sees his friend being attacked and breaks loose from his cage. He scoops up the girl and goes on a rampage of Ape City. Ursus and his troops manage to drive it into the Forbidden Zone and plan to follow to hunt it down. Zaius is condemned by the council while Dr. Milo and Lucius discover a dead human astronaut at the dead sea.

So this issue has been a real disaster for the apes. The raptors killed a bunch of apes. Zaius is the scapegoat for the mess. Ursus is coming out looking like a hero for defeating the raptors and Kong. Considering its all his fault that is a stroke of luck for Ursus. In a lot of ways this is the same as King Kong. He gets angry at the treatment of the girl and breaks out of his cage then goes on a rampage. Have a feeling its heading toward a conclusion at the Empire State Building.

KONG ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #4

“Untitled”
Writer: Ryan Ferrier
Artist: Carlos Magno

The apes have captured Kong and bring him ashore. They also brought a bunch of raptors that Ursus wants to train as weapons. Ape City is falling apart. The chimpanzees are protesting wanting humans to have rights. Zaius believes that Kong will show all apes that they are the chosen ones. Zira is banned from the council for her opposition and seriously thinks her life is in danger. Ni’Ta is held captive with the other humans. Things are not going well with training the raptors. Two apes have already been killed. Ursus insists on continuing and shoots a gorilla who resists him. In the scuffle the raptors are released and descent on Ape City.

So Kong is back in the land of talking apes and seems broken. You really feel sympathy for the guy. He looks so sad. Zaius weaves a fanciful tale of liberating Kong from evil humans. He truly believes that Kong will unite the apes around his vision of ape superiority. Ursus has actually killed an ape and has a one track mind in developing trained raptors. He also wants to mount another expedition back to the island to eventually colonize it. Ends in a disaster with starving raptors set free. Another excellent entry in this unique crossover series.

KONG ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #3

“Hell Hath No Fury”
Writer: Ryan Ferrier
Artist: Carlos Magno

It has been 24 days since Zira, Cornelius and Zaius were introduced to Kong. They have been studying Kong who is quite peaceful. But the peace is destined to not last. The human chief wants the apes to leave. Meanwhile during this time General Ursus has been capturing animals. Finally the barge arrives from the apes in Africa. Now Ursus goes on the offensive and kills many of the humans and capturing the female Ni’ta. This forces the scientist apes to flee along with the gorillas. This gets Kong angry and he goes after them. At the ship Ursus manages to shoot a cannonball that hits Kong’s skull and knocks him out. The automatic guns of the gorillas are way superior to the arrows of the humans and forces them to flee. Now the apes head back home with a captive Kong.

So they capture Kong. The girl Ni’ta was used to lure Kong and Ursus has some grandiose plan to show ape superiority with the captive Kong. So far this is basically a retelling of the classic King Kong story only with apes instead of humans. They are even going back to New York. Very interested to see where the story is going.

KONG ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #2

“Return of the King”
Writer: Ryan Ferrier
Artist: Carlos Magno

The apes have made it to Skull Island and start exploring. They come upon a ruined temple and are attacked by carnivorous plants. Then they find a huge temple with a giant statue of an ape. After another attack by raptors and a pterodactyl they explore the temple. Then to their surprise they are captured by talking humans. The humans take them to their leader an old woman named Storyteller. She and her young apprentice Ni’ta can speak English. They tell of the line of great Kongs. At the end a ceremony is initiated to call Kong for tribute. It ends with Dr. Zaius going to meet Kong.

The second issue does a good job of setting up Skull Island. We get a good look at all the dangers of the island. General Ursus is his typical kill all humans but Zaius is a moderating voice of reason. So far their adventures have been filled with action and strange creatures. Now with Kong we end on a mystery that the reader can’t wait for. This is a very good series and so far has been quite intriguing.

KONG ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #1

“Untitled”
Writer: Ryan Ferrier
Artist: Carlos Magno

It is after the events of the first movie and Dr. Zaius is leading an expedition. He is going to blow up the Statue of Liberty. When they get there they are surprised to find a giant ape wasted on shore. Zaius enlists Zira and Cornelius to perform an autopsy. Soon after Zaius convinces the council to mount an expedition to find the origin of the giant ape. He hopes that this discovery will united the apes who are now fragmented after their experience with a talking human.

So Zaius who has old human newspapers and maps knows the location of Skull island. With Zira, Cornelius, Ursus and twenty gorilla soldiers they set sail. They stop in Kenya and find a peaceful ape village. The village confirms they are on the right path. As they approach the island they are attacked by a giant octopus and pterodactyl. The gorilla soldiers fight off these creatures. In the distance they hear the roar of a giant ape.

This is probably the most anticipated new series this year I was looking forward to. Another off the wall crossover that I was very curious on how they would accomplish this. Actually it seems like a logical idea to combine these two famous ape properties and Boom does have the rights to both. So far it has a logical story and keeps within the apes mythology. Looking forward to see where this takes me.