PLANET OF THE APES GREEN LANTERN #6

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Writers: Robbie Thompson & Justin Jordan

Artist: Barnaby Bagenda

Sinestro has arrived wearing a green power ring. He manages to neutralize the Red Lantern leader. Only with the recent death of Zira has Cornelius been driven mad. Using the Universal Ring he powers up to destroy the world. Dr. Zaius suggests to Hal Jordan that maybe the protectors that the Green Lantern’s wear could be used on Cornelius. So they band together and slap all their protector bands on Cornelius. This works and Cornelius is weakened enough for Sinestro to grab the ring. Dr. Zaius manages to use a yellow strap to restrain Sinestro. Cornelius grabs the ring and flies off the Earth. Then he sacrifices himself by causing a massive explosion to destroy himself and the ring. Later the Green Lanterns take their prisoners and leave with a vague promise from Dr. Zaius to make peace with the humans. Only at the end it is revelated that Grodd is still alive and a captive of the apes. Cornelius wakes up and finds himself in Metropolis on the other Earth.

So this series ends with Cornelius on Earth and Grodd a prisoner of the apes. They did leave the possibility of a sequel which I kind of doubt will happen. I liked this series in that it was well written and drawn. It tried to stay true to both universes. Somehow it just didn’t really click with me. I think that these two properties were never meant to go together. Not sad that they didn’t give it a good shot but I don’t think anything further should be done with this. It stands as a good try but you never know.

PLANET OF THE APES GREEN LANTERN #5

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Writers: Robbie Thompson & Justin Jordan

Artist: Barnaby Bagenda

Grodd has taken over the minds of the ape army and the Red Lanterns. Now he wants the Universal Ring that Cornelius has. Naturally he refuses and with his friends start to fight Grodd’s mind controlled allies. Soon the Green Lanterns come and a big fight ensues. Grodd seems to be captured as the Green and Red Lanterns fight it out. Only Grodd was using this time to gain full control of the mutants. With their powers he manages to break free and take over everyone except Cornelius. Grodd threatens Zira to get Cornelius to surrender. As he is about to , Zira kills herself to prevent this. Cornelius angrily lashes out at Grodd and fries him. The fight begins again between the Greens and Red when Sinistro arrives.

Well this wasn’t a bad issue. We get plenty of drama with the big one of Zira sacrificing herself so Grodd can’t take over the world. The issue has a flaw of some superhero comics in that it just gets into an endless free for all between many different characters. Still I have interest in the story and seeing how it resolves. Which we will find out in the next final issue.

PLANET OF THE APES GREEN LANTERN #4

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Writers: Robbie Thompson and Justin Jordan

Artist: Barnaby Bagenda

We start with a young Green Lantern being chosen to take the Universal Ring to the Planet of the Apes. Yet she finds out that the Guardians won’t let her return and she dies in the nuclear war. This is the skeleton that Zaius takes Sinestro to. The skeleton has a shield to the Universal Ring and a full powered Green Lantern ring which he uses. Hal Jordan and his companions hide from the fleeing ape army. They find the Green Lanterns all unconscious. They revive and give Hal a shield which gets his ring working. Meanwhile Zira, Milo and Nova didn’t stick around because Zira is anxious to find Cornelius. They find him and his mutant army with their new rings. Cornelius gives the three each a ring with the plan of giving all humans and apes rings to break the cycle of destruction. Only at the end they are confronted by Gorilla Grodd who has mind controlled both the Red Lantern corps and Ursus’s Gorilla army.

So right off the bat we get a clear explanation for the skeleton from last issue. Not really sure how she got so neatly put in a tomb after a nuclear war but we do get why the skeleton is there. Also that it gives Sinestro some power that he lost. Hal reunites with his fellow Green Lanterns and gets his power back. Zira finds Cornelius who is clearly under the universal ring’s power and is converting everyone. It ends with Gorilla Grodd being the main baddy in charge. The story is well told and makes stuff clear for someone like me who isn’t real familiar with Green Lantern. Plus it has my interest to continue reading on.

PLANET OF THE APES GREEN LANTERN #3

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Writers: Robbie Thompson & Justin Jordan

Artist: Barnaby Bagenda

Sinestro manages to threaten Dr. Zaius with torture to get him to help find the ring. Zaius knows of something that Sinestro might be interested in. Hal Jordan with the help of Zira and Milo manage to escape Ape City. The invading ape army meets up with Cornelius who made many rings from the Omega bomb. Now with his mutant followers they attack the gorilla army. Guy Gardner with his lantern friends and Grodd in a cage at this moment enter the ape dimension just above the big battle. Grodd uses his mental powers to knock out most of the combatants. Soon after this the Red Lanterns show up for the ring. A big fight ensues. Dr. Zaius takes Sinestro to some underground ruins and shows him a tomb with a skeleton wearing a lantern ring.

OK so this issue has a lot going on. I mean the writers throw everything but the kitchen sink into this story. I will give them credit for making such a complex plot coherent enough to follow. Yet there are so many characters I am unfamiliar with that it is hard to get into the story. So we will see where this goes.

PLANET OF THE APES GREEN LANTERN #2

“Untitled”

Writers: Robbie Thompson and Justin Jordan

Artist: Barnaby Bagenda

Hal Jordan finds himself now in the ape future and his ring doesn’t work. He is captured by gorilla soldiers. Cornelius is back in the mutant city and finds Taylor. The mutants were questioning him too hard and he is dead. Cornelius is shown their god the Omega bomb. He uses his power ring to dismantle the bomb and make many other power rings. Back on the Guardian’s planet Gardner confronts them about the disappearance of Jordan and Sinestro. They tell of how a Guardian named Rami was trying to create a ring that would harness the infinite power of the emotional spectrum. He failed but others tried and one combined sorcery with science to crate the Universal Ring. The ring was alive and sent into an alternate reality. One where apes ruled a post-nuke Earth. It was hoped this realm was a dead end and the ring would stay lost.

Only Sinestro managed to find the location. The Guardians send Gardner and his friends to stop Sinestro and give him shields against the ring. Back on the Planet of the Apes, Jordan manages to escape from his cell and makes friends with Zira and the chimpanzee scientists. Sinestro comes to Dr. Zaius . Back on our Earth Gardner makes a stop at Belle Reve Penitentiary to retrieve Gorilla Grodd who he hopes will help him on the Planet of the Apes.

So far the story is quite interesting. The writers manage to balance multiple storylines and keep each interesting and the reader can follow them. I am not real familiar with Green Lantern but understand what is going on so that is a plus. The origin for this crossover makes sense and the Planet of the Apes universe is consistent from the movie. Some beautiful artwork and an interesting story make this a worthwhile read.

PLANET OF THE APES GREEN LANTERN #1

“Untitled”

Writers: Robbie Thompson and Justin Jordan

Artist: Barnaby Bagenda

On some mysterious planet a hooded figure is conducting a ritual. He is surrounded by bound aliens that wear yellow and red lantern suits. An energy engulfs them and shoots toward Earth. The hooded figure was Sinestro and he now knows the location of the Universal Ring. On the Planet of the Apes, Cornelius finds a crater and in it is a ring. He takes it for study. On the planet Oa the Green Lantern Corp is battling Red Lantern Corp. After the battle Hal Jordan gets an alert from his ring of a crosschronal disruption. It is located in New York on Earth. So he goes there and meets Sinestro and they do battle. Cornelius puts the ring on and this opens a portal to present day Earth. Hal and Sinestro fall through with Hal losing his power. He crawls from the ocean and passes out in front of the ruins of the Statue of Liberty. Cornelius now has a yellow lantern suit and is confronted by hooded mutants. They want the ring but Cornelius gets angry and the ring incinerates the head mutant. The other mutants bow down before him.

So another crossover with Planet of the Apes. This one a well known superhero from the DC universe. I can’t say I am a fan of Green Lantern so don’t really know much of what is going on in that universe. I mainly got this for the Planet of the Apes. The apes parts starts just after the first movie. This I understand and so far the story is interesting. Interested to see where this goes.