Planet of the Apes 3: Children of Fire

Comic Info

Planet of the Apes #10

Reprints Planet of the Apes #9-12 (December 2011-March 2012).  The war between apes and humans is rising as the humans of Southtown try to escape Ape City for freedom.  As the warriors of both species clash, Sully finds herself a prisoner inside of Mak and nearing birth.  As both she and Alaya remember the events that destroyed their peaceful childhood world, Sully questions Alaya’s plans for her child.

Written by Daryl Gregory, Planet of the Apes Volume 3:  Children of Fire is a Boom! Studios sci-fi action-adventure comic book collection.  Following Planet of the Apes Volume 2:  The Devil’s Pawn, the series features art by Carlos Magno, and issues in this collection were also collected as part of the Planet of the Apes Omnibus.

While I enjoy the new Planet of the Apes films, the original Planet of the Apes movies hold a special place in my childhood.  With Godzilla, I remember it felt like there was always a Planet of the Apes movie on TV, and before VCRs, it was always exciting to see what movie would randomly pop-up.  It is nice revisit the world created by the original Planet of the Apes films and see a continuation of what happened after Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

Planet of the Apes #11 Variant

This volume of the comic features heavily on Sully’s upcoming birth.  It has action surrounding it involving the insurrection, but Sully’s tricky delivery at the hands of the apes and her frenemy Alaya has her unsure what is going to happen.  With the baby born, the series has a new goal…rescue the child (and it does a ten year time-jump to set it up more).

The biggest problem with most of Boom! Studio’s comic book collections is the length.  With four short issues, the collection feels small and probably would be better read as an omnibus.  This collection has a more definitive ending than some of the collections, and it has to be nice for writers not to be really restrained by the “six issue comic book collection”…plus, it gets the trades in the hands of readers sooner.

This adaptation of Planet of the Apes is decent.  It does feel big and theatrical and I could see this being the storyline for a potential two part movie.  It is too bad that the series didn’t have a long life because there is so much to do with the ape world.  Planet of the Apes 3:  Children of Fire is followed by Planet of the Apes 4:  The Half Man.

Related Links:

Planet of the Apes 1:  The Long War

Planet of the Apes 2:  The Devil’s Pawn