Marc Guggenheim and Álvaro López will return to the setting of the original Planet of the Apes films for a new series featuring Cornelius, Zira, Nova and more. The four-issue Beware the Planet of the Apes will launch in January and serve as a prequel to the films.
“I’ve been entertained and intrigued by Planet of the Apes ever since I got a Mego Doctor Zaius doll as a birthday present, and my local television station ran the original pentalogy every afternoon for a week in the summertime,” Guggenheim said. “In many ways, Apes is one of the OG franchises, filled with mystery, fascinating characters, and some truly off-the-wall surprises.”
The details: Into the Forbidden Zone! In a hostile world run by aggressive gorillas, scientists Cornelius and Zira are the only apes alive who see value in the mute, dumb human race—but even they know human capabilities have severe limits. So when their nephew Lucius goes missing, it is with great trepidation that they turn to a human ally, a young woman who will someday earn the moniker “Nova”…
“I’m particularly excited that we’re going to be reusing some of Doug Moench, George Tuska and Alfredo Alcala’s original Marvel work on Adventures on the Planet of the Apes as a part of our storytelling,” Guggenheim said.
In his Substack newsletter, he added: “This last bit, about using panels and sequences from the original Adventures series is really exciting to me. It’s a bit of a bold swing — this could totally blow up in my face — but using moments from, essentially, the first two Apes movies as flashforwards helped me solve a few expositional challenges. And I always like to try new things.”
Look for the first issue of Beware of Planet of the Apes on Jan. 3.