Written by Mark Henely
There is something incredibly appealing on a very basic level about the very concept of Tarzan meeting the Planet of the Apes. We’ve seen Tarzan interact with normal apes, but what does he do when he encounters super-intelligent apes? Does he get along with them or is he shunned as the Europeans might have shunned him in his own time.
The basic set up is this: Cornelius’ family (of the Planet of the Apes world) was sent back in time to 1902 where they met and adopted a young Tarzan.While out playing, Tarzan and Cornelius’ son encounter dinosaurs. The advanced apes believe that they may have caused a rift time that could destroy the universe. While all this is happening, poachers are trying to kill regular apes in the jungle. The story has high stakes and it will be exciting to see Tarzan find a way to save everybody (both big and small).
I really like the idea of the Planet of the Apes family adopting Tarzan. I think it takes the essential piece of the Tarzan character (that he was raised by apes instead of humans) and moves it over just slightly. He is still raised by apes, but at a certain point, smarter apes showed up and talked to him. These smarter apes taught him to speak, but he still gets to do cool ape things like climb trees and swing on vines.
Fernando Dagnino does a great job on art duties.The big appeal to doing a crossover like this is in seeing the characters interact with each other. Dagnino really does a great job of taking two properties with two very different aesthetics and putting them together while still making it all seem streamlined. He also nails all of the actions scenes. Readers always know who is doing what to whom. This really must be a fun project for him to work on. In just one page, he got to draw Tarzan, a character from Planet of the Apes, and a Triceratops. It’s fun stuff.
Rating: 8/10
