At least the art is good. Otherwise, this annual is incredibly stupid. Marshall’s intended audience isn’t fans of the movies or even most of his regular Apes comics. Instead, it’s for fans of monkeys acting like people.
Being a Planet of the Apes annual has nothing to do with any of the stories. Maybe the Adventure Apes comics had problems keeping ape species straight because it doesn’t matter.
This annual has Western, horror, explorer and post-apocalypse stories. None need to have apes in them. Most would probably be better without apes in them.
Marshall did, early in his Apes writing, do a decent job. This annual just shows he was all too willing to forgo setting and science fiction for a gimmick. This annual is like a bad sitcom. Who knows, maybe Fox was pushing to relaunch the franchise as sketch comedy….
Regardless, besides the excellent art, it’s terrible.
