Apes and Avengers

DC Goes Ape Volume 1 (1959-99/ Collected 2008): edited by Bob Joy; written by Otto Binder, John Broome, and others; illustrated by George Papp, Wayne Boring, and others: The story goes that 1950's DC Comics editors noted a sales uptick whenever primates appeared on a comic-book cover. And so primates readers would be given, mostly gorillas and apes (and one Kryptonian super-monkey!). Well, and Detective Chimp.

This volume collects some of DC's finest, freakiest tales of super-apes and criminal gorilla criminals. The material from the 1950's and 1960's shines the brightest, giving us mainstays such as Titano the giant super-ape, the gorilla crime boss of Gotham, telepathic Flash villain Gorilla Grodd, a super-monkey to annoy a young Superboy (or was it Superbaby?), and several others. Wonder Woman even gets changed into a gorilla by an astronaut gorilla from another world. Hoo ha! Recommended.

Avengers: Assault on Olympus (1987/ Collected 2011): written by Roger Stern and Bob Harras; illustrated by John Buscema, Bob Hall, Tom Palmer, and Kyle Baker: Roger Stern's tenure as writer of the Avengers in the 1980's stands as one of two or three high points for Marvel's superhero group. And the art by John Buscema and finisher Tom Palmer was more than solid as well. 

In the aftermath of the epic siege on Avengers mansion story arc, the Avengers find themselves plunged into the world of the magical and mythic. Avenger Hercules got beaten into an unbreakable coma during the siege. Now, Zeus blames the Avengers for Hercules' condition -- and seeks vengeance. It's fun stuff, with one of the more powerful Avengers line-ups when it comes to brute strength (She-Hulk, Thor, and the Sub-mariner). An off-beat standalone story about Avengers' butler Jarvis rounds out the collection. Recommended.

Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Get On

Rise of the Planet of the Apes; based on Monkey Planet by Pierre Boulle and the movie Planet of the Apes, written by Rod Serling and Michael Wilson; written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, directed by Rupert Wyatt, starring Andy Serkis (Caesar), James Franco (Will Rodman), Freida Pinto (Caroline Aranha), John Lithgow (Charles Rodman), Tyler Labine (Robert Franklin), Brian Cox (John Landon), David Oyelowo (Steven Jacobs) and Tom Felton (Dodge Landon) (2011): Superior popcorn entertainment.

This second reboot of the long-dormant Apes franchise begins at the beginning, as a Big Pharm companies Alzheimer's research inadvertantly creates a drug that permanently (and genetically) creates super-intelligent primates. Dr. Will Rodman raises the first chimp 'accident' secretly at his home; Caesar (impressively motion-capture-performed by Andy "Gollum" Serkis) loves his human family but eventually starts to chafe at being a chimp among humans.

Various shenanigans put Caesar in a nightmarish animal sanctuary with a bunch of normal primates and Franco on the verge of creating a more stable anti-Alzheimer's drug. Cue more animal testing! Disastrous, disastrous animal testing. For people, not animals, because Franco has now created a super-chimp drug that can be aerosolized. Huzzah!

I was happily surprised to see a summer blockbuster that builds to its big-CGI climax, that gives us characterization (albeit much of it focused on a CGI chimp), and that gives us at least something vaguely intellectual to chew on. The whole thing is a bit of a throwback to both its grandparent, the original Planet of the Apes, and to science-fiction movies of the 1950's, before visual effects overwhelmed the story sense of much of Hollywood.

The primates -- all, so far as I know, CGI and not animal actors -- are really nicely created by Peter Jackson's WETA effects shop. Caesar and several others -- especially Maurice the oranguatan (the name is an homage to the actor who played evolved orangutan Dr. Zaius in the original movie series) -- look startlingly real.

More importantly, they're given the sort of personalities that CGI creations usually lack in any movie not made by Pixar. This isn't a great movie. The science and logic lapse at points, Franco and Pinto don't really have a lot to do, and the ending is 'Wait for the sequel!' abrupt. But after several dismal summers of blockbusters, this movie is the real deal, and almost as refreshing a reboot as 2009's Star Trek. I want more apes! Recommended.