Suits Vs. Simians In Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern

by Vince Brusio

Let us acknowledge a universal truth: what happens when you put chocolate in peanut butter? You get a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. And it’s one of the tastiest candies you’ll find in that deep endless bag of goodness on Halloween night! Now let us apply that same life lesson to comic books. What happens when you put DC & BOOM! Studios together? You get a crossover comic series that’s going to be one of brightest lights on the comic rack come new comic day! The tantalizing tasty treat from this DC/BOOM! partnership is the Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern TP (JUL171501), and Apes Editor Dafna Pleban — along with writers Justin Jordan and Robbie Thompson — give us the scoop!

The Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern TP (JUL171501) is in comic shops November 8.

**********

Vince Brusio: So what happened to lay the groundwork for this story? Did the success of the Apes/Star Trek series play into the decision making? We’re very curious to peek behind the curtain on how this project got approved for Thompson and Jordan to do the writing chores.

Dafna Pleban: I've been editing the Planet of the Apes books for a while, so when an opportunity came up to cross over with DC, I immediately couldn't shake the idea of the Green Lantern ring appearing on the Planet of the Apes. Luckily DC was right on board as well, and gave us free reign to start cracking a story with creators we were really excited about. Robbie has such a great entrance to the story that captured both the essential nature of the Planet of the Apes and Green Lantern mythos, melding the nihilism of POTA with the essential hope embodied by the ring.

So many Planet of the Apes stories grapple with characters coming to realize their complicity in dehumanizing perceived threats, and so many Green Lantern stories deal with what it means to overcome fear, and how fear can be used to justify terrible things. Combining the two stories felt natural, and Robbie glommed onto that immediately. And when Justin came on board we were equally lucky, both for his deep bench knowledge of the Green Lantern canon, but his innate understanding of what makes these seemingly alien characters so relatable. I'm really excited for people to see what Robbie, Justin, and [artist] Barnaby have done with this book.

Vince Brusio: “Ring slingers versus tree swingers” would be a great politically incorrect way of pitching this book to readers, but we’re sure that you guys can do a much better job. So how about it? Let’s hear the elevator pitch. What makes Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern #1 so electric? Show us the pulse.  Give us the experience in virtual reality. What do we see?

Justin Jordan: A bunch of damn dirty apes get their stinking paws on a really powerful ring. This goes about as well as you’d expect. There’s murder, mayhem, and monkeys — well, apes. 

But the first issue alone has Hal travelling to the POTA Earth, a bunch of beloved characters biting it, a fight between two corps, and one ape becoming something of a god on his planets. So, you know, we’re not lacking for awesome in the first issue.

Robbie Thompson: As always, Justin is right: There will be murder and there will be mayhem. What I loved about what Dafna pitched from the jump for this book was that there is a lot of thematic overlap between the Lantern world and the POTA world. Both franchises have really delved into the corrosive nature of power and what a zero-sum game that can be. Also, she said there would be damn, dirty apes.

Vince Brusio: Cornelius seems to be focal point for becoming the series “main man” on the Apes’ side. Hal on the Lantern’s side. But what other characters have thrown their rings into the Guardians arena? Can you tell us who rounds out the cast?

Justin Jordan: Some of them need to remain secret for the readers to discover when they read it, but we’ve also got Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Dexstarr, and Sinestro, and others on the Lantern side, and pretty much everyone on the ape side: Cornelius, Dr. Zaius, Zira, Ursus, Lucius, Dr. Milo, and the underground mutants. 

Plus, issue two has not one but two surprise guest stars. 

Robbie Thompson: And big credit and thanks to the fine folks at DC for really pushing for the right folks from the DCU to really help juice this story.

Vince Brusio: Barnaby Bagenda is the artist for this series. Our question is why? Why was he drafted as a team player? What visuals did he dazzle you with to make you point at the paper and say, “That’s the guy!”

Dafna Pleban: I had been trying to find a way to work with Barnaby for a while; his work has always been expressive and exciting and he has a great eye for crafting cinematic panels and pages. His work on Omega Men is a perfect example of Barnaby's ability to make the fantastic tactile and real. We're super lucky to have him on board for this book.

Vince Brusio: The scope for this story looks massive. You’ve got the Planet of the Apes, Sinestro, the Guardians, Hal Jordan, and the Green Lantern Corps all interacting under one roof. So, who punches who first? And was it difficult to keep from going overboard on the chaos factor given that you had so many toys in the playroom?

Justin Jordan: I think it’s safe to say that Sinestro is the one to draw first blood, but the apes respond really quickly and really decisively. The trick here is to tell a story that’s epic, but also fast-paced and filled with cool stuff. The hard bit is, as you mention, not overstuffing it. It’s really tempting to try and play with ALL the toys, but I think we found the right balance of who to include.

Robbie Thompson: Dafna was really on point about this from the first pitch — yes, let's go for scale and have a lot of fun with both franchises, but let's also drill down into the core values of both titles, and make sure we're telling a character-driven story.

**********

Vince Brusio writes about comics, and writes comics. He is the long-serving Editor of PREVIEWSworld.com, the creator of PUSSYCATS, and encourages everyone to keep the faith...and keep reading comics.