Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern

Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern #1-6

by Robbie Thompson, Justin Jordan, Barnaby Bagenda (Illustrations)

Cornelius discovers an ancient ring in the Forbidden Zone and unlocks a power that echoes across universes. With the Green Lantern Corps, led by Hal Jordan, racing to get to the source of this power before Sinestro can get his hands on it, they will discover a truth about the Guardians that will change them forever on…THE PLANET OF THE APES. From writer Robbie Thompson (Silk; Spidey; Supernatural), Justin Jordan (Green Lantern: New Guardians, Luther Strode) and artist Barnaby Bagenda (Omega Men) comes the war of the Green Lanterns on the Planet of the Apes!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2017

About the author

Comics writer.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun. Thompson brings in both the entire Planet of the Apes history but also ties in the Guardians' history as well. Long ago, one of the guardians created a universal ring that affected the user's emotions similar to the First Lantern's ring. So they hid it away in the Planet of the Apes universe. Sinestro has found out about it and figured a way over to that universe. From there, there's lots of apes with power rings and fighting between all the colors of the emotional spectrum. Clearly, there was meant to be a sequel to this. Hopefully, this did well enough for that to happen.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really wishing I like this more. I enjoy Green Lantern. I LOVE Planet of the apes (especially the new ones). So this sounds pretty cool, right?

Green Lantern Hal goes on a mission and you know who, our favorite red/purple face friend Sinesto comes and fucks shit up. Boom, bang, bam Hal falls into a new world filled with...TALKING APES! Not a bad idea. Without his powers this could get good. But then the Apes begin to get rings, and begin to transform to different colors, and honestly by the freaking end it's just a big clusterfuck of apes verse apes, a few lanterns, and Grodd being...a dick as always. Yes, Grodd is here.

Good: I thought the idea was pretty good. Also some of the apes and human interactions were pretty well done and fun.

Bad: The art felt really, I dunno, poor? Some moments really lacked. I also thought the storyline went nowhere and by the end I was just like "oh look, same old bullshit" also the ending sucked because it tried too hard to recreate the original movies but ended up feeling more like that shitty Tim Burton remake.

Overall this is a big old skip for me. Robbie Thompson is a solid writer but this isn't one of his stronger books. A 2 out of 5.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite okayish!

It starts with a universal rings that seems to harness all the emotional spectrum colors falling on Planet of the Apes and Cornelius finds it and puts it on and is changed and as things would have it while Hal is fighting Sinestro they are stuck here on this earth and we learn of the nature of it. And so Guy and the other lanterns must team up and rescue him and they bring along Gorilla Grodd with them and when war is there on all sides. With Sinestro and his plans with Zaius, Grodd controlling the other Red Lanterns and Jordan and Gardner stuck here facing threats on all sides in this Planets of the ape and who will win? Will they be able to rescue others trapped and stop this universal ring? Plus what is its big secret!?

Good volume and has some great reveals for a one stand-offish adventure and has some cool panels like whats going on with Sinestro and the fate and the confusion that Cornelius has though I wish they did more with Zaius. The sacrifice of some loved ones had their emotional impacts but not that much and I wish they had more Hal and like shown things from his POV but overall it makes for a decent crossover and its not the best but certainly has it moments and they leave room enough for a sequel which I doubt they will do! But good read and decent art!

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was nothing good about this book....bad story, bad art. It was long, pointless, and meandering, and took the worst excesses of each franchise and magnified them hundredfold. The saving grace was the fun, inventive variant cover gallery.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This crossover didn't work for me. I read the Green Lantern/Star Trek and the Star Trek/Planet of the Apes crossovers and I was pleasantly surprised, but this one wasn't on the level of the others.

We find out that a rogue guardian created a "super ring", one that controls all the others basically. (One ring to rule them all, or something.) The ring was sent into another dimension so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, a dimension where Earth is ruled by apes. So one thing leads to another and the lanterns end up in that dimension to recover the ring.

It just didn't mesh for me, as these are two pretty diverse franchises and sometimes it's hard for something like this to click. Not enough to make me swear off crossovers, but enough to make me a little leery.

[Sergi Oset · Rating 3 out of 5]

Todo el espectro de colores de los Lanterns (incluido Siniestro), Grodd, los mutantes de “Beneath The planet of The Apes” y los indispensables Dra. Zira, Cornelius, Dr. Zaius, Nova, Taylor o el General Ursus, machacándose a conciencia en la Zona Prohibida en batallas imposibles, en que los personajes se ven obligados a cambios constantes de bando, por el control del Anillo Universal. A ratos, sublime, a ratos confuso y repetitivo. En todo caso un maravilloso, loco e impensable crossover que jamás hubiese imaginado poder disfrutar y que respeta el perfil de los personajes clásicos de la saga simia.
Lo mejor: el trabajo en las portadas alternativas de los cómics USA originales y el apartado final de carteles de cines, portadas de cómics clásicos y el merchandising de las figuras de acción.

[Dann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely imaginative comic crossover, Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern is an extraordinary action-packed adventure. When Cornelius discovers the Universal Ring, hidden on his world by the Guardians because it was too powerful to control, he uses the power to create his own corps of ring holders and attempts to bring peace to his world, which is on the verge of war; meanwhile Sinestro and the Red and Green Lanterns cross dimensions in a race to find the Universal Ring once its discovery is learned. Author Robbie Thompson does a pretty good job at making this crossover work and uses the characters especially well. And the story is really creative in how it envisions a Planet of the Apes with rings. However, the artwork is kind of spotty, as some of the action is hard to follow and the designs for the Planet of the Apes characters are a little weak. Yet despite having a few problems, Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern is incredibly fun and a fascinating pairing of two unlikely sci-fi properties.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly the best thing in this collected volume ... is the cover gallery. The covers that do mash-ups twists on the classic issues of Green Lantern or the classic movie poster images of Planet of the Apes were totally more interesting than the actual delivery of the story.
What was wrong? It was nothing but a Lantern Corps comic story that could have been set on any other alien world. There was nothing uniquely Planet of the Apes about it. Was it fun to see Cornelius as a ring-bearer? I suppose, but didn't really feel like Cornelius so it didn't really make a difference. So conceptually this was an interesting idea (like Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes or Star Trek Planet of the Apes which were both interesting mash-ups and wonderfully done), but was terribly executed.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if this canonically exists anywhere in either fandom - since there are a lot of irrevocable changes if so - but it's best to assume that it does not and simply read a series that probably ought not work but does anyway. There's a bunch of Green Lanterns, and also some Reds and Yellows, and the main Apes - Zaius, Ursus, Cornelius and Zira - and some interesting supporting characters, a deep, dark secret, and a deus ex machina-type weapon. More fun for the deep dive it takes into Planet of the Apes and DC fandoms than for the story or art, both of which are fine but not fantastic.

[Alfred · Rating 2 out of 5]

Corneilious gets a ring and has powers. I didn’t care for this book but I also know nothing about Green Lantern so I may not be the audience for this book. But I wished it was more Apes and less GL. Check it out if you like GL. If you don’t... maybe pass.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Green Lantern universe, there almost always is another super powerful ring that can stop, change, or end everything as we know it. This time, we find out that the Guardians created a Universal Ring, which controls all lights in the spectrum, and it was too powerful, so they sent it to an alternate Earth. Though the multiverse is huge, we know this Earth as the Planet of the Apes.
Picking up from just after the end of the original movie, Cornelius, out trying to find Taylor, instead comes across the Universal Ring, puts it on, and starts being able to control all the powers yet they are completely dependent on his mood. But Sinestro has become determined to get the ring, so off Hal goes to stop him. When Guy and a large portion of the Corps follow (with Gorilla Grodd in tow) AND the Red Lanterns throw themselves in the middle of it all, what will happen when a Lantern war breaks out on the Planet of the Apes?
Very well written story shows what happens when two pop culture franchises collide. I hope some of this story translates over to the main Lantern titles, as it would be very cool to see one of the Apes struggle on our Earth.
Recommend. Not the best thing ever, but still a good read.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was rather concerned that they were not going to be able to pull this off, as the thought of it doesn't readily lend itself to being doable. There are some good parts, but on the whole, it's really not that great of a story.

[Jared · Rating 2 out of 5]

So . . . What made the Planet of the Apes/Star Trek crossover work so well is how hard it worked to fit into established continuity. That was probably a much easier task, as that's a much more obvious fit, so I don't hold it against this story that it couldn't accomplish the same thing (and didn't even try) . . . Where I *don't* let this off so lightly is in the characterizations. I don't know Green Lantern, so I can't speak to that, but NONE of the Planet of the Apes characters even kind of resemble their movie incarnations (except, occasionally, Zaius . . . but even then, not really). I don't understand the point of this crossover, but if you're not even going to do that much . . . then, really, don't bother. It doesn't even count as a crossover at that point because you aren't actually using half of your material, just ripping off some superficial elements and wearing them like a skin suit.

Some cool artwork, particularly among the variant covers, but otherwise this is a total miss.

[Tim O'neill · Rating 2 out of 5]

A LOT goïng on. The universal ring would be plenty of story for a graphic novel without any of the additional elements, but it was suitably epic for the crossover. Bringing in the mutants was a good extension of the Planet elements, and while I agree that it was hard to resist adding Grodd to the mix, perhaps they should've. However, having Attrocitus and the Reds sneak thru was definitely an unneeded element, especially with Sinestro as the main villain. It was difficult to track the allegiances, especially since Corneliüs’s crew’s whole deal was that their colors kept changing, losing a big advantage of these spectrum wars.

Having seen the original Planet 25 years ago and having watched the Green Lantern cartoon when it aired, I knew everything I needed to know for this one, so they gauged their audiënce well in that respect.

[Gary Lima · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the comic book crossovers, they decided that it is necessary to preserve the original canon.

Well, not this one.

As I suspected going in the best thing about the series was the alternate covers. Go find those. They did a movie poster cover, an action figure cover and an iconic Green Lantern homage cover for each issue. Those are really great and one is likely to appreciate the series of which one is more familiar with the source the most.

The series has a lot of moving parts. Perhaps a few too many characters and definitely not enough depth on a number of them. There are definitely some fun things going on here and it is definitely worth the read for the hardcore PotA fan.

The ending yearns for a follow up series, but I imagine we won't be seeing one.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pity for the wasted potential.
The artwork is too clear-cut. I miss the gritty feeling of seventies style apocalyptic B-movies I remember from my formative experience watching the first two Planet of the Apes movies. The story is overburdened with an overabundance of characters underutilised details and minutiae and unexplored plot threads while still developing along predictable paths. The distinct philosophical and ethical themes recognizable from the two franchises are truncated and fall short of expectations.

[José Miguel (TheHudson) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me entretuve bastante leyendo éste crossover.

Ell argumento está un poco rebuscado: lo del anillo que controla a todos los demás, alterando tu voluntad al entregarte demasiado poder, es algo muy "Señor de los anillos". Lo anterior es un guiño intencional para darle más jugo a la historia lo que por momentos le quita la fantasía al relato.

Bueno, hablamos de cómics.
No deberíamos pedirle mucho a una historia que busca entretener nada más, en ningún caso ser parte del canon de Green Lantern.

Esperaré que haya una continuación.

[James Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a good attempt at making such an unusual crossover work. And there are some neat ideas in it. But there are also some decisions that just don't work so well. Frankly, they might have tried too hard to make a big crossover epic, when a smaller-scale story might have actually worked out better. Oh well. (B-)

[Jim Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, really. Exactly what I thought it would be. I enjoyed the Planet of the Apes aspect more than the Green Lantern aspect. Made me very nostalgic for the classic movies. 2 stars feels a little unfair, but 3 seems too much. Well put together. Story was eh, but I didn't expect Dostoevsky.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice crossover of some of my favorite franchises.

I enjoyed this cross over more than the Trek and Apes crossover. I’m more of a Trek fan than a Lantern fan, so maybe that has something to do with it. The Trek/Apes crossover didn’t meet expectations. I plan on checking out the Kong/Apes and Trek/Lantern crossovers as well.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

Another okay Planet of the Apes crossover. It has its fun moments both storywise and artwise, but it has some forced moments and many missed opportunities.

One aspect I enjoyed compared with the King Kong and Star Trek crossovers is that this doesn't try to exist within the continuity of the original Planet of the Apes movies, and it goes off in its own direction.

[Stephen Heverin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know what Green Lanterns fans may think about this. But as a fan of the classic Planet of the Apes I thought it was a great fun dive into that universe with the cross-over into the comic universe.

[Scott Waldyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't as fun as the Star Trek / Apes crossover. That one felt like a trippy love letter to 60s scifi. This one's just banking on people's love of both franchises in a story that's... just kind of convoluted and by-the-numbers.

The art leaves one wanting, too.

[Matthew Lagerloef · Rating 1 out of 5]

A total waste of a read. Art was all over the place, all the characters felt two dimensional, the dialogue was flat and uninspired, and it just felt like a half-hearted attempt at a mashup. The green lantern Star Trek crossover was better.

[David Cavaco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I am not a huge fan of the Green Lantern but this story did not captivate me at all within Apes graphic novel editions. The author may have had good intentions but the plot line is convoluted to the point of confusion and there are too many redundant characters. Not for me. Skip.

[H. Givens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked a lot of the stuff with Cornelius and his constantly changing colors, and the idea of the Planet of the Apes as a little time-loop universe worked really well for the crossover. A lot of the rest of it is basically nothing, with too many characters and art that looks rushed.

[Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read the first three issues and they are fantastic.

[Randall Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I'm done reading green lantern books. they all end the same. wow never thought that would happen.

[Will Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new here except the alien planet the Lanterns have to deal with and save from bad guys is the planet of the apes.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun concept, inessential read.