By Jim Beard
It's a jungle out there.
Where's "there," exactly? Why, none other than the wittily warped world of MARVEL APES, of course! Marvel's latest and greatest four-issue limited that, well—why don't we let writer Karl Kesel (DAREDEVIL, FANTASTIC FOUR) tell you in his own words?
"MARVEL APES is the sensational simian mini-series of the season!" reports Kesel. "It's four issues of furry fury and feces-flingin' fun! It's all your favorite Marvel characters—as you've never seen them before! If you only buy one mini-series next October about intelligent, super-powered apes and monkeys – it must be MARVEL APES!"
Kesel's artistic partner on this ape-tastic series is none other than the multi-talented Ramon Bachs, most recently familiar to Marvel fans for WORLD WAR HULK: FRONTLINE.
"You thought everything was already done and nothing new could be created," questions the artist. "You were wrong!"
The primate passion play finds its focus with a one-time super villain, now aspiring hero, who finds himself trapped in a world he never made. Our hero discovers a landscape of a very different stripe than our own, with equally bizarre inhabitants to boot.
Welcome to Monkhattan!
"I am very proud to say that the central character is none other than the ever-grinnin' Gibbon," enthuses Kesel. "Yes, you heard right—our central character is probably the biggest loser in the history of the Marvel Universe."
"We'll discover a lot of new facets of his personality," continues Bachs. "He'll have to face a terrible dilemma, and then he'll be forced to decide between fame and personal success, or a noble but mediocre life."
"What makes the Gibbon so great [is that] no matter how many times things go wrong for him—and things
always go wrong for him, to the point where he actually
expects that—he still always hopes for the best," adds Kesel. "No matter how many times he's knocked down, he picks himself up and tries again."
With inspiration swinging their way courtesy of everything from "Lancelot Link" and "28 Days Later" to MARVEL ZOMBIES and of course, "Planet of the Apes," the creative duo claim the adventure of MARVEL APES should satisfy a wide range of readers' tastes and preferences—in simians, naturally.
"You will have it all," vows Bachs. "From elastic baboons to 'Mexican wrestler' gorillas!"
"Greater, Lesser, Major, Minor apes, monkeys, guys, girls—yes, this one's got 'em all," confirms Kesel.
If interested parties begin to believe that MARVEL APES exists purely for comedic purposes, its scribe puts the last word on that score:
"You gotta laugh, but at the same time, there's no story if there isn't a real conflict with something real at stake. For instance: the fate of an entire universe…in the hands of the Gibbon.
"Like I said—you gotta laugh."
Come October, join Spider-Monkey, Dr. Ooktapus, the Apevengers, and more monkey business versions of Marvel heroes and villains than you can shake a banana at, all in the tree-shaking pages of MARVEL APES!
For all the Marvel news and updates spinning out of New York Comic-Con 2008, visit our news hub. And for a great way to kill time in between announcements, check out Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited!
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