Japanese comics (manga) There are two
manga adaptations of the first film, both entitled
Saru no Wakusei (lit. "
Planet of Monkeys"). The first was written and drawn by Jôji Enami and published in the manga magazine ''Bessatsu Bôken'Ô
in April 1968. The second was drawn by Minoru Kuroda and published in the manga Tengoku Zôkan
in June 1971. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (最後の猿の惑星 - Saigo no Saru no Wakusei, "Battle on the Planet of Monkeys
", in Japanese) was also adapted into a manga by Mitsuru Sugaya, and published in a 1973 special issue of the magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion''.
Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics produced an adaptation of
Beneath the Planet of the Apes the second film in 1970. That was the first Western comics publication in the
Planet of the Apes franchise.
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics released a number of titles, the longest-lived being
Planet of the Apes (published under the Marvel imprint
Curtis Magazines), which appeared in black-and-white magazine format, and ran for twenty-nine issues from 1974 to 1977. Besides adaptations of all five movies, the magazine featured original stories set in the same universe of the movie, with writing from
Doug Moench and
Gerry Conway and art from
Mike Esposito,
Mike Ploog,
George Tuska, and others. Articles about
the making of both
the movie series and
the later Planet of the Apes television series were also a mainstay. In 1975,
Adventures on the Planet of the Apes offered color versions of the adaptations of the first two films in comic form in five- or six-issue arcs, for total of 11 issues. It was written by
Doug Moench. The stories from the U.S. magazine were edited and released by
Marvel UK in a weekly title of the same name, lasting 123 issues from 1974 to 1977. This included adapted reprints of the
Killraven comic, renamed as
Apeslayer and with
alien apes as enemies. The British title changed names to
Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives, before merging into
The Mighty World of Marvel #231-246, where the title spot on the cover was shared between
Planet of the Apes and
The Incredible Hulk—also being stories from the U.S. runs. In 2022, Marvel announced that they had reacquired the comics license to Planet of the Apes and it will release the new comics in 2023, following a reprint of the company's heavily edited 1970s comic
Adventures on the Planet of the Apes. The new series was initially written by
David Walker with art by
Dave Wachter, and set in the universe of the reboot film series, but without specific characters from it. In 2024,
Marc Guggenheim and Alvaro Lopez conceived the next comic book series titled
Beware the Planet of the Apes which is a prequel to the 1960s franchise and feature Cornelius, Zira, and the woman that will later be named Nova. Issue #2 reveals that the gibbons are the servant class of the ape community.
Power Records In 1975,
Power Records made adaptations of four of the films which were included with book-and-record sets, and appeared in
LP format as well, as an audio only compilation album featuring all four adaptations. The only film in the original series that did not receive an adaptation is
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. The company also produced an audio-only series on LP that featured the main characters of the television series—Virdon, Burke and Galen—in original stories.
Chad Valley In 1975,
Chad Valley, a U.K. toy company, produced 32 short film-based comic strips containing illustrated scenes from various TV series episodes, packaged as part of the slideshow projector playset, named respectively '
Chad Valley Picture Show: Planet of the Apes
Sliderama Projector' These strips are extremely rare and difficult to come by, and contain many continuity errors.
Brown Watson Books Between 1975 and 1977,
Brown Watson Books published a trio of UK-published hardcover comic annuals based on
the spin-off 1974 television series.
Editorial Mo.Pa.Sa. Editorial Mo.Pa.Sa., an Argentine company, published seven Spanish-language Apes comics in the 1970s, featuring original tales about the
television series' characters. It was written by Jorge Claudio Morhain, and
Ricardo Barreiro, with art by
Sergio Mulko and T. Toledo. Five additional issues were planned, but were never produced. To date, the Spanish stories have never been published in English, but translations have been made available on fan sites.
Hungarian comic In 1981, a
Hungarian company published a comic adaptation of
Pierre Boulle's
original novel, titled
A Majmok bolygója (lit. "
The Monkey Planet"). This adaptation was written and drawn by Hungarian comic artist Ernő Zórád. To date, the Hungarian comic has never been published in English, but a translation has been made available on fan sites.
Malibu Publishing/Adventure Comics Between 1990 and 1993,
Adventure Comics, a division of
Malibu Publishing, produced more original storylines, set after the time of
Caesar. These included a 24-issue monthly title, a one-shot (
Sins of the Father), a
Planet of the Apes annual and five original mini-series: '''''Urchak's Folly
, Forbidden Zone
, Ape City
, Blood of the Apes'''
and a crossover with Alien Nation called Ape Nation''. Adventure also reprinted Marvel's adaptations of the first three films as well as a four-issue mini-series featuring installments from Marvel's
Terror on the Planet of the Apes saga.
Filipino parody Debuting in 1978, a long-running Filipino parody adaptation called
Planet op di Eyps was serialized in
Pilipino FUNNY Komiks.
Dark Horse Comics American company
Dark Horse published a series written by
Ian Edginton, tie-in with
Tim Burton's
2001 Apes film. Between 2001 and 2002, Dark Horse published a film adaptation, a mini-series, a brief
ongoing run, a
Toys R' Us minicomic and a three-part serial in
Dark Horse Extra.
Mr. Comics Mr. Comics had the license until 2005 and released a six-issue mini-series,
Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, by Joe O'Brien,
Ty Templeton Sam Agro, and other writers, with art by
Gabriel Morrissette and additional artists. The story picked up shortly after
Caesar's
conquest of the Earth after the apes' revolt and attempted to bridge the time gap before
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). Further stories were slated for release, including the next planned title,
Empire on the Planet of the Apes, but the graphic novel collecting the
Revolution mini-series was canceled, as was the
Empire follow-up.
Boom! Studios Classic continuity Boom!'s
Planet of the Apes series of comics is the longest-running adaptation of the series, publishing more comics than Marvel (29 issues) and Malibu (50 issues). Beginning April 2011,
Boom! Studios launched a new series written by novelist
Daryl Gregory, illustrated by Carlos Magno and edited by Ian Brill, with covers by Karl Richardson and Chad Hardin that took place 500 years before the original 1968
Planet of the Apes movie in the continuity of the first five films. It ran for a total of 16 issues, ending in August 2012. The storyline was continued in
Planet of the Apes Annual #1 (August, 2012), then furthered in
Planet of the Apes Special #1 (April 2013), then furthered again in
Planet of the Apes Spectacular #1 (July 2013) and finally wrapped up in
Planet of the Apes Giant #1 (September, 2013). His entire run was collected in
Planet of the Apes Omnibus (2018). In late 2011, Boom! also began publishing the four-issue mini-series
Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes. This mini-series is set 20 years before the events of the original film, and features different characters, like
Dr. Zaius, than the concurrent ongoing series. This was followed up in early 2012 by another mini-series,
Exile on the Planet of the Apes, set two years later. Beginning in September 2012,
Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm took over as Boom!'s regular monthly series. Set eight years prior to the original
Planet of the Apes, this series was written by Corinna Sara Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, authors of both the
Betrayal and
Exile miniseries, and mixed several characters from those series with characters from the original movie. This entire run was collected in
Planet of the Apes: Before the Fall Omnibus (2019). Boom! and
IDW Publishing published a crossover between
Planet of the Apes and
Star Trek: The Original Series, titled
Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive. The first issue was published in December 2014. In 2016, Boom! started a miniseries crossover between
Planet of the Apes and
Tarzan, titled
Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes. In February 2017, Boom! and DC Comics published a 6 issue crossover called
Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern. It was set soon after the events of the first film. This was also the setting for a crossover with
King Kong in
Kong on the Planet of the Apes. In August 2018, Boom! published a one-shot comic titled
Planet of the Apes: Visionaries, which is a comic book based on the
Rod Serling script for the original 1968
Planet of the Apes movie. A self-titled six-issue mini-series by David Walker looked at the early years of
Ursus, starting in January 2018. The one-shots
The Time of Man and
The Simian Age drew together stories from different continuities in the same year.
Reboot continuity Just before the release of the feature film
Rise of the Planet of the Apes Boom! serialized 6 installments of five-page webcomics that served as a prelude to the movie. The stories featured Alpha and Bright Eyes, Caesar's parents, and detailed their capture in the wild and the time they spent in the Gen-Sys Laboratories. At
San Diego Comic-Con in 2014, Boom! published a one-shot stand-alone print comic book, called
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Contagion bridging
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. In December 2014, Boom! started the six-issue series
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, set in the movie continuity of the second reboot film. A four-issue 2017
War for the Planet of the Apes series served as a prequel to the movie of the same name. All these reboot continuity comics were collected in
Planet of the Apes: After the Fall Omnibus (2019). == List ==