The third installment in this generation’s Planet of the Apes franchise is hitting theaters this July, and from the looks of the trailer, the film is going to be another amazing chapter in this series. However, there is a serious time jump that has occurred since the last movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the forthcoming War for the Planet of the Apes—20 years, to be exact.
That’s a pretty significant period of time. In such a rapidly evolving world (or devolving, depending on which team you root for, I suppose), there can be innumerable changes that occur over 20 years. So what happened in the two decades since Caesar (Andy Serkis) let Malcolm and his human friends escape the Muir Woods while the apes waited for the inevitable attack from the human military? Turns out a lot. But fans aren’t going to have to work to fill in those blanks by staying comfortably in the dark, simply assuming a lot of shit’s gone down. BOOM! Studios is set to release a War for the Planet of the Apes comic book prequel to help bridge the gap between the two films.
The prequel comic will also be called War for the Planet of the Apes, but don’t let the title throw you off. This isn’t just a comic book retelling of the major motion picture. As Slashfilm reports, this comic, written by David F. Walker and illustrated by Jonas Scharf, is 100% canon, and will take readers from the events in Dawn–with human hostility looming, the virus mutating, the apes evolving into more and more sophisticated creatures–to War. In addition to bridging gaps and seeing what has changed for our favorite chimpanzee leader, Caesar, we’ll hopefully also get a bit of backstory on some of the new characters we’ll meet in War for the Planet of the Apes, like Steve Zahn’s heartbreaking character Bad Ape, or the human Big Bad of the film, the Colonel (Woody Harrelson).
The comic’s first issue is set to hit stores on July 12, just a couple days before the film’s July 14 release. Contact your local comic book store to be sure you get a copy!
What do you think of the prequel comic? Will you be reading? What questions do you hope it answers? Tell us in the comments!
Featured Image: 20th Century Fox
