This Looks Cool: Boom! Presents Rod Serling's Original Planet of the Apes

21st Century Fox is a partial owner of Boom! Studios. Boom! has been putting out amazingly good Planet of the Apes material for years now. So it's no surprise that Fox would work with them to release something that I think will be a big hit when it comes out: A graphic adaptation of Rod Serling's original Planet of the Apes script, adapted by Dana Gould of the Simpsons and artist Chad Lewis.

From the press release:

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 10, 2018) – BOOM! Studios and 20th Century Fox Consumer Products present a first look at PLANET OF THE APES: VISIONARIES, a new Original Graphic Novel, releasing in August 2018 as part of the 20th Century Fox Uncovered collection.

BOOM! Studios searched the 20th Century Fox film archives and unearthed the first screenplay for the original Planet of the Apes (1968) movie, written by Rod Serling, and adapted this radically different vision of the franchise into comic book format for the first time as a part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the film from acclaimed actor/comedian/writer Dana Gould (The Simpsons) and Chad Lewis (Avengers Origins).

The first Planet of The Apes (1968) film is an adaptation of the French novel La Planète des Singes. On the road to making the landmark science-fiction classic, 20th Century Fox commissioned Rod Serling to adapt the source material. However, Serling’s first draft was drastically revised before filming the version of the film that the one the world has come to know and love.

“Fans all over the world have wanted to experience Rod Serling’s original Planet of The Apes and this graphic novel is an incredible realization of that vision,” said Dafna Pleban, Senior Editor, BOOM! Studios. “Dana Gould and Chad Lewis have brought a new dimension to the story you only think you know, delivering a timely, ambitious and unflinching original graphic novel perfect for every reader, whether a long time fan or new to these characters.”

This one is a no-brainer for me. I love the old Planet of the Apes films, and I love all things Twilight Zone (except for the JMS comic series, which left me cold).  Given the high quality of Boom!'s Planet of the Apes comics, this should be really awesome. Boom! provided a preview, which I'm sharing here:

 That's some really phenomenal artwork. From just a few pages, we can see the nature of this world, how similar Serling intends it to be to the one we live in, and just how trapped the human is within this world. He's a man out of time. Looking at this brief preview, it's both amazing how different this is from the original move and also how much more it feels like the Serling writing those of us who've seen the Twilight Zone over and over again are familiar with, rather than the filmed movie.

I can't wait for this to be released, and I'm pretty sure a good number of our readers will be excited about this, too. Unfortunately, we all have to wait until August for this to be released. However, now's a great time to put it on your pull list!