Friday 12 July 2013

LETTERS TO PLANET OF THE APES...


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Wow!  This brings back memories for me.  To think that I was still a schoolboy (just) when the above issue of PLANET Of The APES first came out on December 7th, 1974.  (Yes, I know it's dated the 14th, but that's because comics traditionally carried next week's date to give them a longer shelf life until the next issue came in.)

The reason I recall this issue in particular is because it carried one of my letters in the - wait for it - LETTERS page, even if they did somehow manage to misspell my name in one instance.

Talk about time machines.  It seems like only yesterday when I first bought this comic, so it blows my mind to think it was a mere kick in the pants off 40 years ago.  Just thought I'd share it with you here.  (And thanks to BAAB for making me hunt for it.)



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And for all you POTA fans, click on this link
(supplied by Baab) for wonders undreamt of.

27 comments:

  1. That's amazing. I remember that issue well. My favourite POTA comics were the early weeks where we got Kane's Gullivar Jones and Kirby's Ka-Zar ( although I also like early Barry Smith).

    BTW, I have some posts planned on the Man of Steel movie and Marvel's Tower of Shadows but I've had problems with Blogger since Tuesday.

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  2. Alfredo Alcala's contribution to the series is my favourite but his credit usually appears over a drop in by a studio artist, kind of annoying.

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  3. Hi Dougie, sorry to hear about your blogger problems. Regarding Za-Zar - didn't he appear in The Savage Sword of Conan, not POTA?

    Haven't seen MOS yet - hope to remedy that soon.

    ******

    It's amazing how much of a thrill comes from seeing your name in print, Baab - even when it's misspelt. As for me thinking my letter might be in #89, the number must've been at the back of my mind after years of trying to remember that it was in either # 8 or 9.

    ******

    True, DSE - some of the new splash pages weren't always up to the standard of the original artist. However, the comic seems better than I remember it, to be honest.

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  4. I will have read that letter at the time and thought, " What the heck is he talking about?" - I didn't know a thing about tints, inks & washes, etc. in those days ( sorry, Wally Wood! ) I'm still learning stuff now, every day, courtesy of comics blogs! JP.

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  5. Oops! I meant 'Ka-Zar', not 'Za-Zar' in my previous response.

    JP, I'm not even sure why I referred to them as 'tints', unless it was to avoid using trademark names. Even at that young age, I'd used 'Letratone' (called 'Zipatone' in the States), so I knew that's what Marvel used on their U.K. pages.

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  6. 8 or 9.
    Thats great as well.
    I went through issues 70 to 99 before giving in.
    I loved the comic and I loved the film series.
    I read the comic first though.
    My memories of the movie are completely saturated by what my imagination fed into the comic.

    That artwork on the first issue is just wonderful,and so simple.
    And the front cover painting.....I am lost for any more words of praise I can use.

    Time well spent.

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  7. Man of Steel is different.
    I have seen it twice and second time was better.
    Superheroic is what it is.

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  8. Funnily enough, I've got the DVD boxed set of POTA movies, but I haven't sat down and watched them yet. Saw them on TV years ago 'though.

    As I said in a previous response, the comics look better than I remember them, so maybe one day I'll track down some more copies for my collection.

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  9. I'm sure Ka-Zar was in POTA for the first couple of months.

    SSOC featured Kull, then Thongor by Val Mayerik- but not the whole run of the series- a scary Ralph Reese Solomon Kane and one Gil Kane Tale of the Hyborian Age.

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  10. Looking at the covers of SSOC in the posts I did of them a year or so back, Ka-Zar is definitely advertised on some of the covers - and, without double-checking, that's the comic I remember the stories being published in. Of course, it's always possible that they were first published in POTA, but it seems a bit strange that Marvel would reprint them in another comic so quickly. I'll have to dig through a cupboard and have another look at my Conan weeklies.

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  11. I'm pretty sure Ka-Zar appeared in POTA weekly, not long after the issue you have shown here Kid (around issue 10)I think I have that in my loft will check it outbut checked the web for covers and issue 10 has a blurb stating "Featuring Ka-Zar" athough that doesn't always mean he was in the comic as I recall a few errors in UK Marvel covers/comtmet - McScotty

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  12. Well, as I say, he may well have appeared in POTA, 'though I don't immediately remember him in that comic, but he also appeared in SSOC, which is the comic I more readily associate him with.

    Perhaps the Kirby Ka-Zars appeared in POTA and the Smith ones appeared in SSOC. That starts to ring a bell with me.

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  13. My memory of it is that Ka-Zar started a short POTA run from issue #2 onwards. His first appearance in it was a Jack Kirby tale where he met Kraven, then we got the Barry Smith Garokk stuff before he disappeared from the mag. He reappeared in POTA a few years later, where he came up against the likes of Man-Thing, Gog and Gemini.

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  14. Yup, that makes sense. I haven't seen any POTAS (apart from #1) in years, but I've still got my original SSOCs which also features Ka-Zar, which is why I associate the character with the latter, rather than the former publication.

    So everybody's right. HOORAY!

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  15. All we've got to do is read them all again on the HUNTER'S POTA page! That's what I'm going to do starting next week, one issue a day ( not to find Ka-Zar , - just because I want to read them all again! ) I always wanted Marvel to continue and start serialising the 14 TV episodes and the Return to the POTA cartoons. The Apes ended far too soon for me and I will never forgive Star Wars for that! JP.

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  16. JP, are you using a different computer? Your last two comments have gone straight to my Spam folder. Just as well I checked - I usually delete Spam unread.

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  17. No, still the same, but for some reason I keep on having to re-sign in to my Google plus account to make comments to blogs, which is annoying! Hope I havn't picked up a virus! JP.

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  18. I hope you haven't as well - wouldn't want you giving it to me. DOCTOR!

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  19. PS - Just had a message from Google, telling me that there was some unusual activity going on in my Google+ account and I had to enter a verification code , so this must have been what the trouble was. Not that I understand any of that?

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  20. I got the same from Yahoo recently and had to change my password as they didn't recognize the computer I was using (same one as always). There seems to be a lot of 'suspicious activity' going on - I've had messages purporting to be from people who didn't in fact send them.

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  21. Hey Kid, I wondered if you could help me with something? I have been trying to find info. online about the UK POTA weekly Vol. 2 from around 2000/1,( the Tim Burton remake ), but can't find it anywhete. Do you know anything about it? Cheers, JP.

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  22. I know that Boom Studios did a 16 issue series in 2001, but I think that's a U.S company, JP. Don't know anything about a U.K. comic - never saw it.

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  23. Further digging has revealed that it was actually 2002 , a Dark Horse UK ( probably by Titan? ) 5 issue glossy , magazine-sized comic, reprinting the US Dark Horse strips, together with pictures & posters. I've GOT to find these!!

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  24. Hope you do, JP. I know what it's like to want something.

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  25. It's been a good day for both of us, Kidda, as I FINALLY nabbed a set of those 5 Apes for only £7-60 today! Just waiting for postie now.
    Now back to your p-p-penguins!!

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  26. £7.60 for 5 mags is a good deal, JP - well done.

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