Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes [Hardcover]

Andrew E. C. Gaska (Author), Matt Busch (Illustrator), Patricio Carbajal (Illustrator), Dave Dorman (Illustrator), Daniel Dussault (Illustrator), Chandra Free (Illustrator), Christian Berntsen (Contributor), Rich Handley (Contributor), Erik Matthews (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2011

Archaia's first illustrated novel! Set during the classic 1968 Planet of the Apes film, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes tells the story of what happened between the scenes and centers on the astronaut John Landon, Gorilla police chief Marcus, and Chimpanzee scientist Dr. Milo. Features over 50 illustrations from various top talents in the industry, including full-color paintings by Jim Steranko, Joe Jusko, Dave Dorman, Barron Storey, Sanjulian, and Mark Texeira, starship designs by Andrew Probert, character portraits by Matt Busch.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes is the first-ever original novel set in the continuity of the classic 1968 movie. Conspiracy tells the story of what happened between the scenes of the first film, exploring the adventures of the Astronaut John Landon, Chimpanzee scientists Dr. Milo and Dr. Galen, and Gorilla Security Chief Marcus.
Written by Andrew E.C. Gaska, and adapted from a story by Gaska, Rich Handley, Christian Berntsen and Erik Matthews, the book contains illustrations from the top talents in the industry, including:
Jim Steranko, Andrew Probert, Timothy Lantz, Joe Jusko, Mark Texeira, Dave Dorman, Chris Scalf, Brian Rood, Chandra Free, Dan Dussault, Ken W. Kelly, Colo, David Hueso, Miki, Matt Busch, Dirk Shearer, Barron Storey, David Seidman, Sanjulian, Chris Moeller, Thomas Scioli, Scott Hampton, Leo Liebleman, Lucas Graciano, Erik Gist, and Patricio Carbajal.

From the Back Cover

Taking place during the events of the original 1968 Planet of the Apes film, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes explores a shocking, never-before-told storyline!

After his spacecraft smashes into a dead sea of a seemingly alien planet, a man is separated from his fellow astronauts when a raiding party of intelligent apes attacks them. Captured, he finds himself a prisoner in a world turned upside down, with apes as the rulers and man in its zoos. His only hope is to communicate with a couple of chimpanzees who just might be open minded and compassionate enough to be sympathetic to his cause. But the man called John Landon will discover that intelligent minds, be they ape or man, all fear the unknown, and his destiny is not to become part of this new world...but instead to find himself under the knife of a simian brain surgeon on the Planet of the Apes.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Archaia Entertainment, LLC; 1st edition (August 4, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936393360
• ISBN-13: 978-1936393367
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Drew Gaska is an author, digital artist, and art director. For over a decade he has served as a freelance consultant for Rockstar Games on such hit titles as the Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Midnight Club series, as well as all other major releases. He is the founder and creative director of BLAM! Ventures, a guerilla design studio that produces print and digital media for the comic book and science fiction industry. Drew's novel, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, and his science fiction graphic novel epic, Critical Millennium, are both published by Archaia Entertainment, and have both been released to critical acclaim.

Mr. Gaska is currently writing and directing a Space: 1999 revival graphic novel and digital media series, as well as working on other comic and science fiction novel projects. Look for SPACE:1999 - Aftershock and Awe, available Fall of 2012.

Drew resides beneath a mountain of action figures in New York with his girlfriend and fellow comics creator, Chandra Free and their gluttonous feline, Adrien. Adrien often perches atop this pinnacle of plastic, proclaiming himself 'lord of the figs'. Chandra and Drew humor him.

Drew and Chandra will be appearing in 2013 on the Critical Machine Tour, promoting Ms. Free's graphic novel series The God Machine and Mr. Gaska's Critical Millennium, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, Space:1999, and more by appearing at conventions and store signings. Visit www.blamventures.com for listings.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars GOING APE over New Book!! August 9, 2011

By D. Haupert

Format:Hardcover

CONSPIRACY is one of those Rare Treats that combines Beautiful Illustrations with some wonderfully well written prose. The Original APES movies left some Glaring holes in them which Mr. Gaska(the author) has filled in quite nicely.
We learn what happened to John Landon after he was separated from fellow astronaut, George Taylor. We follow his journey alone and discover the horrors which HE was put through.
But this is much more than Landon's story. We also find out how the Apes managed to find the submerged spacecraft which brought the Humans to the planet and their retrieval of the craft - leading to the premise of the Third movie, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES.
AND we learn more about some of the supporting cast of Apes whom we only caught glimpses of in the original movies - along with new characters.
This book is a Wonderful addition to the APES mythos.
I HIGHLY recommend it!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of the Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes August 29, 2011

By Jacob Purnell

Format:Hardcover

The idea is simple, the execution elegant. Take the original movie series and fix the plot holes and continuity errors while staying true to the source material. As a hardcore fan of the original movie series, I can tell you that is not an easy task. While the films do build off each other in many ways, they also seem to forget what came before in others. To bridge those gaps and tie together those loose strings would require a dedicated and talented author. I am here to tell you that Andrew E.G. Gaska is just that.

I bought this novel because I am a fan of the series, I was curious what Mr. Gaska's vision of Landon's life was, and I wanted to support a new (to me) author. Before the first chapter was over, I knew I had stumbled across a true gem. It is immediately obvious how much time and effort Gaska has put into researching the source material and coming up with compelling explanations as to how it all fits together. Add to that the well-developed characters, fascinating narrative, and wonderful explanations of long-unanswered questions, and we have a novel definitely worth owning.

Often times when I was reading CotPotA, I found myself wishing it could be made into a movie with all the original actors. Unfortunately, outside of Hasslein's theories proving to be true one day, I don't see that happening. The joy is that we do have the novel though and it includes some truly magnificent artwork as well. I enjoyed reading it and I cannot wait until the next book is out. I hope Mr. Gaska continues to write them and they continued to get published. I guarantee I will be purchasing as many as he puts out.

tl;dr - If you are a fan of the original Planet of the Apes movies, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written page turner, faithful to the original concept August 10, 2011

By S. Phillips

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Apparently the first in a series of books that will fill in the blanks between the scenes in the original APES series; this is great fun. I was skeptical, but this is well worth reading. I look forward to further installments, I'd especially like to read a story that takes place in between the events of ESCAPE and CONQUEST and between CONQUEST AND BATTLE. There is so much left untold in the films themselves..

Very well produced hardbound book with excellent painted illustrations.