Marvel Apes #1-4

Marvel Apes #1-4

Originally released in 2008

Written by Karl Kesel

Art by Ramon Bachs

Seemingly in the wake of the success of Marvel Zombies, this book was made to show the reader a world where Marvel's characters were various types of apes, monkeys, gorillas, etc.  Obviously, it's lighter in tone than Marvel Zombies was, though even then, it has its darker sides.

The story focuses on Marty Blank, a.k.a. the Gibbon.  A character who first appeared in the last issue of Stan Lee's 112 issue run on Amazing Spider-Man, the Gibbon wanted to be a hero, though he wasn't very good at it.  This trend continues here, where he's down on his luck and volunteers to be part of a superhero study to make ends meet.

While studying his DNA, a scientist named Fiona Fitzhugh discovers that it can be used to create a portal to another dimension, one where monkeys are the dominant species and humans don't exist.  Marty and Fiona wind up there, and the series takes plenty of time to indulge in puns (two of the heroes are Iron Mandrill and Spider-Monkey).

However, it's not all fun and games - even within the first issue, there are hints that something is wrong with this world.  The accident that created the ape universe's Fantastic Four also horribly mutated Sue Storm, making her abilities more of a curse than a blessing.  She became something completely alien to this world - a human!

In addition, the Avengers aren't the heroic non-killing beings that Marty is familiar with - when Doc Ook refuses to repent for his crimes, they beat him to near death, and seem eager to finish the job.  As well, there's an even bigger divide between mutants and the rest of the superheroes than the main universe - there's often complaints that the Avengers and Fantastic Four (among other heroes) don't really do anything when mutants face the threat of extinction, but here, the Avengers are actively hunting down mutantkind.

Fortunately, the Watcher is here to provide comedic relief in addition to informing the reader about the world's history.  By the second issue, the story's gotten darker, with Marty and Fiona framed for murder and on the run, so the humour is welcomed.  At one point, he gets drunk, flirting with the reader, and by the third issue, he's so hungover that his recollection of events is spotty at best.

The interludes also answer the question of "who watches the Watchers?" with "the Watcher Watcher", a character who exists purely to watch the Watcher watch things.  This was more like the tone that I was expecting from a book called Marvel Apes; the main story is more of a dystopian tale, focusing on the problems run by a society where its members give into their baser instincts and run on a "survival of the fittest" mentality.

The book's still funny, but not as absurd as I was hoping for, which is a bit of a shame.  Still, it's got an eyepatch-wearing monkey named Nick Furry, who has a banana in his mouth like it's a cigar, and it's a well-written story with a twist that I wasn't expecting.

The twist is not the appearance of the Two-Gun Chimp; I just thought it was a hilarious image.