THE APES ARE LOOSE!

LegalDispatch 0.86

Happy New Year.

Normally, I don’t put much stock in the turn from December to January. Truth be told, I’ve always felt the Jewish New Year — which conveniently aligns with the start of the school year, change from summer to fall, and the beginning of the broadcast television season — to be a more significant changing of the calendar. But given the clusterfuck that was 2023, I’ve embraced the coming of 2024 with both hands.

I even find myself inexplicably optimistic about 2024. This sanguinity, however comes with the proviso that I have decreed November 5 to be the official end of 2024. By that measure, I’m terrified of 2025. But, hey, 10 good months is 10 more good months than we’ve experienced in succession in quite a while, amirite?

BEWARE THE PLANET OF THE APES

This week’s LegalDispatch is coming to you a few days earlier than the normal Friday because today sees the release of the first issue of Beware the Planet of the Apes. This one’s been a joy from start to finish — I made minor revisions to the script for the fourth and final issue just this morning, actually — and I’m very excited to get it out into the world. I’m especially curious to see how our repurposing of vintage Marvel Comics material will play.

The official description reads as follows:

INTO THE FORBIDDEN ZONE!

In a hostile world run by aggressive gorillas, scientists Cornelius and Zira are the only apes alive who see value in the mute, dumb human race—but even they know human capabilities have severe limits. So when their nephew Lucius goes missing, it is with great trepidation that they turn to a human ally, a young woman who will someday earn the moniker “Nova”… Steeped in a love for the classic tales, Marc Guggenheim and Álvaro López’s series will take the Planet of the Apes legacy to explosive new heights—and it all starts here!

Here’s a little preview for you courtesy of our friends at AIPT:

Cover by Taurin Clarke

(AIPT also published a rather kind review, which you can check out here.)

Last but certainly not least, the art above is by Álvaro López and Alex Guimarães with lettering by Joe Caramanga.

Lenil Francis Yu — who illustrated the very first comic I ever wrote for Marvel — was kind enough to provide a variant cover (working with Romulo Fajardo Jr.). Check it out:

As always, I’d like to encourage you to support your local comic shop — and small business — by seeking out a store near you (which you can find by going to comicshoplocator.com). Or, if you prefer, you can purchase a digital copy on Amazon Kindle by clicking here.

COMIC BOOK SHOP RECOMMENDATIONS

Speaking of your local comic shop, Carlos Esteban Muñoz wrote in to share his “go-to” shops in the San Diego area:

• YESTERYEAR COMICS - 9353 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92123

• SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COMICS - 8280 Clairemont Mesa Blvd #124, San Diego, CA 92111 

• COMICKAZE COMICS - 5517 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Suite A, San Diego, CA 92117

• TC's ROCKETS - 5155 Waring Rd, San Diego, CA 92120

Please check them out if you’re in the neighborhood!

Q&A

And speaking of folks chiming in in the comments — gosh, I’m just killing it with the segues this week, aren’t I? — we have a couple of genuine questions from some readers…

Craig Byrne wrote:

If you ever get a chance, I'd love to read more about the TV, movies, and comics that have inspired you, and as a bonus, how (if at all) they fit into your own work.

Hi, Craig! Great question. Thank you for asking it. I’ll tackle the “bonus” part of the question first, if I may. I like to say that I work for 10 year-old me. By which I mean that I gravitate towards projects — and try to write projects — that would appeal to myself when I was 10 years old. In other words, I’m heavily influenced by the works that spoke to me back when I was a kid (though not 10 years old, exclusively). In terms of what those works are (in no particular order):

• The original Star Wars trilogy. (The Empire Strikes Back was particularly effective in showing me how drama and comedy could be woven effectively together.)

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (which actually reinforced the lesson from Empire).

• Comics: Chris Claremont’s X-Men stories, Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil, Walter Simonson’s run on Thor, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s New Teen Titans, John Byrne’s anything.

• Superman II.

• Raiders of the Lost Ark.

• Television: Wiseguy, LA Law, St. Elsewhere, The Six Million Dollar Man.

• Prose: To Kill A Mockingbird, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

I suspect that the influence of these works is readily apparent in my writing. If not, I’d be quite surprised.

Chris Baldit wrote in about some terms I threw around in my 2023 year-in-review:

Could you provide quick definitions to the terms "capstone scene" and "actor pass"? Maybe us fans need a glossary or something. Happy holidays to you and a Happy New Year.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you as well, Chris.

Sorry for using terms whose meanings weren’t readily apparent. I generally strive to make this newsletter readable for people who don’t work in the entertainment or comic book industries.

In the case of “capstone scene,” however, that’s not really a (to use a lawyerly phrase) “term of art.” I actually just pulled that one out of my ass for the newsletter to indicate that I didn’t have any idea of how to end PROJECT SUBWAY. However, my gut was telling me that the script needed a final scene, like a coda, which would “top off” the story like the top of a building. (See “coping” or “capstone” on Wikipedia.)

“Actor pass,” on the other hand, is a term used often in Hollywood. Basically, it’s a draft of a script written with a particular actor in mind. The draft — or “pass” — can be to incorporate an actor’s notes or to make revisions designed to make the project more appealing/attractive to a specific actor.

Thank you both for the questions!

PROJECT RECURSION

Speaking of the 2023 year-in-review (see what I did there?), the list of comic book scripts I wrote last year included reference to a new series, PROJECT RECURSION.

We’re a bit of a ways from an official announcement, but I can tell you that the series is (presently) titled The Whisper War and I’m doing it in collaboration with artist Sedat Oezgen.

Here’s the tiniest of teeny-tiny teases:

More to come as we press deeper into 2024. (Which, remember, ends on November 5.)

THE EMPIRE OF THE TINY ONION

Finally, speaking of the end of 2023 (sorry, had to keep the streak alive), comic writer James Tynion IV (Batman, Ministry of Truth, Something Is Killing The Children) had spent the year doing a series of interviews with David Harper from SKTCHD about comics, social media, marketing, work/life balance, and so much more. At the end of the year, James posted the final interview and all the previous ones on his Substack out from behind the paywall so you can read them for free.

I’ve never met James (James, if I’ve met you and I don’t remember, I’m sorry! And thank you for reading the newsletter.) but I’m a fan of his work and of the way his brain operates. Accordingly, I found these interviews insightful and, in turns, inspirational and commend them to your attention. You can find the final interview and accompanying links here:

SKTCHDxTINYONION: Final Thoughts Heading Into 2024

There are a couple of more topics I’d wanted to cover today — including Nazis — but this is feeling like a good length for this week. I’ll be back next week with the aforementioned Nazi-related thoughts and other goodies. As always, if there’s some non-Nazi topic you’d like me to cover, please sound off in the comments.

Be good to each other.

Best,

Marc

Encino, California

1.3.24