Things are heating up as the deadline to find the Lawgiver's
assassin begins to run out. Alaya has sought out a man incarcerated by her
grandfather in order to catch his killer. Nix is a white gorilla and is feared
by everyone in the prison. Alaya asks him to make a troop and tear through
“Skin Town” in order to find the killer. Nix questions her decision since not
even the Lawgiver would free him and Alaya says that his crime is less than the one
committed against her grandfather.
In Skin Town the Mayor and her husband begin their own
investigation to find the assassin. They start with Laughing Jack who smuggles
weapons for humans. It was bit confusion if he was actually a monkey or a human
wearing a monkey suit. Regardless, he makes weapons for humans and tells Bako
that it’s not one of his, but that he should check the church. While Nix
gathers his troops and gets them rallied for battle the Mayor of Skin Town
takes a visit to the church that worships a bomb.
The story continues to be much better in this issue which
was a surprise. The first issue was very good, but there was something about
the pacing of this issue that was really good. It may just make me a fan of Planet
of the Apes. Darryl Gregory continues to use familiar elements in the
story and makes it very interesting to bounce back and forth between the Apes
and the Humans. Nix is an awesome character and I can’t wait to see the evil
Alaya has unleashed on the city. In a way the humans are already defeated since
the deadline given to them doesn’t matter anymore, which now actually gives you
some sympathy for them.
Carlos Magno is the perfect artist for this series. The art
is just breath-taking with the intricate amount of details put into each page,
characters and background of the issue. The Apes look awesome especially Nix as
he’s the only white gorilla in the city. What’s most amazing about Magno’s art
is that he’s drawing two very different character types, Apes/Humans, and neither character type is lacking in detail.
It would be very easy for an artist to only be able to draw one well, but Magno
is amazing at both making him the perfect choice for the series.
After the first issue I wasn’t really sure if I was going to
keep reading Apes, but I have to say that this issue has sold me on the series.
In a way this issue feels like the first issue since it kicks off the major
elements of the story. Because of that I would still recommend this book to new
readers who possibly missed out on the first issue when it sold out.
Overall Score – 8.9/10