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After years of effort, Rich Handley recently succeeded in acquiring six
Planet of the Apes comics that were published in Indonesia. Rich tells
the story:
Back in 1981, Indonesian publisher Maranatha produced six Planet of the
Apes
comics containing original (albeit unlicensed) stories, each written and
illustrated by the talented Harry Mintareja (Harry Komik). These comics are
almost entirely unknown among native English speakers, but I learned about them
from fellow collector Dave Mollard years ago, then slowly acquired them all
thanks to Norman Scott Robinson and Ahmad Chaidir, with assistance from
Poestaka Kalyana and others in Indonesia. The storyline is different form other
Apes tales, both in terms of writing and artwork, but definitely enjoyable!
Not long ago, I finally completed the set of what I'd been led to believe were
actually eight issues. To my surprise, although I'd acquired all eight, two of
them were merely reprints of other issues but with different covers, so
although there are eight comics, there are only six stories. According to Harry
Mintareja, there should have been a seventh chapter between the fifth and sixth
published issues, but it never saw the light of day because the artwork was
stolen from the publisher's office. So the set I have accounts for the entire
story as it exists in published form, though there's unfortunately a missing
chapter before the end. (This is especially frustrating since, as a result,
issue #5 ends on a cliffhanger that is unresolved in issue #6.)
I scanned the six issues, Kaze Niruchi translated them into English, and I then
re-lettered them via PhotoShop so I could read them and make them available to
other non-Indonesian fans.
Thanks to everyone above for making this happen—especially creator Harry
Mintareja.
Issues 1 and 2 were originally issued with two different covers. Both covers
can be seen in the CBZ and PDF files.
Also found below is a scan of an uncut trading card sheet. Such sheets
were popular in the Indonesian comics market, and this one features an
abbreviated version of the first issue of Planet of the Apes, albeit
with some hilarious coloring on the gorillas' clothing.
This card sheet was drawn by Hend Dri.
From Rich Hurley, here is a scan of the non-translated cardsheet.
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