Revolution on the Planet of the Apes is a 6-issue miniseries published by Mr Comics set after the events of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and ultimately leading up to the events of Battle for the Planet of the Apes.
Having seized control of San Diego, Caesar waits for humanity's retaliation, using his unique relationship with time to try and guide apedom to a future that will not end in the fiery apocalypse of the Alpha/Omega bomb, sparking organized ape revolution across the globe.
Meanwhile, a gorilla named Aldo becomes the second ape to speak, leading a band of gorilla to slaughter the human personnel of a military base housing a project to train gorillas into combat troops and hijack their arsenal.
And all the while, the military of the United States prepares for retaliation.
In addition, each of the six issues contained a secondary story also set in the Apeverse, but not directly connected to the ongoing narrative of Caesar, Aldo, and the US government.
There were plans to launch a sequel series, Empire on the Planet of the Apes, but it was cancelled.
Revolution on the Planet of the Apes provides examples of:
- Canon Welding: The 5th issue connects the ambiguously hopeful ending of Battle for the Planet of the Apes with the Ape-Earth seen in the original film when a Corrupt Church emerges from the hill tribes to conquer their lowland kinsfolk and begin overturning the laws that acknowledged humans as apes and equals, driving the humans away to live like beasts in the wilderness. Ironically, the final issue of the mini-series shows a still-altered Ape-Earth, one with a technological level closer to 1960s or 1970s Earth and where "mutants" (sapient humans) are launching terror strikes against ape civilization.
- Corrupt Church: In the secondary story of issue #5, a new, violently ape-supremacist sect of the Lawgiver's teachings is shown emerging from the segregationist hill tribes and beginning to sweep down over the peaceful lowland ape tribes. Their actions will ultimately birth the Planet of the Apes seen in the first film.
- Godzilla Threshold: Thrice over in the Revolution comics. First, there's the brainchild of Mad Scientist Dr. Bryan Evans; a virulent and lethal primate-targeting pathogen which could potentially wipe out humanity alongside the sapient great apes it was developed as a counter-measure to. Secondly, there's the Inferno Protocol; nuclear bombardment of the Earth in an attempt to kill off all apes. Thirdly, there's "Churchdoor"... which turns out to be the Alpha-Omega Bomb that will destroy the world.
- Lampshade Hanging: The excerpt from Caesar's journal in issue #1 notes that real gorillas are actually gentle-natured and docile herbivores, not the aggressive primates who became the military caste of the Planet of the Apes. He wonders why his gorillas seem to be turning increasingly belligerent and warlike now that they have been freed.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Hasslein realizes the ape-ruled future was his fault. He created the space-drive for the mission led by Taylor in hopes of a better future, but it has created a Predestination Paradox which caused the end of human civilization, the rise of the apes, and the destruction of the world. He took it upon himself to prevent the dark future he caused, by killing Zira's baby and the apes themselves to prevent them from having another child.
- Reality Warper: There is some In-Universe speculation that Caesar's existence as a temporal anomaly may grant him some ability to alter reality to suit his vision, although it is tied to his subconscious and beyond his control. The secondary story in issue #3 adds fuel to the fire that this might be true, before issue #4 makes it explicit that Caesar is warping reality to bring the Planet of the Apes into being.
- Retroactive Precognition: Caesar is able to see the future era from which his parents came, up to and including its annihilation by the Alpha-Omega Bomb. In-Universe, a human scientist theorizes that he might have this ability, attributing it to his having been conceived in the future and then carried back through time in-utero.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The comic issues all feature an excerpt from Caesar's journal at both the beginning and the end of each issue. In the very first issue, whilst still convinced of the righteousness of his cause, he expresses concern about the behavior of his ape followers now that their human masters have been removed. In particular, he notes that, in many ways, they seem to be devolving into a combination of the worst traits of non-sapient apes and humans, specifically calling attention to the increasingly violent behavior of the gorillas.
- Stable Time Loop: Well, obviously, given the franchise, but a smaller example shows up in series, where access to surviving material about the time-traveling Zira and Cornelius, and the birth of Caesar, is explicitly stated in the final issue's sub-story to be why Zaius took the two archaelogists under his wing.
- You Can't Fight Fate: In the final issue, Zaius attempts to break the Stable Time Loop in all its permutations by murdering Milo on the day that Taylor's ship lands. Instead, a dying Milo informs Zaius that his name has replaced Milo's in the ancient texts written by Caesar, and he half-mockingly notes that if Zaius wants to stop the cycle, he'll have to wait until he comes back another time. Then the reality they are in fades out and then fades in to show Zaius meeting "an engineer named Milo" for the first time at an archaeological on the day that Taylor's ship lands.
