So Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm finally wraps up with its last issue. It has been quite a series, but I would say that like most Planet movies recently it ended before it began. My rating on this issue is for the whole series. It hit some high notes but couldn’t hold them long enough. Every time I got excited for the next issue it would soon disappoint my appetite. This last issue was no expectation. In 11, I was finally thinking that this series would come around. In 12, Milo narrates the whole issue. We see him in a space craft recording his last moments on his home planet. So now we jump back years. The last issue takes place over years. The whole issue felt so rushed. I know lots about the Ape culture, but this issue was so fast that I couldn’t keep up with what was happening. One minute we are following Zaius and him following his strict code. The next we jump over a war between humans and apes. It lasted half a page. I don’t quite understand why they ended it having us jump over years to get to an ending. Isn’t that the new thing to never really end anything?

Milo is complaining about the fallen moon and how their world will not survive without it. This hasn’t even been a big problem in the series at all. We have been focusing on Ape City and whether humans are intelligent or not. I was surprised to even see this story line come back into play and then it be the main story line for the rest of the issue.

The story I was most fascinating with was the apes that were mutated by their crops from bad water. We never really understood their religion or why some of them seemed good while others were plotting against Ape City. Well worry because these questions never get answered. I was so disappointed in never seeing what these apes had planned or why they dressed as humans. How would this benefit them in an ape world?

Anyway, Milo finally builds this ship and needs a crew in order to fly it. All of the characters that most readers probably enjoyed live. Expect for one and we really never built a connection with him anyway. Milo soon discovers that the ship isn’t meant for space travel but for time travel. And we get an ending that most would predict knowing how all Planet of the Apes series end. Like I said the comic had some great issues and even if it gets a little boring the ending is what can make a series a good one. Here I felt so rushed into the plot and never really found ground. When the ending came I was not impressed with where the story led us.

Score: 3/5

Writers: Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman

Artist: Damian Coucheiro

Publisher: Boom Studios

Price: $3.99

Release Date: 8/7/13