PLANET OF THE APES: THE HUMAN WAR #1

Cover shows sharp corners, strong glossy finish, and vivid unfaded colors with no visible creases or spine stress. The barcode area shows a 'DIRECT SALES' box confirming direct edition. Book is in a protective sleeve which shows some surface wrinkling on the sleeve itself but not clearly on the comic; no interior or back cover was assessed. Minor handling wear cannot be ruled out due to glare/sleeve reflections near the edges.

Planet of the Apes: The Human War #1 launched a 2001 Dark Horse miniseries expanding on the mythology of the original Planet of the Apes film franchise, written by Ian Edginton with interior art by Paco Medina and Juan Vlasco and colors by Michelle Madsen. The cover was illustrated by J. Scott Campbell with colors by Guy Major, giving the issue a recognizable name on the front even though the interior creative team worked in a more conventional adventure-comics idiom suited to the license. The series was one of several Apes projects Dark Horse produced in the years following its acquisition of the comics rights, aimed at franchise fans rather than at building new characters of lasting significance.

As a licensed tie-in from a modestly distributed miniseries, this issue never generated meaningful aftermarket demand beyond its cover price, and it has not been assigned a published fair-market value by standard pricing guides, a status that reflects ordinary supply rather than any oversight. The J. Scott Campbell cover credit is the primary point of interest for collectors browsing this title, since Campbell's name carries recognition independent of the story content, but that alone has not been enough to lift the book out of the common bin. Raw copies circulate cheaply and in reasonable supply from the direct market glut of the early 2000s.

This is a reader's or completist's issue: appealing to Planet of the Apes franchise collectors assembling the full run of Dark Horse's Apes output, and to Campbell cover-art collectors rounding out his bibliography, but not a book pursued for investment. Raw copies in any presentable condition are inexpensive and easy to source. A graded 9.8 slab commands a modest premium mainly because certified high-grade copies of low-print modern tie-ins are uncommon on the population census, not because of underlying collector competition; buyers should expect this book to remain a value-priced supporting piece in an Apes or Campbell collection rather than a headline item.