Planet of the Apes #7: The Newton edition

The cover to Newton Comics' Planet of the Apes #7 originally appeared on Marvel Comics' Planet of the Apes #6.

The contents are as follows:

Planet of the Apes: Trial [Chapter Three: Manhunt!], originally published in Planet of the Apes #3, December 1974

Planet of the Apes [Part 4: The Trial], originally published in Planet of the Apes #4, January 1975

Planet of the Apes: Into the Forbidden Zone, originally published in Planet of the Apes #5, February 1975

After the completion of the Terror on the Planet of the Apes serial in the previous issue, this issue was dedicated to the Planet of the Apes serial. This is the first page:

This continues where Manhunt! left off, but is retitled Trial, and includes the blurb seen in some previous issues. The title panel and blurb are included at the expense of the top tier of panels on page 71 of Marvel's Planet of the Apes #3. It's a shame as the title panel is misleading - The Trial is actually the title of the next chapter, which begins in this issue a mere two pages later:

Having been pulled into duty on page 3, the title of this chapter is omitted from the page as it appears in Marvel's Planet of the Apes #4. This chapter is otherwise reprinted in full, apart from the note at the bottom of the last panel which advises that the next chapter follows rather than appearing in the next issue.

Only the first 9 pages of The Planet of the Apes: Into the Forbidden Zone chapter are included in this issue.

The poster in this issue featured the cover to Doctor Strange #4:

Dating this issue, as per the last couple of issues, is a bit tricky.

The contest in this issue ends 20 October 1975, and this issue includes in-house ads for a number of issues advertised as On Sale Now, including Conan the Barbarian #2 and Dracula #2. I've already discussed the fact that Conan the Barbarian #1 had previously been advertised as published on 30 August 1975, which problematised the release date for Planet of the Apes #6 to the point that I found myself second guessing the date and positing that it may have been released earlier. Conan the Barbarian #2 is advertised in Dracula #3, which advertises the pending release of the Swap Cards "From next weekend September 13". This dates Dracula #3 to 6 September 1975. The conclusion from this data is that Dracula #2 was published in August 1975 - probably 23 August 1975 - which further suggests Planet of the Apes #7 was published on or around this date. If so, then the publication date for Planet of the Apes #6 would have been closer to 9 August 1975 than 30 August 1975. All things considered, the sticking point appears to be 30 August 1975 date for Conan the Barbarian #1, so treating this as an outlier and assuming a fortnightly schedule, I would pencil in the following publication dates:

Planet of the Apes #5: 2 August 1975
Planet of the Apes #6: 16 August 1975
Planet of the Apes: #7 30 August 1975

I also note that the letters column in this issue forecasts the pending release of the Swap Cards, without advising a date.

As further data comes to hand I hope to finetune the timeline, but I think this is a good provisional guide.

If you follow the link above to Doctor Strange #4 you'll see that ten years ago I was a nostalgic rather than a committed Newton Comics collector. Around two years ago I found myself becoming more interested in the Newtons - as evidenced in my posts - and I am now only a few issues short of a complete run.

Update 8 December 2023: This issue was advertised as On Sale Now in Dracula #3, 6 September 1975:

This aligns with the 30 August 1975 publication date.