Back Issue #163 December 2025 (magazine review).
There’s a well-known quote from editor-in-chief Carmen Infantino that any sales of a DC Comics issue with a gorilla on the cover would have a sales increase. Comic book writer Mark Waid thinks that is a myth. I should point out they weren’t necessarily drawn in the shape we have grown accustomed to but, as the Arthur Adams cover of Gorilla Grodd in this edition of ‘Back Issue’ shows, more humanoid-shaped than the gorilla stance we are familiar with. New editor Roger Ash explains in his editorial that this subject matter was used during the training of former editor Michael Eury. Not all comic book gorillas are covered here, but there is a promise for the future and other primates.
A thought from me before reading on: aggressive gorillas, as we have learned from nature programs, are actually a lot more passive than we initially thought and live in social colonies. About the only thing their comic book counterparts have in common is a level of intelligence.
To start off with, we have DC Comics’ ‘The Angel And The Ape’, as writer Brian Martin goes over this pair’s detective agency. Angel O’Day works with gorilla Sam Simeon to solve crimes. I only really read one of their later adventures where it was revealed that she was the half-sister to Athena Tremor, aka Dumb Bunny or Tough Bunny of the Inferior Five, which is why I picked the miniseries up.
What I didn’t know was that Simeon was the grandson of Gorilla Grodd, and he used his telepathic ability, so most people saw him as human. Do these female gorillas stay home because I can’t recall seeing any? You do have to wonder at that when he ambles up walls. Angel sees him as he is but thinks he can’t talk, although she understands him. Considering their original run only lasted seven issues, they were liked enough to bring back from time to time.
Just in case you thought Marvel wasn’t in on gorillas, ‘Chamber Of Chills’ proved otherwise, as writer Doug Zawisza shows. It also introduced Dr Arthur Nagan. Now him I know of because he led the Headmen. I always thought he organised his own operation—putting his head on the body of a gorilla. Here, we learn that his initial focus was on performing organ transplants from gorillas to humans. The surgeons objected and did not do the surgery on him. It seems gorillas in the comic book universes are a lot smarter than those we have in our realities.
Given the widespread recognition of King Kong, the great-granddaddy of all gorillas, only one comic book adaptation exists. As creator Don Simpson explains to Tom Powers, there is a division between the original book and film, and he could only use the former in his 1991-92 version. It’s not something I’ve come across, but I do think his version of Kong looks a bit cartoonish.
Obviously, the main feature story focuses on Gorilla Grodd, the only evil inhabitant of a gorilla city who seeks to leave his mark on the world, a character that originated in 1959 and has remained relevant ever since. Writer John Kirk gives his life history and how his people aren’t that successful in keeping him locked up. I would disagree there. Arkham Asylum has a similar problem with its inmates. The survival of any supervillain often depends on their ability to fight other superheroes, and Grodd demonstrates this by not only engaging in battles but also ultimately leading the Secret Society of Super-Villains across various DC Universes.
Writer Mark Arnold has a look at Scott Shaw!’s cartoon characters, which include You-All Gibbon. Don’t think he’s a gorilla, though.
Lastly, Ed Lute interviews creator Arthur Adams about his ‘Monkeyman and O’Brien’. Heavily influenced but in reverse by King Kong, he realised in its conception back in the early 1990s that it resembled ‘Angel And The Ape’ and had to tweak it differently. I hadn’t come across it before, and while looking for the graphic novel, I found that it is harder to obtain on this side of the pond. Let’s hope some publisher out there will consider a reprint and at least show that interdimensional intelligent gorillas are on the beneficial side.
This is a rather mixed bag, and the ‘running joke’ that gorillas eat bananas because they never encounter them in the wild still portrays gorillas in a negative light. Would gorillas make better rulers than humans? Grodd knows, but I wouldn’t look them in the eye if I wanted to be submissive.
GF Willmetts
March 2026
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page illustrated magazine. Price: $10.95 (US). ISSN: 1932-6904. Direct from them, you can get it for $10.95 (US))
check out websites: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=1839
