Comic Book Gorillarama

comic book gorillas gorilla comic books gorilla comics gorilla cover gorilla covers comic book apes monkey comic books gorilla ape comics

Comic books (and stuff) of a decidedly simian nature!

From Beppo to the Weeping Gorilla an amusing look at comic's greatest simian stars.

All new galleries!!! Darn near 500 images of covers featuring simians from the past 80 years. Lots of Golden Age beauties to ogle at. Take the time to appreciate them all!

Why stare at your reflection in the monitor! Spruce up the joint with a gorilla or two.

See King Kong as he was meant to be envisioned through the Mad skills of Sergio Aragones and Don Martin! Peter Jackson couldn't possibly compare!

A periodic feature that will look at what's behind the glorious gorilla covers of issues in the gallery.

Where'd dat four colour monkey come from? Now you know!

Original art -sequential and pin-up -that feature, ah hell, you know by now.

Links O' Plenty

If you've enjoyed my wild ride you might want to take these for a spin.

Old Updates

OPEN CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO COMIC BOOK GORILLARAMA

Last Update APRIL 2008

A Message from the Gorillarama Chamber of Commerce:

It has been almost 5 years since a friend urged me to slap a few pages together about gorillas in comic books. Little did I know that a casual pet project would turn into a driving obsession that would eventually peter out once I had digitally collected damn near every simian related cover I could find. My virtual collection outstripped my webspace and the entire contents are now posted on Epsom.com.

If you are a fan of comic book simians and want to be a part of this site you can help out in a variety of ways:

Contribute a cover or some art you don't see here.

Pen a bio for your favourite character.

Write a review for a gorilla story.

Share a scanned simian tale for our PEEP SHOW.

I WANT YOU TO DROP ME A LINE!

Contributions will be credited if requested and banners and links for any who participate.

Share the dream. Be a freak. Join the ranks.

Thanks for reading and stopping by. Go Gorilla.

Welcome To

The Temple of Four-Colour Simian Worship!

OK, so you've made that leap of faith and checked out a site with the ridiculous moniker of Comic Book Gorillarama - if you're a nitpicker with a keen eye, you will discover quite quickly that the entire primate family can be found lurking about these four-coloured halls..

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a hairy face and although I've thrown in a gibbon, an o-rang and a chimp or two, you won't have to break out the bananas to entice the most comic book gorillas you'll find anywhere!

And now back to our regularly scheduled program

The Basics

Simian characters have been appearing in comic books since the birth of the medium almost one hundred years ago (The Mischievous Monks of Crocodile Isle 1908). Gorillas and other primates were once creatures of great mystery and awe; beasts that resembled man but who were capable of an unmatched savage fury. They evoked the wonder of the unknown natural world, which was slowly being exposed in print and film by explorers who brought the jungle back to civilization with modern photography. Gorillas also became a standard menace in early cinema, influenced by the enormous impact of the classic film King Kong (1933).

This perception of the great apes also translated to comic books. Throughout my galleries are examples of hairy villains that threaten innocent lives as the proverbial hero arrives in the nick of time. This early Action cover with Jimmy Olsen threatened by an enraged gorilla was an unwitting herald of the DC Simian Renaissance phenomena some 12 plus years in the future.

Action Comics #6 1938

Obviously simians featured prominently in Tarzan, Jungle Comics, Ka'anga and other jungle adventure books of the Golden and early Silver Age. Additionally, the chimp was often a popular funnies character and could be found in numerous funny animal type books.

Strange Adventures #8 May 1951

The gorilla cover certainly entered it's heyday with the release of DC Comics Strange Adventures #8 in May 1951. The issue featured cover artwork by Win Mortimer and the ape story "Evolution Plus!" was penned by Gardiner Fox with art by Bob Oksner (Pencils) and Bernard Sachs (Inks). When the sales figures rolled in there was an apparent spike and (so the story goes) Irwin Donenfeld contacted Julius Swartz (editor of the title) and encouraged him to use the gimmick again. It wasn't long before the DC editorial office were convinced that gorillas=sales and eventually there was a limit set on how many could appear in a month.

DC's obsession with the simian character resulted in a wide variety of interpretations of the classic gorilla menace or comical chimp. Gorilla Grodd flipped the wild beast stereotype on it's head through his super intelligence and telepathic abilities while Bobo, the Detective Chimp, although comical, was obviously a sleuthing mastermind, despite the lack of recognition from his owner, Sheriff Case. Simians were a standard plot element in many of DC's sci-fi and mystery titles such as Strange Adventures and House of Secrets.

In a few years, DC had populated it's universe with several simian characters (who are still active today) and managed to squeeze an ape on the cover of most of their titles. This surge in gorilla cover madness remains unparalleled to this day.
I do find it curious though, that no DC ape ever carried his (or her) own book (Angel and the Ape comes close) during that period. The only exclusively simian series of the Silver Age was Charlton's Konga, the comic adaptation of the film of the same name (TV's Grape Ape also had his own title in the 1970's but it ran only 2 issues).
Although gorilla's still figured in DC's titles throughout the Bronze and Modern Age, 1999's Annual crossover event "JLApe" went gorilla mad, paying homage to the unique period of the companies history when simian covers were omnipresent on the newsstand. All books featured delightfully detailed covers from Art Adams, creator of "Monkeyman and O'Brien" from Dark Horse, a title that is steeped in the zaniness of DC Silver Age sci-fi and ,naturally, has a giant gorilla as a main character. Smaller publishers have also offered simian obsessed tales like "Sky Ape", "Mantooth" and most recently "My Monkey's Name is Jennifer". A sure sign that gorilla madness still infects the minds of creators today!

Well, now that I've got that off my chest I hope you will continue to poke around my site and return here often. There's a multitude of covers to peruse, information on notable simian characters, and much more.

Thanks for stopping by!

Required Reading

If you have any love for comic stars with excessive body hair visit these sites for superb simian entertainment:

Galactic Chimp is a promising new strip from a pair of talented lads. Our fearless hero and his trusty companion are on a mission to retrieve a stolen emerald. Interstellar adventure abounds!

Parkerspace - Jeff Parker of Interman has on display this brilliant tribute to Silver Age DC, 'Ape Company'. You can find it on his page as ' war story '.

Art Balthazar's Gorilla Gorilla - These cute and funny stories from Disney Adventure Comic Strips follow the daily lives of Gorilla Gorilla and his roommate Lizard Lizard. A great spoof on giant monster flicks.

Feelin' a Little Aped-Out?

Try out these fun links - I highly recommend the Monkey Cliff Diving!:

And here's a great little Johnny Cash piece all chimped out!

Desperado

Disclaimer

This unofficial non-profit fan site is intended for purely educational and reference purposes (and hopefully a bit o' fun!). All characters, images, logos, and quoted text are owned and copyrighted by their respective companies.