The Invasion of the
monkey men (and women) (with apologies to Arthur Adams) ANIMAL MAN DC Comics’ Animal Man (originally Animal-Man) did not, like the other characters in this chapter, become an ape—but he did, in his very first appearance, become “as strong as a gorilla.” Created by writers Dave Wood and France Herron and artists Carmine Infantino and George Roussos in Strange Adventures (SA) #180 (Sept. 1965), Buddy Baker was a stuntman bombarded by radiation while witnessing a UFO crash. As a result, Baker learned he could temporarily duplicate the abilities of any animal he encountered, claiming, per the title of his initial outing, “I Was the Man with Animal Powers.” At first, Animal Man was similar to Marvel’s Henry Pym, a.k.a. Ant-Man—more a sci-fi movie knockoff than a costumed super-hero (the super-shrinking Pym premiered, without costume, in Tales to Astonish #27, Jan. 1962, in a story called “The Man in the Anthill,” and later became a uniformed crimefighter). Baker wasn’t intended to be a regular character, but a positive response to Strange Adventures #180 led to © 2007 DC Comics. “The Return of the Man with Animal Powers” in SA #184 (Jan. 1966). He disappeared again until #190 (July 1966), when he came back in orange spandex with a big, blue “A” (for Animal Man or, as he was nicknamed, A-Man). He was now as an honest-to-gosh super-hero… …but an irregularly seen one, since Animal Man stepped in and out of Strange Adventures a few more times before fading away until 1980s guest-shots in other titles (including Action Comics #552, Feb. 1984, where he returned with fellow Monkey Man Congorilla as one of the “Forgotten Heroes”). It wasn’t until writer Grant Morrison got his hands on Buddy Baker that the character came into his own. With penciler Chas Truog and cover artist Brian Bolland, Morrison launched a monthly Animal Man series with a Sept. 1988 first issue (A-Man joined Justice League Europe the very next year). Morrison often portrayed A-Man as an animal-rights crusader, and apes were common in the series (and were spectacularly drawn on covers by Bolland). Ape aficionados affectionately recall Animal Man #25’s (July 1990) “Monkey Puzzle,” which began a story arc where Morrison took Buddy Baker into comic-book limbo, where he met an array of retired characters like Merryman of the Inferior Five. Issue #25’s cover and interior story depicted a monkey at a typewriter, a nod to the “infinite monkey theorem,” the notion that a monkey hitting
random typewriter keys will eventually type the works of Shakespeare. Morrison and company eventually vacated Animal Man, but the series ran until issue #89 (Sept. 1995). THE APE One-time Planet of the Apes scribe Doug Moench (see the Moench Q & Ape in Chapter 6) told the woeful tale of “The Ogre and the Ape” in Batman #535 (Oct. 1996). An under-thetable evolutionary-research project in Gotham City agonizingly evolved a lab monkey into the intelligent Ape while devolving a human victim into the brutish Ogre. The vengeful duo executed the scientists responsible, one by one, until the Dark Knight intervened. Moench’s tension-building script and Kelley Jones’ moody artwork elevated what could have been a routine revenge tale into a riveting study of isolation and animal/human rights. THE APE MAN Once you were sentenced to Lost Island Prison, you were there for good—if the surrounding shark-infested waters weren’t intimidating enough, the dreadful Ape Man rumored to lumber throughout the nearby jungle would keep you in your cell. Chisel-faced convict Salty Gruner didn’t believe in legendary monster-men, however, as artist Steve Ditko and an uncredited writer (more than likely either Stan Lee or Larry Lieber) disclosed in “The Ape Man” in Marvel Comics’ Strange Tales vol. 1 #85 (June 1961). At nightfall Gruner snuck out of the penitentiary and into the isle’s forest, before long stumbling across the golden-furred, Mighty Joe Young-sized Ape Man. The Ape Man, formerly a human being, was the victim of a witch doctor’s curse—a curse which was transferable, as Gruner regrettably discovered when his meeting with the creature freed the man of his ape-affliction and turned Salty into a simian. “The Ape Man,” a five-page tale, has been twice reprinted, in Where Monsters Dwell #24 (Oct. 1973) and Giant-Size Werewolf by Night #2 (Oct. 1974). APE-MAN (of the ANI-MEN) In the early days of Marvel’s Daredevil, the Man without Fear was, more or less, the company’s answer to Batman, even down to his copycat villains (DD’s Jester and Owl to Batman’s Joker and Penguin, as examples). In the vein of lower-tier Bat-baddies the Terrible Trio, the ’50s fiends that plundered Gotham City wearing Mardi Gras-like
© 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.
Make A Monkey Out Of Me!
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