I got a kick out of seeing a Gorilla Grodd for a brief moment on last week's episode of The Flash. I am glad that they are going with CGI and thought he looked cool in the quick tease. We've come a long way since Lancelot Link, where they just dubbed dialogue into the mouths of live action monkeys. I have to confess, though, that I was thoroughly entertained by the program back in the day. My memories are vague, but I remember thinking it was hilarious. I think I even had a coloring book that was based on the show.
I used art by the great Norm Breyfogle on this cover. Breyfogle recently suffered a stroke and has many medical bills that will come with his rehabilitation. If you would like to help him out, you can do so by contributing here.
Lancelot Link! Mata Hairy! A.P.E.! Darwin! The Evolution Revolution! Oh, I remember it well. "Get Smart" with an all-chimp cast. Until now, I didn't realize how much I was missing Link.
ReplyDeleteI remember that show! Thanks for reminding me about that one. I had forgotten the name.
ReplyDeleteThe artwork looks seamless yet again. Bruce & Alfred both look remarkable.
The Gorilla Boss returns(if only in a word balloon). I'll take it!
Batman needs to take a vacation until his Batman vs. Superman film comes out. He's overworked in DC Comics & on this site. He's going to injure himself with so many missions!
I can just see Batman employing monkey-style kung fu against Wang Fu and the Dragon Lady (from the Chinese branch of C.H.U.M.P.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great lol!
I, too, loved Lance, with Mata Hairy, the Evolution Revolution, and everything else the Other Bob listed off. You totally -- and pleasantly -- surprised me by showing Lance on this page!
ReplyDeleteNext time, maybe you could try teaming Lance with Detective Chimp. You might even see if there are enough language-capable chimpanzees running around to make a whole team of them, though offhand only Captain Simian comes to mind.
@Ross: I loved Lancelot Link as a kid. I know I had the Colorforms set and I might have had a lunchbox. When some cable channel started rerunning episodes in the 90's I was psyched to see the show for the first time in 25-ish years. After a couple of episodes I had the creepy realization that when I first saw it I was too young to realize how super-racist so much of it was. All the villains were ethnic stereotypes-- and not even cold war-specific ethnicities, which would slide by in a spy parody. I'd love to see it rebooted with more emphasis on satire and sight gags. It wouldn't have changed it much, that was all in there, too.
ReplyDelete@Bob: You probably know that DC has done all-primate comics several times, including SECRET ORIGINS #40 (1989), SWAMP THING ANNUAL #3 (1987) and JLAPE (the 1999 Annuals). But it would take every other publisher combined to match DC them for sheer quantity of talking apes and monkeys. My vote is for Dr. Tiberius of Monkeyman and O'Brien.
@Bob G: I liked the original Broome/Infantino Detective Chimp series, before he learned to talk and wear clothes. Making Bobo an "amplified animal" was, IMHO, a mistake. But in this day and age in which thought balloons (not to mention whimsy) are looked upon with disdain, I suppose the Powers That Be at DC felt that a chimp detective could only work if he could talk.
ReplyDeleteActually, pblfsda, I did not know that -- though in this case I'm narrowing it down even further, from all (non-human) primates to all chimpanzees.
ReplyDeleteI had completely forgotten about Lancelot Link. Wow!
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