Silver Age Gold: Detective Chimp

Showing posts with label Detective Chimp. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Well, If You're Going to "Ape" Sherlock Holmes...

What happens when you pair the Silver Age Green Lantern's writer with the Silver Age Flash's Artist? You get a back-up feature about a chimp who solves crime, that's what!

These days, it's not enough to have a chimp who's clever and observant, so the current incarnation of Detective Chimp is a superhumanly smart, talking chimp...but it was not always thus. Enjoy Bobo's humble beginnings as a back-up from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4- "Meet Detective Chimp"

Why The Silver Age?

I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's, right as superhero comics were going from a floundering social rant about human rights to a newly reinvented vision of your favorite heroes as masked psychopaths. Fortunately for me, my local library had a copy of "Batman from the 30's to the 70's" which I checked out and read regularly. I was hooked. I was filled with what Alan Moore would later call a "sense of wonder" at the elaborate interior of the Batcave. The supporting cast with room for a Batgirl, Batwoman, Bathound and Bat-Mite. Oh, sure, I joined the 1985 bandwagon of "Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen" style grittiness... but after a few years of that stuff, I began to miss, sincerely, characters like Streaky the Super-cat and Mr. Mxyzptlk. In a few more years, I began to really miss Aquaman's shirt (oh, and his hand). No, for me, superheroes will always exist in a shimmering land written before 1967.

Oh! And the images, indicia, titles, names. etc. of any comics or cartoon properties are copyright their respective owners.