Featuring: Gorilla Man
Release: November 20, 1953
Cover: March, 1954
10 cents
Credits: Robert Q. Sale
6 pages
I read this story in the Agents of Atlas collection.
Robert Q. Sale signed the issue as the artist. Not certain who wrote the words. I don’t know Sale. An internet search reveals little about him. He pencilled some 500 weird or war comics in the ’50s and ’60s, sometimes under the pen name Bob Q. Siege. He’s a very good artist, capturing vivid facial expressions, effectively evoking the nightmarish and kinetic mood.
Another break from our regular reading to flash back in time to meet Ken Hale, the Gorilla Man. This version of the Gorilla Man would be a forgotten character for 20 years until a famous What If…? comic revives some obscure ’50s heroes. But this is the first of three Marvel characters to call themselves Gorilla Man. So we will go over the Gorilla Man stories to clear up any confusion.
A man named Ken Hale is haunted by dreams of a Gorilla Man. He is compelled to step away from his job and wife and go to Africa in search of the Gorilla Man. Upon finding it, he puts down his gun and fights and kills the Gorilla Man with his bare hands. But in so doing, he becomes the Gorilla Man.
The narrator speaks in an intense second person. It would stress me out if I were Ken Hale and the voices in my head spoke to me like that about my bad dreams.
The other stories in this issue we won’t be covering are: “Midnight in the Morgue!”; “I Walked on the Moon!”; “The Burning Sands”; and the prose story “Look in the Mirror”.
The stories range from horror to science fiction to western to this story about a gorilla man. Y’know, stories for men.
Rating: ★★★, 55/100
An engaging story told with a frenetic energy.
Characters:
- Ken Hale, Gorilla Man
Minor characters:
- Lil (his wife)
- Benson (his friend)
Next post: PRELUDE: Mystery Tales #21, Story E
Next in order: Fantastic Four #3
Previous: Tales to Astonish #28
