The Return of the Gorilla-Man
Release: January 9, 1962
Cover: April, 1962
12 cents
Credits: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
7 pages
The issue has no credits. The Grand Comics Database identifies the artists as Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, and guesses the writing credits are due to Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. I think Marvel only had two writers at the time, so this is a reasonable guess.
Gorilla-Man escapes captivity. The story of how is too ridiculous to repeat. He then demonstrates his intelligence to the scientific community, even though he can’t speak. He hopes this will lead them to find a way to turn him human again; instead they decide to use him for an experiment on the effects of deep space flight on an intelligent brain. Hope the ship has good shielding from cosmic rays!
Other stories in this issue we won’t be covering are: “The Remedy Oil”; “The Thing from the Hidden Swamp”; “What was the Staggering Secret of the 13th Floor?”; and, “Quogg!”
Rating: ★★½ (out of 5), 43/100
Significance: ★★☆☆☆
Characters:
- Franz Radzik, Gorilla-Man
Minor characters:
- Gorilla in Radzik’s body
- Professor Stuyvesant
Story notes
- First page serves a interior cover splash for story
- Radzik looks nothing like he did in his last appeance. We learn his first name is Franz.
- The CMRO counts Story E, featuring Quogg, amongst its order, because the monster returns in a 2016 comic. We won’t be covering it here, as I’m trying to condense down to those comics that help understand 30 years of Marvel history beginning in 1961. The MCP does not count Quogg as a character at this time.
- The CMRO does not account for this story with its order, and the MCP does not recognize this incarnation of Gorilla Man as a character, though it does recognize two other gorilla men and two gorilla girls.
#7 story in reading order
Next post: PRELUDE: Marvel Comics #1, Story C
Next in order: Fantastic Four #4
Previous: Tales of Suspense #27 , Story D
