There are some things that comics can do that no other medium can handle. One of the most amazing, incredible, awesome things that comics can truly bring to life is a talking gorilla who wears pants. Seriously, in any other medium, this is going to be a hard sell. Sure, you can have a lame guy in a gorilla suit, or a fancy, shiny, CG gorilla, or even a Muppet gorilla, but those never really work to convince an audience that the talking gorilla is real.
Think of all the great examples out there in comic-land: Gorilla Grodd, Angel and the Ape, Monkeyman and O'Brien, Tom Strong's King Solomon. Who doesn't love these characters? If Alan Moore was enough of a genius to know that his superhero universe wasn't complete without a well-dressed, chatty, gorilla, who are we to argue? Luckily, we can now add one more name to the gorilla honor roll-Ken Hale, the Gorilla-Man!
Marvel's Atlas family of books have been consistently well-written and great fun, but they have somehow gone unnoticed by many fans. It's too long a story to relate here but, in the excellent Agents of Atlas series, Jimmy Woo manages to resurrect his team of Golden Age Marvel/Atlas characters to sort out the problems of the present day Marvel Universe. This brilliant team of adventurers includes the robot M-11, Marvel Boy the Uranian, Namora, and Gorilla Man. Together, they go on action-packed adventures and fight the threats no other team is cool enough to handle. Each of the characters is a star all on their own, so it's great that there is a new mini-series that gives Gorilla-Man a chance to shine on his own.
Ken Hale actually became Gorilla-Man decades ago when he shot and killed a magical gorilla which gave him the gift of immortality, and the curse of being trapped in the body of the gorilla. The mini-series, by Jeff Parker and Giancarlo Caracuzzo, tells two titanic tales. The story of how Hale, adventurer and soldier of fortune, became the man he was before becoming Gorilla-Man, and a full-on action tale as Ken heads to Africa sort out an evil smuggler and his personal army. With great stories, excellent art, and a huge dose of fun, this is a series you don't want to miss.
Lucky for you, you don't have to miss it! Not only is Gorilla-Man Four Color Fantasies' Guaranteed Book of the Week, we have two simian-packed issues on the stands! Pick up the first issue, and we're pretty confident that you'll be back for the second. Or just go all-out and pick up both of them today! Gorilla-Man #1 & 2 will give you your recommended daily allowance of butt-kicking gorilla dispensing wise-cracks and wearing pants. What else could you possibly need? (Though if you DO need more, there are also some cool Golden Age reprints and a snarky @Ken_Hale twitter feed provided. So there!)
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