TIGER - Gorilla Island

[stevezodiac]

I have just sold some Tigers from 1965 on ebay but thought i'd mention this strip, Gorilla Island. Obviously there are comparisons with Planet of the Apes but not being a fan of the latter I have no idea if that was written first or if it was inspired by this strip from Feb/March 1965. Any ideas fellow forumites?

[steelclaw]

Pierre Boulle wrote "Planet of the apes" novel in 1963.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Boulle

[stevezodiac]

So by my reckoning the Tiger story came afterwards. Holy Plagirism! Well I suppose comics have always been influenced by films and telly and vice versa.

[Lew Stringer]

DC Comics often had talking gorillas in their comics in the 1950s. Apparently a comic sold better with a gorilla on the cover!

More info:
http://www.lethargiclad.com/gorilla/

Lew

[stevezodiac]

Breaking News: Apparently the Planet of the Apes author did try to sue Fleetway but was unsucessful. The Judge looked at him and said: "Oh well, Simian you win, Simian you lose."

I'll get my coat.

[grumpy old man]

As Lew says, this story has similarities to DC Comics Gorilla Grodd who debuted in 1959

[colcool007]

The look of that strip certainly evokes the 'look' of the latest movie rather than the suspect latex of the 70's movies. A very modern feel to the art. And Steve, for any more jokes that bad, we'll even help you find your coat!

[stevezodiac]

The cartridge belts worn across the body was used in the film/tv series as well.

[Raven]

Tiger certainly looks like it was a more interesting comic before it went all sporty.

There was a long Kelly's Eye serial in early 70s Valiant that certainly seemed to be rather a 'tribute' to Planet of the Apes.

[Raven]

DC Comics often had talking gorillas in their comics in the 1950s. Apparently a comic sold better with a gorilla on the cover!

TwoMorrows Publishing recently put out a heavily illustrated book 'Comics Gone Ape: The Missing Link To Primates In Comics,' which is great fun. The simian stars of American comics are all in there, from Gorgilla to Yango the Super-Ape.

British comics aren't covered though, so no Kid Kong, Mytek the Mighty or Monkey Nuts.

[Kashgar]

Gorilla Island in Tiger 13th Feb to 8th May 1965 was drawn by Frank Langford (his signature appears in the 13th Mar episode).
Educated apes are quite common throughout the history of boys' papers both in text and comic strip form, all owing their origin to that first great book that outlined our simian ancestry, Charles Darwin's 'Origin of Species' in 1859. From the moment that Darwin postulated the idea that we are but educated apes ourselves it was a short step to imagine some of our simian cousins, given the right ecosystem in which to thrive, being similarly blessed.
I think you might have to knock Mytek off the list though as he was actually a robot rather than a living, breathing freak of natural selection.

[Raven]

I think you might have to knock Mytek off the list though as he was actually a robot rather than a living, breathing freak of natural selection.

Robot apes count! Sock Monkey's in the book, and he's man-made, too.

[Peter Gray]

Sherlock Holmes the creeping man was one of the first..watched it last night and read it as well..very strange one..

[philcom55]

Of course the orangutan in Poe's 'Murders of the Rue Morgue' was even earlier - a story that could be argued to have started two genres.

- Phil R.

[Kashgar]

The Sherlock Holmes 'monkey glands' story 'The Creeping Man' is certainly one of the silliest of all the Holmes tales with it's Jekyll and Hyde fears for that particular rejuvenation treatment.
As this strand began by discussing Gorilla Island/Planet of the Apes I was only including those stories where the apes were sentient beings that had developed humanoid intelligence. Therefore I can't see how robots could be included or indeed 'trained' apes like the one in the Poe story.