Skip to content

Fabien

Detective Chimp, DC Comics’ Chimpanzee investigator in the occult

  • by

All of DC Comics’s heroes don’t wear a cape, some are not even qualifiable as heroes, but they still fight crimes in their way, especially when there are occult elements involved. That is the case of Bobo T. Chimpanzee, the world’s greatest simian detective–his real name is unpronounceable, but can be translated as “Magnificent Finder of Tasty Grubs.”

Better known as Detective Chimp, Bobo first appeared in 1952 on the pages of Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4. Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Bobo started as an abnormally intelligent chimpanzee. When his trainer, Fred Thorpe, was killed, Bobo helped Sheriff Edward Chase to catch the murderer. Maybe he could not speak, but he always knew how to make himself understand–and how to outsmart criminals. After that, he became the lawman’s unofficial partner.

This became the career of a lifetime. You may not be too familiar with this Detective Chimp as it was the 1950s version of the characters. Decades later, Bobo’s story was retcon.

Read More »Detective Chimp, DC Comics’ Chimpanzee investigator in the occult

The Story of Will Eisner’s The Spirit

  • by

Nowadays, Will Eisner (1917-2005) is still one of the most famous comic book creators in the history of the medium–the highly respected Eisner Awards were named after him for a good reason. He did a lot from his beginnings in 1933 doing illustrations and comic strips in his high school newspaper to his famous graphic novels. But his most famous creation is clearly “The Spirit.”

Eisner broke into the comic book industry next to his school friend, Bob Kane, creator of Batman, but their career didn’t follow the same path. Quite the entrepreneur, Eisner formed a partnership with Samuel “Jerry” Iger. They opened their own studio that soon started to work like a factory, putting out comics. This was a financial success, but when Everett Arnold of Quality Comics offered him the possibility to produce a 16-page newspaper supplement for the Des Moines Register-Tribune Syndicate, the offer was too good to say “no.” Eisner loved comics and this was for him a new avenue to prove that this sequential art was not just for kids.

Eisner left Iger, took with him a few employees, and started to work on what is, on paper, the creation of another mystery man. The Weekly Comic Book supplement was composed of three stories per issue–two of them were the backups “Lady Luck” and “Mr. Mystic.” The main feature was of course “The Spirit.”

Read More »The Story of Will Eisner’s The Spirit

Bat-Mite: Batman’s Biggest Fan or Hallucination from the 5th Dimension?

  • by

There was a time when Batman’s adventures were a bit wilder, shall we say. The Golden Age of comics (then the Silver Age) gave us some colorful stories full of surprising characters and twists. The autoproclaimed Batman’s biggest fan was the embodiment of that.

Introduced in Detective Comics #267 (May 1959), in a story titled “Batman Meets Bat-Mite” by writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff, Bat-Mite is to the Dark Knight what Mister Mxyzptlk is to Superman, to some extent.

Read More »Bat-Mite: Batman’s Biggest Fan or Hallucination from the 5th Dimension?

Man-Thing Reading Order, Marvel’s Swamp Monster

The Man-Thing Reading Order

When the Comics Code Authority went into action in the 1950s, the horror genre was the most affected by it. But in 1971, the code was finally revised and the creatures of the night finally got some leeway. A lot of restrictions were still in place, but the undead monsters starting to make a comeback. Before Werewolves and Vampires became prominent again, muck monsters got their chance to scare the readers.

Launched by DC Comics in House of Secrets #92, Swamp Thing created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson was thought of as a one-off character. In another one-shot simply titled The Heap #1, Skywald Publishing revived The Heap, a swamp monster from the 1950s (another version of the character also appeared in Skywald’s magazine Psycho). And Marvel had of course the Man-Thing.

The timing was strange, but those characters were different enough from one another to avoid any conflict (even if Marvel thought about suing DC for a time). Also, muck monsters were not a new thing in the comics world.

Read More »Man-Thing Reading Order, Marvel’s Swamp Monster

Bane, The Supervillain Who Broke Batman’s Back

Batman: Vengeance of Bane

Unlike some of the most iconic members of Batman’s rogues gallery like Joker and Penguin, Bane is a fairly modern creation, if you consider that thirty years may still be considered recent in the world of the Dark Knight. This international masked criminal debuted in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993). He was created by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Graham Nolan, but the original idea for the character came from Batman editor Dennis O’Neil.

Bane: Batman’s Back Breaker

O’Neil had the idea of introducing a new Batman and the concept of the long Knightfall storyline. He wanted a new version of the character who could challenge the readers’ expectations. He wanted a Batman who could kill (so, not Nightwing). This is why Azrael was created. He was going to be the replacement. With a new Batman, a new villain was also introduced–especially after the idea of using KGBeast was forgotten, the fall of the Soviet Union apparently made him irrelevant.

Originally named Doc Toxic, Bane was always a Venom addict–a drug introduced by O’Neill in Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20. He was thought of as being Batman’s equal on multiple levels. Chuck Dixon added a touch of the Man in the Iron Mask, and introduced a tragic origin story, making him a “prisoner from birth,” to offer a kind of parallel with Bruce Wayne’s childhood trauma. It was Graham Nolan though who had the idea for the mask, giving him a Mexican Luchador look.

Bane came onto the scene with a plan to push Batman to his limits and, when the moment came, he confronted him and famously broke his enemy’s back.

Read More »Bane, The Supervillain Who Broke Batman’s Back

DC Comics’ Manhunter: The History of a Crime Fighter with a lot of Alter Egos

Kate Spencer - Manhunter DC Comics

People working at DC Comics sure love Manhunter. They gave us J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, but also the evil Manhunters—predecessors to the Green Lantern who took a bad turn. And then, there is Manhunter, the crime fighter. Well, there is more than one.

The Golden Age Manhunters

The original “Paul Kirk, Manhunter” created by Jack Kirby in Adventure Comics #58 (1941) didn’t use the name Manhunter, he was just a civilian investigator with no secret identity or costume. This Golden Age detective quickly passed the title to a new Manhunter, a former big-game hunter named Rick Nelson who became a proper superhero in Adventure Comics #73—a version created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The character who tracked down criminals in Empire City in his red costume (with a blue mask) also had to fight the concurrence as Quality Comics just launched his own hero called Manhunter (aka Dan Richards) in the pages of Police Comics #8 (1942).

Already, Manhunter was a popular name for a hero, but that was not the case for Rick Nelson who was renamed Paul Kirk after a few issues—he kept the big game hunter backstory. Also, when Quality Comics was bought by National Comics Publications (previous name of DC Comics), the two heroes kept the fight on, without even knowing they now existed in the same universe. During World War II, they joined teams to fight with, but not the same. Paul Kirk was a member of the All-Star Squadron while Dan Richards joined the Freedom Fighters.

Read More »DC Comics’ Manhunter: The History of a Crime Fighter with a lot of Alter Egos

Something Is Killing the Children Reading Order, Explore The Slaughterverse

Launched as a five-issue limited series by BOOM! Studios in 2019, Something Is Killing the Children has since become a successful award-winning franchise with multiple spin-off series. Created by writer James Tynion IV and artist Werther Dell’Edera, this ongoing comic book series is about hunting monsters!

Everything starts when the children of Archer’s Peak begin to go missing. If some never return, a few resurfaced with horrible stories to tell about terrifying creatures living in the shadows. Those tales seem too improbable for most, but one mysterious stranger named Erica Slaughter believes what the children are saying because killing monsters is what she does. She’s here for that and won’t be stopped. But what will happen when the monsters are dealt with?

As Something Is Killing the Children explores the adventures of Erica Slaughter, her relationship with the mysterious Order of St. George who employs her, and her past, the spin-off series House of Slaughter goes further into the backstory with an exploration of the secret history of the Order. And the new Book of Butcher series is now exploring Maxine Slaughter’s journey from white to black mask.

Read More »Something Is Killing the Children Reading Order, Explore The Slaughterverse

Millarworld Reading Order

According to Mark Millar, all of the titles that are part of his created-owned imprint Millardworld, take place in the same continuity. It may be confusing at times, but it’s because some of the stories are fiction in this fictional universe–like the Jupiter’s Legacy stories.

Launched in 2003 with the miniseries Wanted, the Millarworld imprint published all of Mark Millar-created series and the works of some authors who write stories in his universe (like with the Hit-Girl series). Millar worked with popular artists to give life to his stories like John Romita Jr. (Kick-Ass), Frank Quitely (Jupiter’s Legacy), Greg Capullo (Reborn), Stuart Immonen (Empress, The Magic Order 2), Rafael Albuquerque (Huck, Prodigy), Olivier Coipel (The Magic Order), Pepe Larraz (Big Game), Dave Gibbons (Kingsman: Secret Service), and a lot more.

Most of those series work as standalone. In fact, the links to the other parts of the Millarworld are often limited to easter eggs or one-line references. However, the Big Game series is a crossover that connects a lot of the previous series (Hit Girl, Empress, Kingsman, The Chononauts, Kick-Ass, Nemesis, Huck, The Magic Order, and more). With that, the idea of reading the series in a certain order started to make sense.

Read More »Millarworld Reading Order

The Dresden Files Graphic Novels in Order

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files Graphic Novels in Order

Popular urban fantasy book series written by Jim Butcher, The Dresden Files grew beyond its initial prose to embrace other types of storytelling. The story expanded to the Graphic Novel format with adaptations of some of the books, but most notably new stories that are really part of the canon.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a professional wizard living in modern-day Chicago. He operates as a private investigator and magical consultant, offering his services to both the magical and mundane communities. In this universe, magic is real and exists alongside the ordinary world, hidden from the majority of humanity—and vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, outsiders, and other monsters are also present.

In 2008, Jim Butcher worked with Dabel Brothers Productions to create a Dresden Files graphic novel series. Everything started with a prequel story before the first novel was adapted. Published by Dynamite Entertainment, the series continued with new stories taking place between novels. They have been illustrated by Ardian Syaf, Chase Conley, Joseph Cooper, Carlos Gomez, and Diego Galindo, but all were written by Jim Butcher and Mark Powers.

Read More »The Dresden Files Graphic Novels in Order

Metamorpho: DC Comics’s Element Man, Rex Mason

  • by

Metamorpho DC Comics Elemental Man

During the mid-1960s, unconventional comic book heroes like the Doom Patrol or the Metal Men found a bit of success at DC Comics. To build some more on what seems to be a trend, writer Bob Haney and artist Ramona Fradon were asked to create a new character in the same vein. The result was Metamorpho who debuted in The Brave and the Bold #57 (January 1965).

Also known as the Element Man, Metamorpho found immediate success and started appearing in other popular comics like Justice League of America (even if he refused to become a full-time member). He also got his own ongoing comic book series but it lasted only 17 issues. However, this was by far the end of the character.

Read More »Metamorpho: DC Comics’s Element Man, Rex Mason