Guy gets groomed by baby mountain gorillas

...all the while a big a$$ silverback is watching over the young ones!

Here's a pretty impressive video:



Such an amazing encounter, and the man totally assured here.
'guy stayed calm all the while. Top notch reaction!
I'm sure other people would have gotten scared and react totally different in the same situation.

I guess this was the smarter move, stay still while the troop of wild gorillas "visited the humans" :P

ComicPageOfTheWeekend: Hal's a pretty smart guy

(Click for bigger pic)

JLA © DC Comics

CBR Angel & The Ape (2001)

 

Do you know or remember Angel & The Ape?
You know, that comedic detective duo, created for back-up stories then given their own title before disappearing into obscurity?

They had a pretty neat mini-series in the early 90s, which I reviewed already!
Then they disappeared into obscurity again...

Well, in the 2000s, thanks to the success to the various genres covered by the in-print Vertigo Comics, DC decided to give those guys another try.
Was it any good? Was it any fun? What did these fools do to our beloved unknown characters? Is this another grim & gritty reboot? Let's check it out!

Comic title: Angel & The Ape 
Art by Philip Bond
Story by Howard Chaykin & David Tischmanv

Published by Vertigo Comics
From 2001-02
Lineup Angel & The Ape
Format: Four issues run of a second Angel & The Ape mini-series in the 2000s.

"Angel & The Ape 2001" as I like to call it, is another revival of the dynamic detective duo. Nooo! Not "ol' batty pointy ears and the boy wonder".
Angel and the Ape!
The sassy blond haired girl and her pal the cartoonist gorilla!

Yeah, I did had the same expression on my face the first time I heard about them!

Anyways,
This new take was done through Vertigo, as many successful revival of old silver age DC IPs had gone through in order to please the ever more demanding comic book crown in our modern times. (Sandman, Zatanna, Animal Man, etc..)
The Vertigo in-print, like their rival's Marvel Knights, allowed to use their traditionall characters under a new light, a more adult tone, characters swearing, nudity, etc..
How did such a new direction influence the family-friendly Angel and Ape?

(note: nowadays, Vertigo Comics has turned into DC's publishing brand for creator-owned material. Which forced all of those "Vertigo characters" such as Sandman, The Shade or Constantine to be now printed back under the DC Comics banner)

They're back! And most parts is much of the same, the rest..

She is Angel O'Day. A brilliant young detective, with a sassy mouth and a taste for fashion clothes.
He is Sam Simeon. Her part-time co-detective, a cartoonist and, yes, he is a gorilla.
This new case takes our angel and ape out on the streets, on the tracks of a mysterious sexy murder case.

While Angel was getting ready for her best girlfriend's wedding and Sam was finally seeing some success with his current comic strip - called Hey, Boy and Miss Thing - their tiny sized secretary, an always-angry gal called B.J. (no kidding!) brought them a brand new case.
It was none other than the famous Torso Von Morso, CEO of Pindar's of North Hollywood. A super-popular lingerie collection magazine. (hey! Sam didn't knew those..he, huh, needed those for research! yeah!)
Bambi Dextrous, their most popular model was....killed and the body missing!

Shake it baby!

While not really vastly different in spirit, this new take on Angel & The Ape did feature a completely different tone from their old comics.

What is good is that Howard Chaykin & David Tischmanv did craft a perfect and fun detective story.
(and asreader of European detective comics usually, I'd say this was a great and faithful entry to the genre!)
There's a sense of mystery and wonder as you will find yourself turning page after page.

And it isn't taking itself seriously.
They're still very much the same Angel and Ape from old.
She's still a fun and bright character, badass when she needs to and smart in all occasions.
He's still the same bumbling, funny, strong yet timid gorilla as in the past.
He's now working full time as a detective and a cartoonist the rest of his free time, his comic work do take some signifiance at various points.

There's lot of interesting and intriguing characters in the supporting cast. You will probably find yourself trying to guess which one commited the murder.
There's great guys like Angel & Ape's ally the Detective Komicz (ha!). Our persons of interest consist of various colorful suspect, such as strippers, an over zealous boss, a creepy peeping tom fanboy,..

Despite the beautiful sort of-realistic covers by Art Adams, it still is a very cartoony comic book.
And not that far from the original Angel & The Ape stories. Only more mature and suggestive.

It actually fully embraces its silly premises and is quite aware of it.
There's a lot of meta-jokes. References, nods to other comics, allusions to usual Vertigo Comics gritty remakes of old comic book proprieties (through Sam's own in-comic comic)...

Philip Bond's artwork is gorgeous!
It suits our detective duo perfectly! Characters look great, are quite expressive and all full of personality. Sam looks a bit cartoonier and fits him just as well.

Overall, it's a fantastic read!
Fun, brilliant and just well handled enough to make you like these characters have you been an Angel & The ape-detractor.

It embraces the sexy undertone that was already present in the original back-up stories.
The plot and mystery are interesting, so are the colorful faces that inhabits this story.

The only odd factor that came off to me at first was seeing Sam not talk the entire story. Not that anyway notices or makes allusion to that. Just that he didn't get to or need to talk the entire story!!
But he was such a expression and well represented character that I kinda forgot about it during the mini-series!

A recommended read, for fans and newcomers alike!

I give it:

  2.5 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

CBR Angel & The Ape (1991)

 

Here's an oldie but a goodie.

They sure do love their talking gorillas in comic books :P

Comic title: Angel & The Ape 
Art by Phil Foglio & Keith Wilson
Story by Phil Foglio

Published by DC Comics
From 1991
Lineup Angel & The Ape
Format: Four issues run of a '90s Angel & The Ape mini-series.

Angel & The Ape was originally a comic strip series from DC, created as filler/back-up stories for Showcase in '68 by cartoonist E. Nelson Bridwell.
The characters never truly went big of popular but they manage to have their own share of loyal fans to follow them nonetheless.

Their stories were comedic "detective" stories. This Angel and "The Ape" being a duo of private investigators.
Then they were offered a very short-lived series of their own around the 1970, until the series drop "The Ape" of its title to become Meet Angel simply.

In this review, I'll talk about the '91 mini by Phil Foglio who reintroduced these characters, and fully grounded in the larger DC Universe.

Meet our heroes, Angel and "The Ape"!

Our story opens with a flashback of sorts, as a young Angel O'Day discovers a mysterious talking gorilla, while in an expedition in the jungle with her dad Professor Theo O'Day.
The gentle gorilla was quickly adopted and became part of the O'Day family, you see, our heroine grew up with this ape they dubbed Sam Simeon.

Now, in the present, Angel and Sam manage a little Detective Agency, O'Day and Simeon's.

And they are far from your usual boring stereotypical detectives.
Angel is a beautiful blonde detective lady who swore she would never become a "damsel in distress", she's quite a good martial artists as well and is the brains of this operation.
Our big gorilla, Sam, is a great character. The muscle of the O'Day and Simeon's partnership, Sam dreams of making it big into comic books and draws cartoons for DZ Comics.

One day, she would marry Ambush Bug..but that is a tale for another day...

This series is a return in due form for Angel and Sam.
It is a comedic comic book mini, zany and fun. The art by Phil Foglio is quite cartoony and suits these characters perfectly.

The story follows our Angel & Ape as they interact with some of the DCU in their corner of the company.
An on-going mystery drives our characters as some light reveals some of their past.

Angel is actually the half-sister of Dumb Bunny, another comedic character from DC, a super strong simple minded and naive heroine.
The rest of her gang, the Inferior Five do actually also appear in the book and are quite well used in the overall plot.
Meanwhile, Gorilla Grodd, a famous and formidable foe of The Flash and the Justice League has is eyes set on Sam and has some plans of his own in the future for his...grandson?!

The story ties nicely our detective duo to other elements of the DC Universe and perfectly naturally.
Nothing is really forced, the story is entertaining. Humor and adventure at its finest!

It is a nice comedic title and doesn't take itself too seriously, and yet it does a great job establishing our heroes, their origin, their current situation, etc.
It tries to make some sense of the original comic strips from the 60s, like the fact Sam is a talking gorilla from Gorilla City and also has/uses mental powers like Grodd to live amongst humans undetected. (in the original comic strips, it was a fact simply ignored since it wasn't really serious stories)

I really like these characters. They're some true underdogs of the DCU, which unlike Ambush Bug or the Metal Men for example don't get much cameos in other titles/adaptations in cartoons.
The concept behind them is truly a Silver Age origin in fashion and terms.

Some elements are mentioned but barely touched upon in the course of these four issues.
I would have liked if the fact Sam wants to follow his dream in "man's world" of being a comic book artist could have had some role in story...but I guess that's the kinda thread left open the creative teams would have used had this comic been turned in a regular on-going series.
(which was actually the plan behind this mini afteral in fact, a test run like many other minis from DC of that time)

Overall, it a lovely entertaining little mini-series.
If you can't find the original comic strips (no reprints!), this serves as a great introduction to these characters.
And one of their rare and only appearances anyway!

The story is fun and makes a great use of the larger DCU, if you're interested in that sort of stuff!
(clever Green Lantern tie-in with the plot!)
The characters had other little cameos, once or twice, outside this story. Backgrounds mostly.
Also a funny "in-story" movie based on them Clark Kent and Lois Lane went to see if I remember correctly.

It was wacky and humorous.
But sadly no on-going followed it...

Angel and Sam were given another mini-series more recently in the 2000s, but we'll see that another time....
(a Vertigo mini-series by Howard Chaykin, David Tischman and Philip Bond)

It's exactly the kind of comics that is seriously lacking in the industry these days.
Specially in DC's current lineup with this DCnU revamp/relaunch-thingie "The New 52".
If you come across some old issues in bargain bins or on ebay, don't hesitate. Give it a try ;)

I give it:

  2 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

A Gorilla with a camera

Here's a Gorilla using a camera:



From UK's Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.