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| OF GORILLAS AND HULKS BY DAVE GOODE |
When you talk about gorilla artists in the Silver Age of Comics the conversation usually begins with Carmine Infantino. And rightfully so. But for my money the best ape artist of the era was Steve Ditko. Nobody drew a gorilla quite like Ditko. Ditko's best known gorilla was the giant ape Konga. Charlton's KONGA comic book was a sequel of sorts to the British horror movie KONGA (1961) distributed by AIP. Oddly enough the comic book adaptation appeared in June 1960, nearly a year before the movie was released. The second issue cover dated August 1961, written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Ditko more or less took up where the movie ended. And the series has become something of a cult favorite. Fondly remembered by Silver Age readers.
Ditko would team up with another titan of the era, Jack Kirby,
inking the pencils of the man known to comic book readers as the "King"
on THE INCREDIBLE HULK No.2 (July 1962). Page one of that story has
one of my favorite illustrations of the Hulk.
In it the green Goliath looks like nothing so much as the
personification of brute force. And reminds one that in his first
appearance the Hulk was mistaken for both a bear and a gorilla.
Kirby
and Ditko would team again on FANTASTIC FOUR No.13 (April 1963). This was the issue that introduced readers to the menace of the Red
Ghost and his Super-Apes. For the record the communist villain's
anthropoid minions were a baboon, an orangutan and a gorilla. This was a
really fun story that I wish the art chores
had been switched with Ditko doing the pencils.
And when the character
Kraven the Hunter was introduced in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 15 (Aug. 1964) Ditko had him battling a pair of escaped gorillas as only
Ditko could. Nobody drew a fight scene quite
like Ditko either.
My favorite issue on the original run of the Hulk's comic book came
in the sixth and final issue cover dated March 1963. In this story the
Hulk faces the Metal Master. With Dick Ayers inking Ditko pencils the
Hulk in his purple trunks resembles a professional
wrestler. The massive Bruno Sammartino or Dick the Bruiser come to
mind. On further examination Ditko gave this Hulk the same physique he
gave to his gorillas. But with much thicker legs. It gave the Hulk the
look of being shorter. Except for when he was standing
next to something or someone to give him scale. By the way gorillas
generally measure about 5' 8" inches in height and weigh in at about
450 pounds. Seven foot tall, 800 pound gorillas can only be found in
movies and sometimes comic books.
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