Several super-simians have complicated Clark Kent’s life over the years.
He tangled with the massive escaped gorilla Gigantic in the 1942 movie cartoon Terror on the Midway. Then in July 1956, he confronted the tragic Super-Ape from Krypton (Action Comics 218). And in October 1959, Superbaby had to deal with the annoying Super-Monkey (Superboy 76).
But towering above them all was Titano.
A King Kong clone, Titano first appeared under the name of “Big Boy” in the Superman Sunday newspaper strip story that ran from March 9 to June 15, 1958.
In that story by artist Wayne Boring, a chimp in a space capsule, having been exposed to cosmic rays and kryptonite gas, gives Superman and Lois Lane a rough time with his ever-increasing size and kryptonite vision. The crisis is resolved humanely, with the promise that Big Boy’s strange condition will wear off.
He showed up in comic books shortly thereafter, now under the name Titano, in a story by Boring and writer Otto Binder (Superman 127, Feb. 1959).
“In addition to offering the spectacle of a giant ape trashing Metropolis, what makes Titano stories enjoyable is their offering Lois Lane an all-too-infrequent opportunity to work alongside Superman, and to share more fully his triumphs and tragedies,” observed Joseph McCabe and Mark Waid.
Although safely deposited in the prehistoric past, the popular menace managed to return the next year to once again threaten Metropolis (Superman 138, July 1960).
Titano had a cameo appearance in Superman Meets Al Capone! (Superman 142, Jan. 1961). Everybody’s favorite super-dog had a go at him in Krypto Battles Titano (Superman 147, Aug. 1961). A Bizarro Titano showed up (Adventure Comics 295, April 1962).
The ape even suffered the humiliation of co-starring with the Kryptonian Flame Dragon in a giant monster movie made by Superman’s pal (Jimmy Olsen 84, April 1965).
Titano’s career was an old story for Hollywood monsters. You start out being scary and you end up playing comedy.
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| Titano began as "Big Boy" in the Superman newspaper comic strip. |
Cheryl Spoehr said: That Jimmy Olsen story is my fav. It is so odd that Jimmy is almost a clone of real world "Misunderstood" movie maker Ed Wood, right down to the cross dressing! And Jimmy's attempts to shoot without script, followed by all the problems, reminds me of Ray Dennis Steckler and his movies!
ReplyDeletePul Zuckerman wrote: I didn't see King Kong until a few years later when it showed up along with Son of Kong on Million Dollar Movie on NY's Channel 9, then WOR. MDM's theme song was embedded in my brain about a decade before I found out that it was Tara's theme from Gone with the WInd.
ReplyDeleteMDM was like going to the movies. There was always another showing. Abbott and Costello and the Kong movies were regular features. If you missed the beginning at one o'clock, tune back in at three.
DC loved gorillas in the 50s and the 60s. Apparently, they always sold great guns. Some months, the editors probably fought over who was going to get a gorilla cover. I understand that one of Grodd's early appearances couldn't get a cover because another editor had glomed the cover spotlight that month.
I have to admit that they got me. I loved Titano. Another one of those semi-tragic characters that populated Wesinger's books. The Super Ape from Krypton was really sad, though. I think it was the first story that showed what dying from kryptonite was like.
One of my favorites from the 50s was the cover of House of Secrets 4, which I found sitting with a pile of other comics by my garbage can. around 1964 or so. You can be sure that I retrieved that stack of books! What did you say? There is no gorilla on that cover? That's what you think!
Mark Engblom wrote: It was an interesting glimpse into the real fears of early space travel. Echoed a few years later in Fantastic Four #1, it was a common fear that the unknown reaches of outer space could affect animal or human voyagers in ways nobody could yet imagine. Granted, Big Boy’s exposure to both cosmic rays AND Kryptonite was a stretch even by Silver Age standards, but in some odd way, it still must have felt topical and relevant to the people of the early Space Age (particularly the child readers of comic books).
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