Fantastic Five: The Top Five Gorillas in Comics

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics.

This week we're taking a look at our primate brethren, who were once so popular as a topic in comics that putting a gorilla on a cover could guarantee an increase in sales. Gorillas have worn many hats in comics, both figurative and literal, from hero to villain to valet to secretary. Here are a few of the very best.

Show notes:

See the Ultra-Humanite get his ape body in Justice League of America #195.
B'wana Beast and Djuba feature prominently in Grant Morrison and Chas Truog's Animal Man.
If you've never read Sky Ape, I recommend it.
Check out Ken Hale in Agents of Atlas.
Titano appears throughout the Showcase Presents Superman series.
Grodd and Solovar are regularly recurring characters in the Flash Omnibus.
Mallah's earliest appearances are collected in Showcase Presents The Doom Patrol.
Though I am loath to admit I forgot something, I probably should have mentioned Axwell Tiberius from Monkeyman and O'Brien and Judy from Dr McNinja.