Before I talk about the story in this book I must go back a bit. When I was a teenager, I first discovered Congo Bill in a comic book quarter bin (yay!) at a flea market. In this particular issue, a team-up story of Superman and a bunch of lost-to-time second-banana comic-characters, Congo Bill appeared as a later version of himself: the ape with his human mind- Congorilla!
I found this tale fascinating! Long before the internet, it was always and adventure finding out who these "forgotten heroes" were. You have several layers of characters in comics. You have your heavy hitters, the ones everyone knows: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Then you have your minor league characters who, if you are just a casual reader, you'd come across quite regularly, like Zatanna or the Elongated Man. Finally, there are the ones you could find in the back of dusty, smelly comic boxes in some nerd's basement, who may have been popular at one point, maybe even had their own comics- but have since become relics of history. Congo Bill was one of those! And like I said just before, getting to know the background and history of characters like him posed a challenge at the time. No wikipedia or google search engine to type into. You had to piece it together only using comics that became available by chance.
So who is this Congo Bill???
He was your basic jodhpur and pith helmet-wearing jungle-adventurer with a mustache who just happened to be published in one comic or another by DC Comics for more than 20 years. He first appeared in an issue of More Fun Comics in 1940 and then jumped around title to title.
I guess he was popular enough, or the right person liked him, that he even starred in his own 15-part motion picture serial, released by Columbia Pictures in 1949.
In 1954 Congo Bill even had his own comic title for a while, and gained a partner in Janu, the Jungle Boy who was living wild in the jungle since the death of his jungle guide father. Bill's life changed dramatically in 1959, the new age of super-heroes, when he was given a ring by a dying tribal chief that gave him the power to switch bodies with a giant golden gorilla!
For the next couple of years he was known as Congorilla, and he would defend Africa against evil by locking himself in a cage, rubbing his gorilla ring and telepathically swapping bodies with that golden beast! Janu would babysit his human body, which now had the mind of that gorilla! I hope Janu got paid well and got a chance to raid the fridge!
Although, originally published in Congo Bill #6 (June/July 1955), "Gorilla City!" took place before all the late 50s Congorilla zaniness-- Congo Bill still seemed to have one wacked-out life! Basically, all you need to know is that Congo Bill and Janu see something light up the sky one night, are kidnapped by gorillas the next morning, find out the gorillas can talk and fix clocks, help their captors find a radioactive box, and after the gorillas leave realize that they were really Martians!
What interests me about this story in particular is the appearance of Janu. First of all, I must mention, the story is illustrated by the great Nick Cardy, who later went on to draw the Aquaman and Teen Titans series in the 1960s. Here Janu looks a whole lot like Aqualad (who would be created a few years later)! But what I noticed is his skin color. I was reading this tale on a bus-ride home, and as I was reading something didn't seem quite right. It wasn't until I got home, and googled Janu that I could put my finger on it:
Janu kind of changed races!
I already figured out that all the stories have been re-colored and appear differently than when they were first published; however, this must have been some editorial edict saying Janu is from Africa, he must appear African- even, if he was drawn Caucasian. Anyway, whatever! Black or white, Janu steals the show with his dim-witted jungle-talk comedy:
Ending this entry with some jungle humor:
Watch out, newly black-Janu!
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