CINXE.COM

<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Detective Chimp </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=308 WIDTH=300 ALT="Bobo can both testify and, apparently, read! Artist: Carmine Infantino." SRC="chimp.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"><H1>DETECTIVE CHIMP</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> DC Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1952 <BR><B>Creators:</B> John Broome (writer) and Carmine Infantino (artist) <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> Bobo the chimpanzee, more familiarly known as "Detective Chimp", can ride a bicycle, play checkers, understand every word that's spoken to him, and solve crimes. So he fits right in at  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> <A HREF="dc.htm">DC Comics,</A> where <A HREF="angelape.htm">Sam Simeon</A> (a gorilla) runs a detective agency and moonlights as a <A HREF="glossary.htm#cartoonist">cartoonist,</A> Grodd (also a gorilla) is a super villain who used to antagonize <A HREF="flash2.htm">The Flash,</A> and there are <A HREF="lantern2.htm">Green Lanterns</A> that strongly resemble chipmunks and shaggy dogs. <P> Bobo learned all this with the help of trainer Fred Thorpe of Oscaloosa County, Florida. In a story written by John Broome (<A HREF="atomic_k.htm">Atomic Knights,</A> <A HREF="elongman.htm">Elongated Man</A>) and drawn by Carmine Infantino (<A HREF="bcanary.htm">Black Canary,</A> <A HREF="nova.htm">Nova</A>), Thorpe was murdered, and Bobo helped Oscaloosa Sheriff Edward Case bring in his killer. It appeared in the back pages of <I><A HREF="rex.htm">Rex the Wonder Dog</A></I> (which starred another animal with incredible abilities) #4 (August, 1952). Broome and Infantino had earlier collaborated on the creation of <A HREF="capcomet.htm">Captain Comet,</A> and their <A HREF="phanstrn.htm">The Phantom Stranger</A> came out contemporaneously with Bobo. Later, they collaborated on <A HREF="kidflash.htm">Kid Flash.</A> <P> From then on, Case and Bobo were a team, and it's hard to be sure which was the more valuable member. They skipped #5, but from #6 on, tracked down crooks and put them behind bars in every issue of Rex's comic until 1959, when the title bit the dust. But after that, they weren't so much as mentioned in a DC comic book for decades. They didn't even show up in <I><A HREF="jla.htm">Justice League of America</A></I> #144 (July, 1977), where <A HREF="vig-1.htm">Vigilante,</A> <A HREF="robotmn1.htm">Robotman,</A> <A HREF="chalngrs.htm">The Challengers of the Unknown</A> and practically every other 1950s DC-owned adventure hero got together, even Rex. <P> After a brief cameo in <I><A href="earth1-2.htm">Crisis on Infinite Earths</A></I> in 1986, Bobo was finally brought back in <I>Secret Origins</I> #40 (May, 1989). Apparently unable to accept such a character on his own terms, writers Andy Helfer and Rusty Wells, with artist Mark Badger, gave him a <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">superhero</A>-style origin. Back in Africa, before he was captured and sent to Florida, a couple of teeny-weeny but otherwise chimp-like aliens named Y-Nad and K-Ram got inside Bobo's brain and modified it from within. This made it easy for him to benefit from Thorpe's training. Later, he and and the star of his original venue, Rex, found the Fountain of Youth, which explains why they're both so active after all these decades. But to avoid complication, they wouldn't be able to find it again. <P> Now fluent in several languages (despite the fact that those aliens did nothing to his larynx), Bobo lives off of his investments, but still dabbles in detective work and sometimes works with the U.S. government's Bureau of Amplified Animals. For a long time he made only occasional appearances in comic books, functioning as just one more oddball facet of the DC <A HREF="glossary.htm#universe">Universe.</A> More recently, tho, he's been hanging around with <A HREF="bluedevl.htm">Blue Devil,</A> <A HREF="blorch-2.htm">Black Orchid</A> and other series-less DC characters, as part of Shadowpact. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE> <P> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#cccccc"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25gry.gif" border="0" alt="Google"></img></a> <br/> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.toonopedia.com"></input> <input type="text" name="q" size="23" maxlength="255" value=""></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value=""></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font> </td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.toonopedia.com" checked="checked"></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">www.toonopedia.com</font> </td> </tr> </table> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-1498877845272586"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>  <FONT SIZE=2><P> <P></FONT> <A HREF="boutique/dc-arch.htm">Purchase DC Comics Archive Editions Online</A> <P><A HREF="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?wickedcoolstuff+e2VdY2+dccomics.html+" TARGET="_blank">Purchase DC Comics Merchandise Online</A> </TABLE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2><I>Text ©2005-10 Donald D. Markstein. Art © DC Comics.</I> </BODY></HTML>