Tomahawk and the Great Ape

I bought this issue of Tomahawk for two reasons: to read during Western comics month and because it has a GIANT gorilla on the cover with a bow and arrow.

I personally am not familiar with the Tomahawk character, or the rangers he leads during the War of Independence; I am just a sucker for a giant ape in a comic.

The story is a wild adventure in which Tomahawk and his rangers meet up with a tribe of Native Americans who just happen to have adopted a giant gorilla. It seems that an old white man, while sick and weary, stumbled into the Natives’ camp along with a great ape he had brought back from Africa. After the Natives had nursed him back to good health, he explained that the gorilla was his companion and he was training him. He soon died, and the Natives adopted the ape. They continued to domesticate the gorilla, even teaching it to hunt with their weapons.

Once we get the backstory wrapped up, British soldiers and the evil Thunder-Man attack Tomahawk, the rangers, Natives, and gorilla, eventually defeating them with electric bolts that he can fire from his hands. Thunder-Man and the soldiers build a rack to drag the giant gorilla back to Thunder-Man’s castle. At the castle, Thunder-Man uses metal rods to attract lightning, à la Doctor Frankenstein, to shock the gorilla and turn him evil.

When Tomahawk and his rangers recover, they go off to rescue the gorilla and stop Thunder-Man and the British soldiers. When they reach the castle, a battle ensues and, sure enough, the gorilla has been turned to the British side and it attacks the rangers. After Thunder-Man explains his villainous plot, the rangers get the idea to shock the gorilla again and turn him back to their side. Of course, this works; Thunder-Man and the British soldiers are stopped, and the gorilla returns to his adopted tribe of Native Americans.

When I bought this comic, I had no idea the story would be so crazy; I just wanted to see how the creators were going to work a giant gorilla into a story. This was definitely worth 12 cents in 1966 and 5 dollars when I picked it up last year.