Gorilla City

Gorilla City
Gorilla City as seen in The Flash vol. 2 #242, artist Freddie E. William
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	The Flash vol. 1, #106 (April 1959)
Created by	John Broome (writer) Carmine Infantino (artist)
In story information
Type	City
Notable people	King Nnamdi King Solovar Gorilla Grodd
Notable races	Super-Simians

Gorilla City is a fictional city in the DC Comics Universe. The city, hidden in the jungles of Africa, is home to a race of super-intelligent gorillas, that gained their powers from a meteorite. The supervillain Gorilla Grodd is also from the city.^[1] Gorilla City first appears in The Flash vol. 1 #106, (April 1959) and was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.

Publication history

While the current version of Gorilla City debuted in The Flash vol. 1 #106, the very first appearance of a location identified as Gorilla City occurred four years earlier in Congo Bill vol. 1 #6 (July 1955), by George Kashdan and Nick Cardy. The intelligent Gorillas in this story came from a "two mooned world" that Congo Bill assumed to be Mars.

Fictional location history

After an alien spacecraft crashes into the jungles of Africa, local gorillas become hyper-intelligent and acquire telepathic abilities. These gorillas form Gorilla City. The city led by Solovar quickly creates technology far surpassing that of humanity and cloaks itself from human society. Flash first finds out about the city due to Gorilla Grodd, who probed Solovar's mind to find how to control minds, before trying to take over Gorilla City, then the world. However Flash defeated him. Gorilla Grodd took over the city briefly using neo-magnetic radiation. The radiation caused the rest of the gorillas to adore him, and they made him their king.^[2]

During JLA Annual #3 (the JLApes storyline), Gorilla City reveals itself to the world and joins the United Nations. However Solovar was killed by a bomb apparently set off by human terroists.^[3]

Known residents

• King Nnamdi - son of Solovar and current king of Gorilla City, he is telepathic like his father, isolationist.
• King Solovar - deceased king of Gorilla City, he was a powerful telepath like Grodd, before being murdered by him.
• King Ulgo - nephew of Solovar and his murderer, the intermediary successor before Nnamdi, not a telepath. He tried to use a device that turned humans into Gorillas, even transforming the JLA, but they were able to reverse the process.
• Doctor Zaius - science advisor and lead biologist for the Human Defense Corps.^[4][5]
• Gorilla Grodd - an outcast from Gorilla City and a powerful telepath, who learnt how to control minds by probing Solovar's mind, and was the first recurring foe of the second Flash. He plans to rule Gorilla City and the Earth.^[2]
• Kamau - gorilla friend of Nnamdi.^[6]
• Malavar - smartest ape in Gorilla City, introduced in Starman/Congorilla #1.^[7]
• Nzame - young telepathic white ape with healing powers.^[8]
• Primat - a female Gorilla, and a member of the Dreambound from the Trinity maxi-series.^[9]
• Queen Boka - wife of Solovar, mother of Nnamdi.^[10][11]
• Sam Simeon - grandson of Gorilla Grodd uses his telepathic powers to run a detective agency in Angel and the Ape.
• Tolifhar - leader of a group of white furred Gorilla Knights allied with Wonder Woman.^[12]

Flashpoint

In Flashpoint Grodd rules Gorilla City and has taken over Africa, killing many humans in the process.

In other media

Television

• Gorilla City appeared in the Challenge of the Super Friends episode "Revenge on Gorilla City," where Grodd tries to take it over.
• Gorilla City appeared in the Justice League episode "The Brave and the Bold." It was seen again in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Dead Reckoning."

Video games

• Gorilla City appeared in Justice League Heroes.

Music

• A song called "Gorilla City" appears on nerd rock band Ookla the Mok's space monkey rock opera "Smell No Evil."

See also

• Congorilla
• Detective Chimp
• Kar-Han the Octi-Ape^[13]
• Karmak the Living Beast-Bomb^[14]
• Mod Gorilla Boss^[15]
• Mogo The Bat-Ape^[16]
• Monsieur Mallah
• Sgt. Gorilla^[17]
• Taro, the Gorilla Witch^[18]
• Ultra-Humanite
• Yango, the Super-Ape^[19]

References

1. ^ Beatty, Scott (2008), "Gorilla Grodd", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 141, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017 
2. ^ ^{a b} The Flash vol. 1 #127 (March 1962)
3. ^ JLA Annual #3 (September 1999)
4. ^ Human Defense Corps #2 (August 2003)
5. ^ "Human Defense Corps #2". Dcuguide.com. 2003-08-02. http://www.dcuguide.com/HDC/HDC_002.php. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
6. ^ Flash vol. 2 #194 (March 2003)
7. ^ Starman/Congorilla #1 (March 2011)
8. ^ Justice League of America vol. 2 #9 (July 2007)
9. ^ Trinity #8 (July 2008)
10. ^ Flash #127 (March 1962)
11. ^ http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Boka_(New_Earth)
12. ^ Wonder Woman #14 (January 2008)
13. ^ http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2008/08/monkey-business-beware-the-octi-ape.html Blackhawk #152 (September 1960)
14. ^ http://www.lethargiclad.com/gorilla/dc339.html Detective Comics #339 (May 1965)
15. ^ "The World'S Greatest Comic Blogazine". Dial B For Blog. http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/183/. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
16. ^ http://ibelieveinbatmite.blogspot.com/2009/09/bat-ape.html Batman #114 (March 1958)
17. ^ "Sgt Gorilla! « Gorilla Daze". Thefifthbranch.com. 2010-01-10. http://www.thefifthbranch.com/gorilladaze/?p=967. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
18. ^ ""Beware The Gorilla Witch" TM and (C) DC Comics". Beaucoupkevin.com. http://www.beaucoupkevin.com/gorilla_witch/index.html. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
19. ^ "Yango! Yango! Superboy vs Gorilla! « Gorilla Daze". Thefifthbranch.com. 2010-04-22. http://www.thefifthbranch.com/gorilladaze/?p=1044. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 

External links

• Comic Coverage: Monkey Business - The Great Apes, Monkeys and Gorillas of DC Comics
• DC Database: Gorilla City
• DC Database: Solovar
• DC Database: Nzame
• DCU Guide: Solovar