Giant Apes. Giant apes have been a part of the human imagination for decades, if not even longer than that. The most iconic giant ape in pop culture is, of course, King Kong, who has a brand new film out:
Kong: Skull Island, and there's even plans for him to have a rematch of sorts with Godzilla, the two titans last facing off in the 1962 Toho film
King Kong vs. Godzilla.
What does this have to do with the Man of Steel? Well, apes (giant and otherwise) have found themselves a little bit of a niche in the comic book medium, especially in the DC Universe. Thanks to the Flash television series, I'm sure a lot more people are familiar with the character of Gorilla Grodd, the super-ape who wants to take over the world because he is a gorilla supremacist. Yeah.
But we're not here to talk about Grodd. Instead, I want to give some spotlight to a lesser-known giant ape character: Titano the Super-Ape. Titano's history is very wild, mainly because of the DC Universe's penchant for reboots.
The original Silver Age version of Titano first appeared in
Superman #127 (February 1959), created by Otto Binder and Curt Swan. This Titano was a chimpanzee who was rocketed into space. In space, the chimp got exposed to radiation that grew him to giant size and gave him the power to shoot Kryptonite energy beams from his eyes. He would reappear again in
Superman #324 (June 1978).
When the
Crisis on Infinite Earths hit, Superman's entire mythos was rebooted. And despite Titano being a rather obscure character, Titano was revived, albeit with a much darker and more tragic origin. With that, let's take a look at this story.
The cover is awesome! Superman is trying to lift up the foot of Titano, who is trying to stomp on him. The angle really helps show just how big and powerful Titano truly is.
"Tears for Titano"
Writer: John Byrne (Script/Co-plotter)
Penciller: Ron Frenz (Co-plotter)
Inker: Brett Breeding (Credited as "Embellisher")
Colorist: Tom Ziuko
Editor: Mike Carlin
The story begins with a chimpanzee undergoing experimentation.
You may notice the captions on this page look a bit...odd. Like they were typed out on a typewriter. Well, that's because the captions are telling the story from Lois Lane's perspective. You'll see what I mean. Lois refers to the chimpanzee as "Titano", the name the scientists gave him as a bit of a joke.
The lead scientist is a man named Thomas Moyers, a man who had caused problems before for Superman when his work accidentally led to the creation of the supervillain
Rampage. Lane despises Moyers, especially since he has no concern for the comfort or suffering of Titano. Lane threatens to reveal that these experiments are being done in the middle of Metropolis, but Moyers counters that he's not trying to hide what he's doing at all.
The scientists remove Titano from a chamber, and Moyers remarks that Titano looks fine, Lois countering that she had seen boxers after twelve-round fights that looked better than him. A terrified Titano manages to escape from the assistant, said man noting that Titano should be zonked out, but seems faster than ever. One of the assistants manages to catch him, but Titano bites him in the hand...a hand covered by a reinforced glove.
Titano runs into the arms of Lois Lane. Moyers and the assistants panic, thinking the chimp with rip Lois's head off. However, Lois insists she's alright, and Titano ran to her because she was the only one in the room who wasn't chasing after him.
The assistants rip the chimp out of Lois's arms, Dr. Moyers intending to continue the experiments. Dr. Moyers asks Amanda Waller to 'escort' Lois out.
The scene switches to Superman, flying over Metropolis. For him, it's a slow day today, the only real crime going on today being an old lady jaywalking. Soon, he hears some trouble...after talking to the old lady about jaywalking, I'll bet. He flies down and sees a group of men robbing a bank...with a tank.
Yup. A tank.
Thankfully for the Man of Steel, this tank has no Kryptonite, so Superman engages it, and gets the wind knocked out of him. Yeah, during this time, there was an attempt to make Superman's power levels more...realistic? I'm not sure what the term to use here is, but yeah, the post-
Crisis Superman was initially far lower in power level than his Silver Age incarnation.
Anyway, Superman gets blasted into a traffic light, giving the men an opportunity to get into an armored truck and attempt a getaway.
Attempt. Superman kicks the truck into the tank, destroying both vehicles. Superman checks the robbers, and they're a bit banged up, but otherwise alright. The Metropolis Marvel then goes to see about the downed power lines. Turns out the downed wires are causing short circuits all over the nearby area...including the lab Titano is being experimented on in.
Superman checks it out and tries to rescue Titano, and the traumatized ape lashes out.
Superman notes that Titano was practically able to bite into his skin. One of the lab techs tells Superman that they need to flip the circuit breaker switch, as he can get through all the electricity to reach it. Superman is easily able to do it, but he wonder if his being zapped by electricity when he got blasted into the traffic light was responsible for him feeling that bite of Titano.
Back at the Daily Planet, Lois Lane is trying to convince Perry White to make her story on Titano front page news, but Perry shoots it down. He considers it a human interest story at best. He tells her that he does sympathize with her, but Moyers will counter that the experiments on Titano would prove beneficial on mankind in the long run. Not to mention that there would be people who would side Moyers on the debate, stating Titano's suffering would be ultimately worth it if it humans benefited. Lois decides that she'll find another way to help Titano.
Superman is helping with the evacuation of the lab, and Moyers is grumbling about the disaster when Titano lunges at him.
Titano is stopped by the shatterproof glass, but Moyers notes that Titano has seemingly grown in size. And with that size comes a new rage and ferocity. Titano busts his way through the glass, and attacks Moyers, but Superman is able to save him. Moyers screams that Titano is a mad monster. Superman tries to calm the transformed chimpanzee, but Titano isn't hearing anything of it, tackling the Man of Steel and sending them out of the building and crashing to the ground. After they land, Superman notes that Titano is growing larger.
Meanwhile, Lois is at the Metropolis Humane Society, where they tell her that they do sympathize with her, they can't do anything about it because what Moyers is doing is perfectly legal. A frustrated Lois goes to her car. In a nice touch, her narration compares her plight over helping Titano to Don Quixote fighting the windmills. Her car's radio picks up the police band, and she races off, realizing it has to be Titano.
Back to Superman. As he engages the growing ape, Moyers remarks that there may be no limit to Titano's growth. Amanda Waller tells him that there's no way to hide this now, and to report it in. Moyers does so, and reports to a group called Section Seven in the Capitol. The man who answers has his face in shadow, but we can see that one of his hands is made of metal.
In case you're wondering, this is
Sarge Steel. He was a spy/private detective character from the 1960s who would become a government official. He warns Moyers that he was to develop a super-agent, and Moyers promised that, not King Kong. Because of Titano's rampage, Moyers will be held accountable for this.
As Sarge gives his warning, Superman engages Titano, but the chimp proves to not be a chump, as is able to take what the Man of Tomorrow can throw at him...and throw it right back with change. All the battling is causing Titano to grow even larger.
The Army comes in to engage Titano, but their weapons only enrage him.
Superman flies in and convinces the man in charge to give him three minutes to try another tactic to stop Titano, and Lois Lane arrives, only to be ordered back. She spots Moyers, and figures he's the reason why she's being denied access. Superman flies at great speed into Titano's chest, winding him, I think. With great effort, the Man of Steel lifts Titano into the air, and flies him into the water. While the giant ape thrashes about in the water, Superman rips a power cable from the bridge, and tricks Titano into grabbing it. The giant chimp screams.
Lois's narration does a great job delivering the horror of hearing a scream that she described as being able to be heard ten miles away. Horrified by what she heard, she pours on the speed. Lois arrives as Superman gets Titano out of the water. Lois thinks he's dead, but Superman assures her he's only stunned. He explained he hoped the massive electrical shock would drive the energies in his body out of him. He notes that Titano's heart is slowing around Lois.
Unknown to them, Moyers and another man are preparing a futuristic bazooka-like cannon to fire. Superman notices that Titano has really calmed down, an amazing change from the enraged engine of destruction that wrecked his way through Metropolis. Lois explains it's because Titano knows he trusts her, and that this is who Titano really is, a scared chimp who sees her as his only real friend. Moyers orders the man to fire the cannon, despite the operator stating that Titano's now being docile. The cannon fires and hits the giant ape right in the chest.
Lois is horrified as Superman flies her away, Superman explaining the cannon's energy blast caused a chain reaction in Titano's body, turning it into an atomic furnace...and Titano won't be able to survive it. The chimp shrinks down to normal size.
Lois runs over to Titano, but the chimp reacts to her in fear. Lois is heartbroken by this, deducing that Titano believes he betrayed her. Superman comforts her, and reassures her it's not her fault. Moyers, ever the sensitive type, mocks the whole thing, stating it's pathetic Lois feels any pity for a creature that caused as much destruction as Titano did. Superman tells Moyers it was his fault that Titano rampaged in the first place.
Moyers is infuriated by the accusation. He states that Superman is a hypocrite, because he wrecks the city fighting supervillains, so he has no right to preach. Superman clenches his fist angrily, but Lois backs him up with a sock to the jaw that would have made Muhammad Ali proud.
Lois hears Titano call out for her, and Superman tells her he saw what she did. Moyers writes it off as Lois being crazy, stating that Titano has no feelings and can't comprehend anything because he's a chimp. Moyers clearly is no expert on these animals. Chimpanzees are actually rather intelligent. Titano dies in Lois's arms, and the comic ends with her weeping over Titano's body, holding him close. Her narration remarks that other papers talked about a monster that rampaged through Metropolis. Lois agrees, but the monster wasn't Titano. The monster was the beast that created Titano. The monster...was Man.
This story...is fantastic. "Tears for Titano" is a tragic, heartbreaking tale of exploitation and inhumanity. It's the classic "Man is the real monster" story, but it's very well done here. The art is very well-made, I have no real complaints about it. Some may poke a little fun at the outfit Lois wears, but keep in mind, this comic came out in 1987. Moyers is a bit one-dimensional, but it works here. I highly recommend getting this annual if you come across it in the back-issue bins. It can also be found in the trade paperback
Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 6.
Next time, I feel we should look at something a little more fun. So, in the spirit of that, I say we take a look at Archie Comics' take on a certain Blue Bomber...
