Superboy #172
Published and © by DC, March 1971
Title: “The World of the Super-Ape!”
Synopsis: Superboy discovers he wasn’t the only survivor to escape from Krypton when he tangles with Yango the Super-Ape.
Writer: Frank Robbins
Penciler: Bob Brown
Inker: Murphy Anderson
Review: Oh, DC. Your fascination with super-apes was weird then and stranger still in hindsight. Frank Robbins’ story is straight out of the Silver Age, with little thought given to the ramifications of a hyper-intelligent, super-primate living secretly in Kenya. Bob Brown and Murphy Anderson’s art has a nice, Sunday-adventure-strip polish.
•••
Title: “Brotherly Hate!”
Synopsis: The Ranzz twins (along with Timber Wolf) keep it in the family as they hunt down their brother, Mekt.
Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell
Artist: George Tuska
Review: You wouldn’t know it from this innocuous Legion-backup debut but Superboy’s days were now numbered in his own book.
Grade (for the entire issue): C+
Second opinion: “A grubby little item … memorable only for strikingly bad Tuska art.” – Howard Stangroom, talking about the Legion story, from Comics Unlimited #39, September 1976 … “(The Legion backup) was an uneventful story, but succeeded in reviving interest in the group.” – The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide (second edition), 2003
Cool factor: Long live the Legion! And love that Neal Adams cover!
Not-so-cool factor: How many super-apes does one company need?
Notable: First regular appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the pages of Superboy. … According to the annual statement of ownership on the “Smallville Mailsack” letters page, Superboy had an average total paid circulation of 377,525 for the 12 months preceding Oct. 1, 1970.
Character quotable: “You chose to protect our animal world – and teach thoughtless men a needed lesson! And in that – count me in as your ally!” – Superboy, not really thinking through the whole super-ape thing
Editor’s note: This review was written Feb. 15, 2024.
