The Detective Chimp Casebook

by John Broome, Various, Carmine Infantino (Illustrator)

Bruce isn’t the only sleuth who knows how to swing across Gotham!

Detective Chimp collects Amazing World of DC Comics #1, DC Comics Presents #35, DC Special #1, Tarzan #231 and #234-235, The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4, #6-46, and Who's The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #6!

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Comix, Fiction

280 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2023

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...

Reviews

[Norman Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

These early adventures of Detective Chimp are a quaint look at the state of comic books in the 1950s when the Comic Code forced publishers to tone down their luridness. Here, Bobo the chimp is simply a smarter than average animal (and often smarter than his owner, a Florida sheriff). This is not the modern Detective Chimp who can talk and is the world's greatest sleuth. The stories in this volume are mostly 6-page backups from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog that follow a repetitious formula (I admit I skimmed a large portion of the stories as a result). As the series progresses, Bobo becomes more humanized, even typing out some of his adventures for his readers, but never able to reach full sentience. The stories are bland and predictable, but they give us a glimpse of Detective Chimp's origins. The artwork by Carmine Infantino is good, solid journeyman work, but nothing special. Some of the later stories show Bobo with a very elongated snout, which I think looks ridiculous.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining series of stories from DC Comics of the 1950s, when comics weren't worried about being silly as long as good stories were being told. Bobo the chimp belongs to the sheriff of a county in Florida, with the chimp acting as a sort of unofficial deputy. Bobo solves crimes and then often ends up dodging the crooks until the sheriff arrives to make an arrest.

The stories were all five or six pages long, with each tale establishing the premise quickly and effectively, then letting Bobo solve the murder/stop a robbery/catch a fugitive. He might have to dodge bullets at some point (crooks often were armed with pistols Bobo thought of as "bing bang sticks"), but he would improvise tactics to avoid death until the crooks were caught.

The stories seem to fit into two general catagories. In some, Bobo seems to clearly understand human speech and spots tiny clues that the sheriff misses. In others, Bobo misunderstands much of what he hears, stumbles across the crime and clues, and often catches the villains with without meaning to do so.

In either case, the stories are more fun than a barrel of non-detective monkeys. In more modern comics, Bobo was given a more complex backstory to "logically" explain his abilities, but this was never necessary. He's a chimp--he's smarter than average for a chimp--and he solves crime. That's all that was ever necessary.

[John Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, clean fun from the 1950s, America's peak comic book decade. Now, when do we get a Rex The Wonder Dog omnibus?

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming silver age nonsense, with surprisingly great art from Infantino.

[John Reimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a very fun read going over the early cases of detective chimp. Had me laughing through the entire read

[Steven Heywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slight tales told with economy, wit and charm.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 3 out of 5]

You've read Curious George, haven't you? Wouldn't you like it if he ::sorta:: solved crime?

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

On my list of 'Would love to read, but they are never going to collect it' series.
Was pleasantly surprised to stumble across this on amazon.

A Florida sheriff adopts a smarter than average chimp, after Bobo helps him solve a murder.
Bobo becomes his unofficial deputy and crime solving hijinks ensue.

Quaint, with a goofy charm. It reads like a Saturday morning cartoon.
Can be formulaic, so you won't want to try and read it in one sitting, but isn't trying to do more than appeal to kids.
Great art and the two leads are likable.

Really prefer this version of Detective Chimp to the 'Howard the duck meets Philip Marlowe' modern version.