Thursday 9 July 2009

Quickie Follow-Up

Two brief things. First of all, in answer to my query about whether Hesperus Press still exists, I'm told by one who works there that "We are still very much in business – our website is currently being redesigned and will be launched very soon."

Secondly, when I posted a whole bunch of peculiar covers with gorillas on them, I neglected to include Six-Gun Gorilla, rediscovered by Jess Nevins, and described by him like this: "the Six-Gun Gorilla appeared in Adventure and Wizard in 1926 (I think). I do not know who created him. O'Neil was an actual gorilla, who had been trapped as a baby, brought to the States, and sold to Johnson, a Colorado prospector. Johnson, a kind man, treated O'Neil very well. He also taught O'Neil how to dig, fetch firewood, haul up buckets of water, cook, clean, and (oh dear) load and fire a revolver. Naturally, when Johnson is murdered for what he knows about "the great motherlode," O'Neil ooks revenge. He straps on a bandolier and two six-shooters and begins tracking the thieves across a hundred miles of Colorado mountains and badlands. He picks them off one by one, meanwhile discovering a talent for holding up stagecoaches and using them to chase fleeing gunmen."

Rejoice in the majesty of O'Neil.

2 comments:

Bully said...

I was in the New York City branch of The Conran Design Shop this weekend, and they have large mounted silkscreened canvases of vintage British comic covers for sale...including that exact cover of Six Gun Gorilla. It was on sale! Sadly, well still out of my price range: $600, marked down to $270.

JRSM said...

That is so bizarre--and suddenly it's something I want!