Angel and the Ape #1 Poster (1968) Bob Oksner

Description

Who are they…what are they? asks the cover to Angel and the Ape #1, one of DC’s occasional experiments with zany “hippie” humor. Unfortunately, the interior contents do not supply an answer to either question. From what can be pieced together from subsequent issues, Angel and the Ape were Angel O’Day and Sam Simeon, a brilliant polymath and her loutish gorilla companion, partners in the O’Day and Simeon Detective Agency. Sam draws comics on the side and talks in gibberish that only Angel can understand, while Angel struggles to pay the rent and seeks out fresh opportunities for sleuthing. In this issue, she starts a new job as a cage dancer, while Sam takes a meeting with Stan Bragg, an egomaniacal comic-book magnate. Providing the art for the short-lived series was Bob Oksner, a mainstay of DC’s licensed humor titles from the 1940s to the 1980s. Oksner was famous for his uncanny knack drawing sexy females, a talent that kept his work in demand when juvenile comics like Angel and the Ape went out of fashion in the 1970s and he started drawing covers for Supergirl and Wonder Woman. “My women had Saturday night bodies and Sunday school faces.”- Bob Oksner. Angel and the Ape was a humor comic book created by E. Nelson Bridwell published by DC Comics. The characters first appeared in 1968 in Showcase #77 then graduated to their own title, with art by comic artist Bob Oksner, most often inked by Wally Wood. The title lasted for seven issues, changing its name to Meet Angel for its final appearance. Angel O’Day is a private investigator who manages the O’Day and Simeon Detective Agency with her partner, Sam Simeon. Sam differs from many stereotypical detectives; besides helping Angel, Sam is both a comic book artist and a talking gorilla. Sam’s last name is obviously a play on the word “simian” (“of or pertaining to an ape or monkey”). Bob Oksner (October 14, 1916, Paterson, New Jersey – February 18, 2007) was an American comics artist known for both adventure comic strips and for superhero and humor comic books, primarily at DC Comics.