Monkeyman and O'Brien
Monkeyman and O'Brien is an American science fiction creator-owned comics series created by artist Arthur Adams in 1993, which follows the adventures of Ann O'Brien, the daughter of a missing scientist, and Axwell Tiberius (the titular "Monkeyman", a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) super-intelligent gorilla-like being from another dimension.
The series was published from 1993 to 1999 by Dark Horse Comics in various types of installments including short features in anthologies, backup stories in other series, a three issue limited series, a two issue crossover series (with the WildStorm team Gen13, published by Image Comics) and a comic strip in the promotional newspaper Dark Horse Extra.
In 1997, a trade paperback collection of four issues (the three issue limited series and a special consisting of the Hellboy: Seed of Destruction backups) was published.
Publication history
[edit]Ann O'Brien was created by writer/artist Art Adams, who conceived of Monkeyman & O'Brien as series that would enable him to draw monsters similar to the classic movie monsters that he enjoyed in his youth, like Godzilla, King Kong and the Universal Monsters.[1][2][3] The series stars Ann O'Brien, the daughter of a missing scientist whom Adams named in tribute to Fay Wray's character, Ann Darrow, from King Kong and that film's special effects creator Willis O'Brien;[3] and Axwell Tiberius (also known as "Monkeyman"), a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) super-intelligent gorilla-like being that Adams conceived as "the Reed Richards of the gorilla world".[1]
The series debuted in Dark Horse Presents #80 (December 1993) in a story titled "A Monkeyman & O'Brien Adventure: Tortorus". She next appeared in a backup story entitled "Who Are Monkeyman and O'Brien?" in Mike Mignola's 1994 series Hellboy: Seed of Destruction. The character made further appearances in several short stories in Dark Horse Presents (#100-5; #118–119), a three book limited series titled Monkeyman and O'Brien (1996), and a crossover miniseries Gen 13/Monkeyman and O'Brien (1998). The character's last published appearance was in 1999 in a comic strip in Dark Horse Extra, a newspaper style comics fanzine.
When the series opens, one of the experimental machines in O'Brien's lab is accidentally activated by Ann, teleported from another dimension Tiberius. The same accident also bathes Ann in a mysterious radiation which caused her grow to seven feet tall and endowed her with superhuman strength, endurance and speed.[4] Axewell quickly became Ann's friend and the two went on to face numerous Silver Age–style threats including the "Shrewmanoid" and the "Froglodytes".[5] The duo also encountered the Image Comics super-team Gen13.[6] In the last Monkeyman and O'Brien stories published to date, humorous situations arise between the pair such as O'Brien growing to colossal size after being hit by one of Monkeyman's experimental devices.[7] Monkeyman's brother Nonny O'Brien also features in the series.
Villains
[edit]- Akiko Oki, O'Brien's friend and assistant. She shares the vast O'Brien estate, sets up appointments, and takes on any non-science- or law-related task that O'Brien assigns. Before the arrival of Tiberius she was O'Brien's closest companion, regularly joining her for workouts or sharing new clothes.
- Shrewmanoid (First appearance: Babe 2 #1 [1994]), a mysterious handyman and lumberjack who encountered alien technology that transformed him into a giant, anthropomorphic shrew. The transformation left the Shrewmanoid with all of his intelligence, albeit deranged, and he moved swiftly to become a supervillain. He can command subterranean monsters to do his bidding but has exhibited no other special powers. The Shrewmanoid is convinced that he is a supremely evolved being: Indeed, he believed this even before his transformation. After he saw news reports of a San Francisco scientist transforming into a seven-foot-tall superhero he led an army of monsters to San Francisco to capture her. He failed and was sucked into another dimension, "The Negative Zone," where he fended for himself until Monkeyman and O'Brien arrived there on an exploratory mission. They rescued him in order to imprison him on Earth, but after the Shrewmanoid professed his love for O'Brien and she rejected him, he bit her and escaped. As of the last Monkeyman and O'Brien story the Shrewmanoid was still at large. He appeared again in John Byrne's 1994 Babe 2 in which he unsuccessfully attempts to capture the titular amazonian hero.
- Froglodytes (First appearance: Monkeyman and O'Brien #2 [1996]), a race of world-conquering, intelligent frogs. One of their ships was plotting an attack on Earth and scouring the planet for threats when they found Axewell Tiberius. They teleported him into their custody, but O'Brien arrived with him and the two of them sabotaged the Froglodytes' plan. As O'Brien distracted the creatures and mangled their control room, Tiberius sent a false alarm to the rest of the fleet, convincing them that the Earth was already under attack from giant insects. The Froglodytes fled after that message.
Cancelled adaptation
[edit]On January 1, 2000, it was revealed that producer Jeff Kline was awaiting a pick-up order from the Fox Kids Network for a cel-animated Monkeyman and O'Brien series. While the production had gotten as far as scripting (with significant input from creator Art Adams),[8] the show was ultimately never produced.
References
[edit]- ^ a b George Khoury and Eric Nolen-Weathington. Modern Masters Volume Six: Arthur Adams, 2006, TwoMorrows Publishing.
- ^ Cooke, Jon B. "The Art of Arthur Adams", Reprinted from Comic Book Artist #17, November 15, 2001
- ^ a b DeAngelo, Danny (November/December 1997). "Art Adams: King of the Monster Artists". G-Fan. pp. 22 - 25.
- ^ Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1≠4 (March–June 1994)
- ^ Monkeyman and O'Brien #1–3 (July–September 1996)
- ^ Gen13/Monkeyman and O'Brien #1–2 (July–August 1998)
- ^ Dark Horse Extra #1–7 (July 1998 – January 1999)
- ^ Jo Anne Kenny (1 January 2000). "SPFE's Jeff Kline is looking at a monkey, Jackie Chan and the Universe from around the world". kidscreen.