Superhero comics in the Golden Age, back in the 50s and 60s, were strange, being generous. Until Marvel came to make other types of characters with other types of problems, DC was content to make weird and unconnected stories that today serve us to throw a few laughs. One example is Beppo, the super-monkey, who came from Krypton to… make a fool of himself.
Do the super-monkey!
Superboy’ was born in 1949, eleven years after Superman, with his adventures as a child and teenager in Smallville, and became a real bestseller until the 70’s when the public began to ask for a different set of things. However, in this period of time, the scriptwriters of the time, imprisoned by the Comics Code, had time to make real barbarities that are as funny today as they are absolutely hallucinogenic.
That was the case with Superman’s mascots. It all started with Krypto the super-dog in 1955, who was sent to Earth in a test rocket before the explosion of Krypton (and, in fact, still appears from time to time, although without powers). After his success, it was time to create more animals: Streaky the super-cat, in 1960, Comet the super-horse, in 1962, and the icing on the cake: a super-monkey. Of course.
Beppo appeared for the first time in a cartoon in October 1959, during issue 76 of ‘Superboy’, where his story was explained. Phew. It turns out that the Kryptonian super-monkey snuck into the rocket that saved Superman from the explosion (how? You never know) and when he arrived on Earth he used his strength to escape to a jungle, the famous jungle of Smallville, and appear a few years later to make a mess.
In the end, after setting fire to the fireworks Pa Kent was saving for the Fourth of July, he flew off into space, never to return. Well, until two years later, when he became part of The League of Super-Pets. The character continued to come out regularly until 1969, when it was decided that the concept was absolutely ridiculous and everyone pretended it had never happened. Oh, Beppo the super-monkey, we carry you in our hearts. You did the best you could. Well, sort of.
