Congorilla #3
Congorilla #3 occupies the dramatic center of DC's 1992–1993 four-issue limited series — the first solo miniseries the Golden Gorilla had received since his Silver Age run ended in Adventure Comics in 1961. Writer Steve Englehart used the arc to push Congo Bill into genuinely dark territory: stripped of his familiar gorilla body, aging and partially blinded, he must decide whether reclaiming his humanity is worth confronting the rampaging Congorilla now animated by his treacherous ward Janu. That willingness to inflict lasting, unglamorous consequences on a long-dormant character was very much in the spirit of DC's early-1990s wave of gritty character revisitations, even if the series itself remained outside the Vertigo imprint. The miniseries ultimately served as a bridge between Congorilla's decades as a Forgotten Heroes cameo player and his eventual full membership in James Robinson's Justice League of America in 2010.
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The series was written by Steve Englehart — whose earlier DC work included celebrated runs on Batman and Green Lantern — and drawn by Neil Vokes with inks by Jay Geldhof, under editor Tom Peyer and Editorial Director Dick Giordano. Englehart built his story on continuity established in Swamp Thing Annual #3, which had previously depicted Congo Bill choosing to remain permanently in the gorilla's body; the miniseries picked up that thread and used it as the engine for Janu's betrayal. The book was produced in DC's prestige 'New Format' with a $1.75 cover price, reflecting DC's push at the time to give back-catalog characters a polished platform. Issues #1 and #2 featured covers by Brian Bolland, while issue #3's cover was handled by Vokes himself.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Issue #3 of a 4-part limited series (Congorilla Vol. 1); cover-dated January 1993, published by DC Comics.
- Written by Steve Englehart; interior art by Neil Vokes (pencils) and Jay Geldhof (inks); cover art by Neil Vokes.
- Story title: '…If I Should Die Before I Wake…' — the dramatic midpoint in which Congo Bill, trapped in Janu's body and partially blinded, must decide whether to sacrifice his humanity to stop the rampaging Congorilla.
- Janu serves as the primary antagonist throughout the miniseries, having stolen the magic ring to usurp the Congorilla identity and turn it toward crime and cruelty.
- This miniseries represents Congorilla's first solo limited series since his Silver Age strip ended in Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961), a gap of over 30 years.
- Congo Bill's origin in this continuity ties back to Swamp Thing Annual Vol. 2 #3, in which he had decided to remain permanently in the gorilla body — a story beat Englehart used as the launching point for the entire miniseries.
- The large number of DC heroes and villains indexed as appearing in this issue (Batman, Superman, Bane, Wonder Woman, etc.) almost certainly reflects back-matter pin-ups or house advertisement pages standard in DC publications of this era, not the main narrative, which the DC Database confirms features only Congorilla/Congo Bill and Janu as named story characters.
Cast · 40 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
A new ring is made to transfer Bill's mind into another gorilla, but he is still no match for Janu in Congorilla's body. Bill finally returns to his original body and plans to hunt down Congorilla for the last time.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).