DC's Talking Gorilla with Eyepatch

 

No, NOT Monsieur Mallah! Mallah does not wear an eyepatch!

The gorilla being discussed today appears on the cover of Strange Adventures #186. The comic was published by DC in 1966. A minor controversy swirls around the identity of that cover's artist.

The Grand Comics Database entry for the comic specifies that the cover was inked and possibly also pencilled by Murphy Anderson. But that is not correct. Nothing about those inks is Anderson-like and, likewise, the pencils.

The GCD entry indicates that its cover artist credit was previously attributed to Bernard Baily. While true that Mr. Baily drew the "Gorilla Witch" interior story that the issue's cover is representing, the cover art style bears little if any resemblance to the work of Bernard Baily.

So what's the answer? Who really drew that Gorilla Witch cover?

That's a hard one but my best guess is Jack Sparling. Mr. Sparling drew the Strange Adventures covers for issues 185 and 187 and 188 and 189, so why not #186 also? Of course that is hardly ironclad irrefutable evidence, but the 186 cover does look more Sparling-like than Anderson-like or Baily-like. So that's what I'm going with.

Maybe you would like to weigh in with a different opinion! That sounds like a fun horserace! Please feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts!