You will believe a gorilla can fly.
But before we can get to the gloriously Silver Age Congorilla, we have to go back to the Golden Age.
More Fun Comics #56 (1940)
by Whitney Ellsworth & George Papp
cover by Howard Sherman
Back to when Doctor Fate was having his second story ever published, but we’re not here for his story…
…or for the Spectre story.
Even if that one includes the Spectre becoming both big and small.
No, the reason why I’m looking at this issue is thanks to the Congo Bill serial.
I did consider covering Congo Bill’s origins in detail with the rest of the Golden Age heroes, but to be perfectly honest I just find his series to be incredibly boring.
This kind of thing is just not my genre.
It’s a 6 page story interchangeable with dozens of adventure serials.
To be fair to Congo Bill though, despite being from 1940 it’s not racist.
Congo Bill would remain on More Fun Comics for the next year, last being present in #67…
…by moving to Action Comics, starting with #37.
This was still when Superman wasn’t the only star of Action Comics: head to share the comic with several other serials… the omnipresent “Pep Morgan”, the long-lasting Zatara, and the obscure “Three Aces” and Mr. America.
Congo Bill would remain a backup feature for a shocking amount of time.
He’s there from Action Comics #37 in 1941 all the way up to #261 in 1960: he’s THE longest running backup feature!!!
Well… there’s an asterisk in that length that we’ll discuss later.
That is an UTTERLY INSANE stretch for a character that, let’s face it, nobody seems to care for in this incarnation.
But he was popular enough in the Golden Age to get a movie serial in 1948.
Not a whole lot changes in Bill’s life until 1954, when on Action Comics #191 he gets a sidekick with Janu The Jungle Boy, who he picks up in Saigon.
Yeah despite being called Congo Bill, the series doesn’t exclusively take place in Africa.
The two share a short-lived series, lasting 7 issues from 1954 to 1955.
Then in 1957, he discovers a peculiar golden gorilla in Action Comics #224.
That’s not the same golden gorilla of his regular series.
The story treats the gorilla like a regular gorilla who has been painted gold by the natives, but as we’re about to find out he’s anything BUT regular.
And this is when things get weird.
Action Comics #248 (1959)
by Robert Bernstein & Howard Sherman
cover by Curt Swan
Remember when I said there was an asterisk to Congo Bill’s length as a serial?
That’s because from THIS issue forward, that becomes the Congorilla run.
Medicine man Kawolo, a close friend of Bill who might have never showed up before (don’t quote me on this), gifts him a special ring as a dying gift.
I haven’t followed the Congo Bill serial close enough to know if he should believe in the supernatural, but he initially dismisses the magic ring.
But when he’s trapped in cave, he decides to test it… and discover that the ring DOES switch his mind with the golden gorilla’s.
And then he immediately saves the life of an actress, because there’s a sci-fi movie being filmed in the middle of the jungle.
Yep, that’s the Silver Age alright.
Movie director, wild animal collector, what’s the difference really?
The mind exchange only lasts one hour. During which Bill has stumbled into the movie, fought his would-be capturers, and even took an involuntary 30 minute nap.
Still within the hour, he’s able to escape being shot at AND pilots a plane.
Hours later, Bill frees himself from the cave.
Wait, wasn’t the exchange supposed to only last one hour? Because this looks like he can just be in the gorilla’s body until he rubs the ring again.
Historical significance: 3/10
The whole reason Bill is still technically around is because he’s now Congorilla.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
At least for now, it’s basically a regular gorilla.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
An extremely bare bones story. It does have good artwork and a bit of charm, but that’s about it.
How close is this to the modern character? 
/10
You might be asking yourself: how long could they stretch the premise of the mind switch?
Well not for long, at least compared to his original serial, because Action Comics #261 is the last one to have Congorilla as a backup feature.
His place is taken by giving Supergirl longer stories (she was already a backup feature).
DC still believed in Congorilla enough to give him a second chance on Adventure Comics, but he only lasts there from 1960 with #270 until 1961 with #283.
In 1965 he shows up in the Jimmy Olsen series once, where Jimmy gets to be Congorilla for the rest of the story.
He’s not seen until 1977, on the pages of Justice League of America #144, but that one features everybody.
In 1984 he joins the Forgotten Heroes, whose name should tell you about his popularity over the prior decade.
In 1987 he shows up in Swamp Thing Annual vol2 #3, right after Alan Moore’s departure from the book, in a story that features most of DC’s gorillas.
He gets a 4-issue miniseries between 1992 and 1993, written by Steve Englehart.
The miniseries ends with Bill having to kill Congorilla.
And might probably have been the last Congorilla story… if it wasn’t for “Justice League: Cry For Justice” in 2009.
When we discover that Bill’s human body has died at this point, and he’s permanently Congorilla.
Who is also immortal. That might have been introduced earlier.
That began a very unlikely Congorilla renaissance!
In 2010 he even joined the Justice League, where we learn he has all kinds of powers.
Remember when he was just a gorilla with paint?
That only lasts 17 issues before he resigns in 2011, to become Africa’s greatest hero.
The same year he had a one-shot shared with the alien Starman, since the two had become close.
And then Congorilla disappeared for years again, only to pop up again in 2018.
He’s back to being Congo Bill who switches minds with Congorilla.
In 2024 he shows up in the Creature Commandos animated series. Although that one doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Congorilla besides the name… this one is a villain.
We might be on the cusp of another Congorilla resurgence though.
Very recently (cover date December 2025), he cameos on Action Comics #1091 when a teenage Clark Kent talks to Captain Comet about the previously unknown team called the Justice Alliance… and one of the members was Congorilla.
Not a bad career, considering nobody really cares for Congo Bill anymore unless he’s Congorilla.
Since the JSA is permanently attached to the 1940’s and WWII, and the JLA is a more recent super-team, the gap between the end of the JSA and the beginning of the JLA keeps growing. Previously, Chase introduced the Justice Experience as the brief-lived 1970’s super-team. The New History of the DC Universe adds in the Justice Alliance, which existed in between the JSA and the Justice Experience. As time marches on, more gap teams are likely to pop into existence, and the JSA continuing to exist with original members will get ever more difficult to justify.
But apes and monkeys are always popular, so Congorilla will continue to resurface periodically.
Not a bad recap of Congo Bill’s/Congorilla’s career, but is is missing the backup story from DC Comics Presents # 27, “Whatever Happened to Congorilla?” which is basically just a story showing that he’s still active in the African bush, and not really a “final fate” sort of story like most of those were.