Secret Origins #40

Billed cheekily as "Because I Demanded It!", this 1989 DC anthology delivers three primate-centric origins — Gorilla Grodd, Congorilla, and Detective Chimp — all in one gloriously unhinged package. Bill Wray's cover captures the chaos perfectly: a roaring, motorcycle-riding great ape dominates the foreground while smaller primates tumble through the air, a weeping chimp clutches the handlebars below, a pterodactyl cuts through pink clouds overhead, and a purple dinosaur lurks menacingly in the background. It's a wonderfully absurd scene that sets the tone for an issue that takes DC's deep bench of super-intelligent apes seriously enough to give them each a proper origin story.