Monsieur Mallah
49 years ago - Mallah is born in captivity.
45 years ago - 4-year-old Mallah’s violent behavior leads to him being given to Ernst Morden's research lab, where he begins his experiments, slowly increasing his intelligence
36 years ago - 13-year-old Mallah follows Ernst Morden's instructions after his body is decimated in a lab accident, saving his brain in a jar before the technique is ready, leaving him permanently disembodied. they destroy Niles Caulder's lab & stealing his equipment.
32 years ago - 17-year-old Mallah, at the Brain's instruction, stages the toxic waste accident that mutates Laura De Mille, and helps set up the Brain's laboratories in the catacombs under her school.
30 years ago - 19-year-old Mallah becomes the violent enforcer of the Brain's criminal organization the Brotherhood of Evil
15 years ago - 34-year-old Mallah and the Brotherhood of Evil attack the Doom Patrol's Doom Manor, but in retaliation are tracked to Paris & trapped in the catacombs. Mallah is captured and put in prison, thinking the Brain is dead.
6 years ago - 43-year-old Mallah meets Christopher Smith in prison, and tells him of his old patrner who had devoted his life to the same ideals as Chris's father.
4 years ago - 45-year-old Mallah learns from Emil La Salle that the Brain is still alive. He escapes with the help of Christopher Smith, & they travel to the hidden lab and work together to gain access before Mallah kills him, reuniting with the Brain as they restart the Brotherhood of Evil.
1 year ago - 48-year-old Mallah is the only non-member of the Light to know of its existence.
In a comic imprint that is notorious for its strangely prolific list of Gorilla characters, you suddenly find yourself with an opportunity to answer a very particular question; who is your favorite Gorilla? This is a debate we've gotten into more than once. While I'm partial to Gorilla Grodd, every time this happens I'm ultimately out-voted, as everyone else agrees that Monsieur Mallah is the best of DC's Gorillas. What makes him the best? Let's find out.
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Monsieur Mallah's Comic HistoryMallah appeared for the first time in Doom Patrol #86, the first issue of the comic My Greatest Adventure after it was renamed after its new star superhero team, who had only debuted six issues earlier. This issue introduced the Brotherhood of Evil, whose strangeness was most exemplified by being led by a brain in a jar, but which was further driven home by the presence of its enforcer; a gorilla carrying a machine gun.
Honestly, There's a lot of purity to the concept of Mallah as he originally appeared. Gorilla + Gun. Yes, his intellect had been increased by his mad scientist leader, but only to a degree where he was able to participate in the evil schemes as an active participant rather than a pet. It was only as years passed and the Brotherhood made more appearances that we learned that he was actually the one who had performed the procedures, following the Brain's instruction, to put his leader's brain in a jar. Later appearances also started to play loosely with his appearance, adding clever details like headbands or ammo belts. all meant to give him a little pizzazz, but at his core he was just a very fun, very comic book example of one of DC's favorite tropes. |
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Once the original Doom Patrol series was over you didn't see a ton of Mallah, just the occasional quick guest starring appearance when other members of the Brotherhood of Evil served as villains in other books like the Teen Titans. It was almost like comics in the eighties didn't really want to reconcile with goofy Silver Age concepts like gun-toting Gorilla henchmen. For some reason.
Even as the second Doom Patrol series of the late 80's and early 90's began, and Grant Morrison took over the book at issue #19 and revolutionized the property, you still didn't see much of Mallah and the Brotherhood. That is until issue #57, where Mallah helps the Brain take over Robotman's body, and in the process these two extremely weird villains finally profess their love for each other... before blowing up. It's one of those comics that you hear about forever before you finally get a chance to read it for yourself, and it absolutely doesn't disappoint. It's deliberately outrageous and absurd, but also undeniably sweet and touching. It's just a great moment in comics. Of course, the characters didn't STAY dead, because again, comics. Their romance was now an integral part of their characters, and they've managed to become one of the great partnerships in DC's lexicon. |
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Our Mallah StoryOne of the hardest parts of making a timeline for Mallah is the actual lifespan of real-life Gorillas. According to the internet, Gorilla's average lifespan is 35-40 years, but we really want Mallah to be a mature, adult Gorilla by the time he becomes the Brain's assistant. We went with 10, as that's ALMOST maturity for a male Gorilla,, which the internet says happens at around 12. This means he's now actually very old for a Gorilla, almost 50, but at this point we can just imagine that the Brain has slowed his aging a little.
Otherwise, the fun of using Mallah and the Brain is that they're both completely inseparable, and we get to use him as the loyal assistant in all of the Brain's scemes. Of course, we're building a big chunk of time into our timeline where the Brotherhood breaks up after the Brain fakes his own death... and that means that Mallah is actually going to spend a chunk of time in prison. (would it be a human prison? some sort of Zoo? what do you think?) before he's broken out when the Brian is revealed to be alive and restarting the Brotherhood. This is also the catalyst for our version of the confession of love between these two characters... because honestly, one of the best things about comics is when it gives us lunacy like this. |