I edited a comic called Strange Adventures, which normally sold pretty well, and then one day the editorial director (Irwin Donenfeld) came in and asked “What happened to Strange Aventures?” “Why?” I inquired. “Why? Because it had a tremendous sale, that’s why!” So we decided to look at the cover for a clue to it’s success… Well, it must have been that this idea - a gorilla who was once a man, pleading with his girlfriend to help him out of this horrendous situation - appealed to our readers. They wanted to know how such a thing could possibly happen and what could be done about it. We decided that the magazine sold well because a gorilla was acting like a human being. So we decided to try it again… and every time we tried it, it sold fantastically well, with sales shooting sky high!
Comics writers in those days really had a thing for gorillas.
DC Comics Used To Add Gorillas To Their Covers To Increase Sales
Wow, very interesting! Thank you very much for posting that. TIL.
I know, and I’m there for it every time.