Bananaman is a British comic book fictional character. Bananaman is a parody of traditional
superheroes, being portrayed as a schoolboy who is transformed into a muscled, caped figure
when he eats a banana. The character originally appeared in Nutty as the backpage strip in
Issue 1, dated 16 February 1980 drawn by John Geering. He has since appeared in The Dandy
and The Beano.
Original strip The original strip, originated by Dave Donaldson
and Steve Bright, written and developed by the latter, and mostly drawn by John Geering
until his death in 1999, is essentially a parody of Superman and Batman with shades
of Captain Marvel and his British twin, Marvelman and occasionally other Silver Age characters,
while also combining comic slapstick with a heavy dose of eccentric British humour similar
to Alan Moore's contemporary work on Captain Britain.
After John Geering died in 1999, Barrie Appleby took over and later Tom Paterson. In 2003,
the original scriptwriter, Steve Bright drew it, until 2007. Sporadically from 2007 to
2010 the character appeared in reprinted strips from the John Geering era. For a short time,
in late 2008, artist Chris McGhie reinvented Bananaman in a series of new strips. Chris'
other work included The Three Bears for The Beano and the characters on Yoplait's 'Wildlife'
product range. Two new strips appeared that year drawn by Barrie Appleby as well.
Since the Dandy revamp occurring in October 2010, Wayne Thompson took over drawing Bananaman
in a style reminiscent of French cartoonist Lisa Mandel, a popular artist in The Dandy
who has previously drawn Jak, Agent Dog 2-Zero and, occasionally, Bully Beef and Chips. In
Issue 3515, Wayne's style notably changes and looks more cartoony and detailed. As of
spring 2011, Thompson's version of Bananaman appears in full colour over two pages.
From 1983-1986, Bananaman also had his own annual. This was unusual because, unlike many
other comics at the time, Nutty never had an annual. Unlike Dennis the Menace and Bash
Street Kids, which mostly consisted of reprints these annuals were entirely new material.
In issue 3618, dated 14 January 2012, Bananaman made his debut appearance, as John Geering
reprints, in The Beano, however he continued to appear in The Dandy. Another Beano character,
Bananagirl of Super School, was revealed to be his cousin.
The Dandy print comic ended in December 2012, but Bananaman is still seen in the digital
version drawn by Andy Janes. New Bananaman strips drawn by Wayne Thompson and written
by Nigel Auchterlounie, Kev F Sutherland and lately Cavan Scott continue to run in The
Beano through 2014. Character
In the strip, Eric Wimp, an ordinary schoolboy living at 29 Acacia Road, Nuttytown, eats
a banana to transform into Bananaman, an adult superhero, sporting a distinctive cowled blue
and yellow outfit complete with a yellow two-tailed cape resembling a banana skin. His superpowers
include the ability to fly, superhuman strength, and seeming invulnerability. This is offset
by the fact that he is just as naive and foolish as his alter ego; as mentioned in the comic
once or twice, he has the "muscles of twenty men and the brains of twenty mussels".
If Bananaman needs extra power, bananas can be eaten for strength boosts, provided by
his faithful pet crow; if he does not have enough strength to shatter an ice block, for
example, after eating another banana, he will have enough. If he eats lots of bananas in
one sitting, he quickly becomes obese in his transformation; if he eats bananas that are
not full, he transforms with extra weight in the lower part of his body. There have
also been comics where he has eaten a variant on normal bananas, and transforms differently,
reflecting the difference in that banana. The effects of eating the bananas are not
consistent from story to story. Varying origins
Eric was rocketed to Earth from the moon as a baby, and gained his powers because the
crescent moon resembles a banana. Bananaman resembles Superman in two respects. Firstly,
he has a kryptonite-style weakness to mouldy bananas. Furthermore, he even has a Fortress
of Solitude-style building at the North Pole, made out of a giant banana. During early board
meetings, the designers thought of the aspect of Bananagirl to accompany the series. The
girl would have been called Margaret Wimp, and be the "sister" of Eric. This idea was
scrapped later on in production, because the concept of two children being related without
parents would be too far-fetched for children to understand, however the idea was revived
for a Beano comic strip. In the 1991 Dandy Annual, Bananaman's origin
was changed to that of being a normal Earth baby in a maternity hospital, who obtained
his powers after unintentionally eating a banana in which General Blight had hidden
a stolen supply of Saturnium, and accidentally left it next to Eric. However, later issues
referred to the first origin as the real one. Other characters
Bananaman initially faced a different pastiche supervillain each week, who were often lampoons
of the kind of single-issue, uncreatively-named villains that heroes fought during the Silver
Age, or tips-of-the-hat to famous supervillains. Enemies include:
Syndney aka Toymaster 10-year-old parody of Toyman
Witchy Woman parody of Scarlet Witch General Blight, Bananaman's current arch enemy,
and a parody of Adolf Hitler. A generic criminal mastermind who in later strips largely replaced
the inventive criminal-of-the-week Doctor Gloom, a Doctor Doom homage, Blight's
sidekick Appleman, Bananaman's arch-enemy in the early
strip who was rotten to the core, parody of Bizarro, created by Dr Gloom, even though
in one comic strip his original name was Pete Pippin. In later comics, he becomes an ally
to Bananaman Weatherman, a master of controlling the weather
from his powerful blimp who works for General Blight
Clayman, parody of Clayface The Heavy Mob, a group of thieves led by Eddie
the Gent, who appeared as recently as 2008. Auntie, a relative of General Blight, a nanny
with remote controlled balls of knitting wool as weapons; possibly a parody of Granny Goodness
Impossible Man, complete with a quiff who performs impossible things such as hopping
at 100 mph Foul Five parody of Famous Five
Scotsman, who controls haggis with a set of bagpipes
The Nerks, an alien race bent on conquering Earth, led by King Zorg
The Lone Changer, a homage to The Chameleon, a shape shifter that can transform himself
to ordinary appliances to human beings Bubblegum Bert, a possible homage to the Juggernaut.
Evil Taco a character that was planned to be part of the cartoon but was removed because
parents said it would promote racism. Skunk Woman, a homage to Catwoman
Captain Cream, a topping criminal who commits all his crimes with stale cakes and pastries
filled with cod liver oil. Mouseman, a gigantic mouse
The Mole, only appeared in TV series, he has control of a drill
Fat Cat evil cat who tried to steal Big Ben and Blackpool Tower, among other things, appeared
in summer 2011 Zookeeper a lazy psychic, who says she can
control animals Kiwi Fruit Girl Bananaman hates kiwi fruit,
so Fat Cat sent for her to kill him, but he knocked her out
The strip's medium-subverting elements became toned down as the strip gained in popularity,
becoming more simplistic to appeal to the new audience. Bananaman gained a talking crow
sidekick called simply Crow, and became so stupid he often forgot how to fly or to use
the door. Eventually, Bananaman even began to go to school despite being an adult.
Bananaman is allied with Chief O'Reilly, a stereotyped Irish policeman. He used to wear
an Indian feather headdress as a visual pun on Chief, and in later strips wore a hat with
a flashing blue light on the top. Chief works in a police station shaped like a giant police
helmet, which frequently has to be rebuilt after Bananaman accidentally destroys it.
O'Reilly rings up Eric to get him to talk to Bananaman, presumably thinking Eric is
Bananaman's assistant of some kind, as in the cartoon series it is made clear that the
Chief is not aware of Eric's being the big blue superhero.
Television cartoon series In 1983, the BBC made a cartoon series which
included a catchy theme tune and featured the voices of The Goodies. It was produced
by 101 Film Productions. Parts of the character were changed for the series: he was now called
Eric Twinge, had a distinctive banana-shaped hairstyle rather than punk stubble, and had
a love interest in the form of Fiona, a newsreader based on Selina Scott and also a possible
homage to Lois Lane. Graeme Garden voiced the characters of Bananaman,
General Blight and Maurice of The Heavy Mob, Bill Oddie voiced the characters of Crow,
Chief O'Reilly, Doctor Gloom and the Weatherman, and Tim Brooke-Taylor voiced the characters
of Eric, King Zorg of the Nerks, Eddie the Gent, Auntie and Appleman, as well as narrating
the episodes. Jill Shilling voiced Fiona and any additional female characters, including
Eric's cousin Samantha. It lasted for forty episodes between 3 October 1983 and 15 April
1986. Bananaman was aired in the United States by
the Nickelodeon cable network as a companion piece to Dangermouse, but Bananaman never
came close to reaching that series' American popularity. The show also aired during the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation's after school timeslot and is considered one of the
Classic ABC shows. Some episodes of Bananaman were used in 1997
on the British Cartoon series "The Pepe and Paco show" created by Henson International
Television. Some of these episodes would eventually re-appear
in print form in The Dandy in 1998, coinciding with the BBC repeating the series that year,
and were reprinted in the comic in Spring 2007, now promoting the DVD. Each episode
was roughly five minutes from start to end. Phrases from the show, "twenty big men" and
"ever alert for the call to action", are still used in the comic today.
Credits Painters : Richard Adams, Jane Beecham, Marianne
Coldner, Paul Heyward, John Tillet, Anne Whitford Tracers : Janine Arthy, Jacqueline Millar,
Olive Scott, Phyllis Vince, Anne Ward, John Tillet, Linda Butcher
Checker: Katherine J. Cowan Animators : Richard Cox, Joan Garrick, Geoff
Loynes, Janet Nunn, Alan Green Layouts : Gil Potter
Backgrounds : Russell Peerman Editing : Morgan Daniels Limited
Rostrum Camera : Stephen Williams, Trevor Bond Associates Ltd
Music : Dave Cooke Production Controller : Thomas Barker
Production Coordination : Thomas Barker, Pat C. Morton
Script Writers : Bernie Kay, Terry Ward Producers : Trevor Bond, Terry Ward
Director : Terry Ward Made by : 101 Productions
Copyright Bananaman Productions Ltd 1983 Film adaptation
It was announced in March 2014 that DC Thomson in conjunction with Elstree Studio Productions
will be producing a Bananaman movie with a release date of 2015. In May 2014 DC Thomson
unveiled the first teaser poster for the film. References
External links Bananaman at the Big Cartoon DataBase
Episode guide International Hero
Bananaman at the Internet Movie Database Bananaman at TV.com
Official Bananaman movie website