Real Name:
Eric Wimp (Nutty comic version) / Eric Twinge (cartoon version)
Identity/Class: Human mutant (well, there's nothing special about the banana's, so it must be him)
Occupation: Schoolboy
Affiliations: Crow (sidekick); Chief O'Reilly
Enemies: Appleman; King Zorg; Dr.Gloom; The Weatherman; General Blight; The Nerks, The Heavy Mob (led by Eddie the Gent), Auntie, Bubblegum Bert, Skunk Woman, The Mole
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: 29, Acacia Road
First Appearance: Nutty #1 (D.C.Thompson, 16 February 1980); Dandy (1985)
History: "This is 29, Acacia Road. And this is Eric, the schoolboy who leads an exciting double life. For when Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs. Eric is Bananaman. Ever alert for the call to action."
And you thought Super Ted was as low as it could go...
Eric is your average, run-of-the-mill, pathetically weak schoolboy. But when he eats a banana, he transforms into the superhero Bananaman - and loses what little I.Q. he had. Young lads transforming into world saving heroes is nothing new, but most of these heroes have some brains. Luckily his enemies were even dumber than he was (which was more unlikely than having a hero who is powered by bananas). Bananaman relies on his sidekick Crow (who is, indeed, a crow) to provide him with sensible advice as to what to do in a crisis.
Powers/Abilities:
Superstrong (he has the strength of "twenty big men"), able to
fly (well, more like swim through the air), invulnerable. Your standard
"Superman" package.
Comments: Bananaman worked with Police Chief O'Reilly, and had a bit of a crush on pretty TV reporter Fiona. His main foes were Appleman, Auntie, General Blight and Weatherman.
Sheldon Goodman informs me "He comes from the Moon, which according to Nutty issue number one, is really 'the biggest banana in the sky'." How this ties in with being a wimpy schoolboy, I'm not sure. Thanks to Sheldon for that information and for names of some more enemies.
As well as proving to be a popular part of Nutty, and later the Dandy, Bananaman also starred in his own cartoon from 1983. The scripts, and most of the voices were provided by the comedians, the Goodies - Tim Brooke-Taylor as the narrator, Graeme Garden was Bananaman, Bill Oddie as Eric and Crow. Jill Shilling provided the voices for all the female characters except Auntie. The first episode aired on 3rd October 1983, and the show ran for three seasons to a total of forty episodes, all five minutes long, the final one airing on 15th April 1986. I've been informed that during 1985 Bananaman also appeared in the short lived (20 issues) title Beeb - presumably this was a tie-in to the cartoon, as (for those of you not aware of British colloquialisms) Beeb is the common nickname for the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), which aired the Bananaman cartoon.
There are rumours of plans for a live-action Bananaman movie, written by screenwriter Robin Midian.
CLARIFICATIONS: None
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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