10 more versions of Bananaman to bend your mind

Since I posted 10 Versions Of Bananaman last week, more and more keep cropping up. Here's another Top Ten, starting with....

10 - Jamie Smart's Bananaman. This never saw print, which is a great shame as his revamps of Desperate Dan and Roger The Dodger were legendary (and may make their way into a book some day if there's any justice).

9 - A Bananaman die-cast steel belt buckle? Yes please. From designerbeltbuckles.co.uk

8 - A Taiwanese Bananaman. I can't claim to fully understand where he's from, but he's on the Kinnikuman Wiki where it says he's "A Taiwanese choujin competing in the Choujin Olympics: The Resurrection. He made it to the third round in the preliminaries but came short to Kinniku Mantarou in the "Beach Flags Yeah" competition and was eliminated out of the Olympics." So now you know.

7 - Bananawoman. I found her here, from where I can tell you she's Australian born in Logan City in 1986, she can lift 200.0kg, she has a Total: 13 PD (8 rPD) and a Total: 13 ED (8 rED), and she has Probability Manipulation: Elemental Control, 66-point powers. But not only do I not know what any of that means, I can't find who created her or what she's for.

6 - Another Bananawoman, this time by @Sparky597 on Deviant Art. So her bum transforms first, then her chest. Yes, I can't see that going down well in The Beano. Or in the 21st century, come to think of it.

 5 - A realistic Bananawoman. About whom I can't tell you much more than I found her here. And she's Fairtrade.

4 - Bananagirl. Created by the brilliant Lew Stringer for his Super School series, she's Bananaman's neice. A crossover has yet to happen but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

3 - Lego Bananaman? There's a Lego Bananaman? (Actually, turns out there isn't yet. But this artist here has made it so there nearly is)

2 - Banana Minion. Once you start scouring Deviant Art, you never stop finding stuff. I won't bore you with some of the Bananamen that are out there, but this is above average, by @sloth79

1 - Bananaman's very first appearance. Courtesy of John Freeman's Down The Tubes, (artwork copyright ©2014 DC Thomson & Co), here's the very first splash of the Man Of Peel from Nutty Comic No 1, February 1980, written by Steve Bright and Dave Donaldson, and drawn by the late great John Geering. Our hero's costume's changed since then, as has the look of young Eric, mostly under John Geering's hand - it was his style that was replicated for the TV cartoon, and reprints of his strips appeared in The Beano as recently as 2013 - but the essence of the strip remains the same. Very silly, steeped in parody, and encourages healthy eating. Long may he reign.



Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing Bananaman in The Beano, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something.