Batman Is Not The World’s Greatest Detective And He Knows It, Here’s DC’s Best Detective

Detective Chimp started out as a regular chimpanzee hanging out in Equatorial Africa when he made his comics debut in Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4 (August 1952). In 1953, carnie Fred Thorpe discovered this seemingly unremarkable chimp and decided that he needed him for his carnival act. Thorpe named the chimp Bobo T. Chimpanzee and brought him to Florida as “Bobo the Detective Chimp.”

Thorpe trained Bobo to answer some detective-related questions using a combination of hand signals and treats. Carnival goers ate it up and soon Detective Chimp was a minor Florida celebrity. Bobo’s carnival career was cut short, however, when Thorpe was mysteriously murdered.

Detective Chimp’s first real case was helping a local sheriff solve Thorpe’s murder. As a result, Bobo became the sheriff’s mascot and helped him solve several local crimes. While Bobo was plenty useful as a chimp of above-average intelligence, his true calling was still to come.

A trip to the fountain of youth would leave Detective Chimp with not only eternal life but the ability to talk to animals and humans alike as well as a brain more powerful than the Dark Knight detective’s. Bobo became so smart as a result of drinking from the fountain that he now has to maintain a constant state of drunkenness just to concentrate. Otherwise, his thoughts are too complex to be of any practical use.

Due to the mystical nature of his abilities, Detective Chimp has a talent for supernatural deduction. As a result, Bobo often finds himself on occult super teams like Shadowpact and Justice League Dark. Believe it or not, it’s actually this talent for dealing with magic that makes him a better detective than Batman.

Despite dealing with the impossible on a daily, basis Bruce Wayne is a man ruled by logic. He tried to learn magic as part of his training, even seeking out the skilled sorcerer Zatanna to teach him. His brain, however, is simply unable to let go and embrace the literal absurdity of magic—something that comes naturally to Detective Chimp.

This means that Detective Chimp is simply a better detective than Batman because he can think in ways the Caped Crusader can’t. Magic itself knows Detective Chimp is better than Batman. The infamous magical degenerate John Constantine once cast a spell designed to bring him to the world’s greatest detective.

Constantine was completely flummoxed when, instead of arriving in the Batcave, the spell deposited him on Detective Chimp’s doorstep. Bobo is so good he has even been introduced as The World’s Greatest Detective by none other than Nightwing. That’s right, even Batman’s own son thinks Bobo is the better detective. Ouch!

If you ask us, Detective Chimp will make a fine addition to James Gunn’s new DCU. A rough-around-the-edges talking animal with a heart of gold? That’s right up Gunn’s alley.

Hopefully, the co-head of DC Studios agrees because Detective Chimp vs Batman: Dawn of Deduction is the apology every DC fan deserves for Batman vs. Superman.