DR. GRIMM

Real Name: Unrevealed (possibly Grimm)

Identity/Class: Human; World War II era

Occupation: Doctor

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Lomm (his assistant), Igan (his patient/henchman), Gorro (his experiment)

Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Bucky (James Buchanan Barnes)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "You quack!", "You rat!" (as called by Captain America)

Base of Operations: His private sanitarium

First Appearance: Captain America Comics#4/4 (June, 1941)

Powers/Abilities: Although probably insane, Dr. Grimm seemed to be an expert in the field of genetics and life-engineering, which can be exemplified by his experiments with the monster, Gorro.

History: (Captain America Comics#4/4 - BTS) - Doctor Grimm's previous history is unknown, but at some point in time, he set up a private hospital where he conducted his sinister experiments.

(Captain America Comics#4/4) - Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were on leave from Camp Lehigh, so they went to a movie theater. Just as they got there, they saw an armed robbery taking place at the ticket box. They changed into their costumes as Captain America and Bucky, then went to stop the robbers. One of the thugs used a blackjack on Bucky, giving him a minor concussion. Cap changed them both back into their uniforms and hailed a taxi to take Bucky to the nearest hospital, which happened to be the Grimm Private Hospital.

Dr. Grimm examined Bucky and recommended that he stay a few days for observation. Steve was concerned because it was such a quiet, lonely place, but Grimm explained that some of his patients were insane and needed the quiet.

That night, Bucky spoke with his nurse, Miss Ray, who had worked there only a few days after the nurse before her left suddenly without notice. Miss Ray said she heard weird noises at night and was frightened to be there. Later, awakening from his sleep, Bucky heard screaming that sounded like Miss Ray's voice. He dashed out of his room and found Dr. Grimm walking one of the inmates, Igan, on a leash. The next morning, suspicious of the odd happenings, Bucky wrote a note for help to Steve, but he was captured by Grimm, who then sent the note to lure Steve to his hospital.

When Steve got the note, he went to investigate as Captain America. Sneaking into the hospital, he fought with the maniac Igan, then he was captured at gunpoint by Dr. Grimm. Grimm told Cap of his greatest experiment, Gorro, who needed "much energy" to survive -- "energy" that Grimm drew from his human captives. Bucky was being prepared to feed Gorro his "energy" and Cap would be next. When Grimm took Captain America to the captive Bucky, Cap whirled around and punched Grimm, knocked the gun from his hand, then he freed Bucky. Grimm ordered Lomm to release the monstrous Gorro. Cap first knocked out Lomm, but then he was grabbed by Gorro and held in his steely grip. Bucky picked up Grimm's gun and shot Gorro several times at point blank range and freed Cap. Captain America then struggled with Grimm on a balcony, from which Dr. Grimm fell to his death.

Comments: Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Maybe Dr. Grimm got a few pointers in genetics from Phaeder.

Grimm wanted to make the ape-like Gorro more human-like -- I wonder if Grimm's work later inspired Dr. Kurakill.

And Gorro -- I wonder if he's possibly related to Gorgilla (they do look similar to each other).

This story was reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces I#4 (August, 1966), but its original title -- "Horror Hospital" -- was changed to "The Menace of Dr. Grimm" because of the Comics Code not allowing the word "horror" to be used in comic books at that time. Some other changes were made to the story to get it to conform to Code standards; for example, in the original story, that "energy" that Gorro needed to survive...it was actually...(Good Lord!! *choke*) BLOOD!! Thankfully we had the good folks at the Comics Code Authority standing by to put a stop to this corrupting of our nation's youth!

Thanks to Chris Jarocha-Ernst for the scans of Lomm, Igan and Gorro of their original depiction (taken from Captain America Masterworks).

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dr. Grimm has no known connections to:

• Ben Grimm, aka. the Thing @ Fantastic Four I#1
• Dr. Jacob Grimm, medical doctor, Ben's uncle @ Fantastic Four I#238
• Petunia Grimm, wife of Jake, aunt of Ben @ Fantastic Four I#238
• any other character with similar names

Gorro has no known connection to:

• Gorosaur, creation of Mento @ Strange Tales I#78
• Gorgilla, Deviant mutate @ Tales to Astonish I#12
• any other character with similar names

Lomm

The assistant of Dr. Grimm (and a bit insane, himself), he was probably taken into custody after Grimm's death.

--Captain America Comics#4/4

Igan

One of the insane patients at Grimm's hospital, he was likely drowned in his fight with Captain America when he fought Cap in a room that was being flooded with water.

--Captain America Comics#4/4

Gorro

Dr. Grimm's greatest experiment, he was an ape-like monster, perhaps nine feet tall and with great strength. He needed "much energy" to survive, which Grimm drew from his human captives. He fought Captain America, but was killed when Bucky shot him several times with Grimm's handgun. Grimm aimed to bring Gorro to a point where he'd become almost human; aided by Gorro's strength, Grimm planned a career of crime.

--Captain America Comics#4/4

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Captain America Comics#4, p40, pan1 (main image)