Converts to the Kong Religion

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong #3-4 (Legendary, 2017, $3.99)
Kong: Gods of Skull Island #1 (Boom, October 2017, $7.99)
Kong on the Planet of the Apes #1-2 (Boom, November-December 2017, $3.99)

The release of the Kong: Skull Island movie last year brought a welcome rash of Kong-related comic books, of which these are three examples. Each comic or series does its own thing slightly differently, and all do it well.

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong comes closest to what an ongoing Kong series might feel like, similar perhaps to Godzilla in Hell or Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters. (Even with the recent issues of Hammer comics such as Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, the Godzilla comics are as close as we get to ongoing monster comics.) The series is a sequel/prequel of sorts to the Skull Island movie. Arvid Nelson's writing and Zid's art and colors combine well to capture the lush expanse of the island's foliage and geology, as well as its inhabitants, living and dead.



A party of armed explorers led by Aaron Brooks, following in the footsteps of his father, meets with the resident natives, and one, Riccio, converts to the Kong religion. Their journey takes readers to many of the major sites of the film, including the valley of the fallen gods, where the current Kong's origin is told, and includes the major creatures, as well, including the skull crawlers. Riccio decides the best way to test whether Kong is a protector is to destroy the wall protecting the village, opening it to threat.

The artwork is particularly impressive. Almost full-page panels delight, and the images of Kong in action are powerful, especially #4's pp. 9-10, 14, and 17. It is the combination of place—the land—and races—its inhabitants—that makes this comic most impressive. Skull Island is an awe-inspiring location.

Each issue includes several pages of "Monarch Declassified Field Notes," which offers background information on some of the new fauna of the island, including the magma turtle, swamp locust, spore mantis, and mother longlegs. The Godzilla comics makers could learn from that: Don't just roll call through the existing creatures, introduce others worth of inclusion in the mythos!