Ditko Classic Covers - Konga #9!

Konga #9 was published in 1962. You can read the issue at this link. This is another Ditko original cover drawn for that purpose, though it's full of activity is less effective than other of his images. Still a dandy though. 

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Ditko Classic Covers - Konga #6!

Konga #6 was published in 1962. You can read the issue at this link.

This cover is derived from a potent splash page inside the comic book. 

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Ditko Classic Covers - Konga #5!

Konga #5 was published in 1962. You can read the issue at this link. This is a rare original Ditko cover with the art done for the cover and not pulled from a splash inside the comic. Great stuff! 

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Ditko Classic Covers - Konga #4!

Konga #4 was published in 1961. You can read the issue at this link. 

The cover was a reworking of the splash page from the debut issue. Note that the generic crowd and armor have been given a Nazi redesign by adding some swastikas to the tanks, erasing the crowd and making the forward figure a rather Hitlerian look. 

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Monarch's Konga!

Konga the novel from Monarch Books (a Charlton brand) was written by "Dean Owen" (Dudley Dean McGaughey) and adds some spice to the already pretty randy yarn about a man and his killer gorilla. 

The cover art is by John Duillo. For more Duillo art check out this link. 

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Dikto's Monsters - Konga!

And then there's Konga, collected up by YOe Books in a quite large volume under the Ditko Monsters title. It has long been established that some of the most invigorating work of Steve Ditko's career was done for the sometimes, hapless Charlton Publications. Infamous for low-quality, the publisher allowed Ditko near complete creative freedom, since for the most part they regarded comics as so limited an endeavor that the powers couldn't be bothered to really care too much about the content. Much of it was rotten, but surprisingly often it was really, really good. Steve Ditko's runs on both Gorgo and Konga with scripts by the indefatigable Joe Gill are among the most entertaining. 

To remind everyone, Konga was an adaptation of an American-International Pictures schlock sci-fi flick which tried to re-fry the classic King Kong scenario by adding in bizarre plants with growth-inducing properties, mad lascivious scientists, and exceedingly perky teenagers. 

It's an entertaining brew, but hardly one would think the stuff for an ongoing comic series. Konga at Charlton was a peripatetic protagonist who finds humans often a bother, sometimes a threat, but always it seems fascinating. While the movie has some lurid scenes of lust, the comic is all about romance. The Monarch novel adaptation adds some raw sex to the scenario, so a Konga fan can have this giant ape story in various styles. In the comic Konga battles monsters, aliens, robots, and whatever could clank, carom, or slither his way. He was drawn by many in the Charlton talent pool, but it's always been Steve Ditko's rendition which captured the imagination best. 

Here's a cover gallery of Ditko's best.

Monsters are at their most fantastic when they are giant. More Charlton giant monster goodness tomorrow. 

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The Charlton Konga!

Of all the great apes in science fiction, including the great King Kong himself, the humble Konga from American International was the one to find success in comics. Konga was picked up by Charlton Comics and offered at first as a compliment to the film itself. But it became a relative success for Charlton and ran for nearly half a decade. Much of that success was due the fabulous artwork of Steve Ditko who was at the same time making his mark at Marvel on science fiction stories, ghost yarns, and superheroes such as the Amazing Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. 

The comic stayed reasonably close to the set up in the film for the first several issues of its run. In the comic the side characters Sandra and Bob are not killed as they are in the movie and Doctor Decker is a much more reasonable man, though no less a tragic one. Through Sandra and Bob, we get a second Konga, using Decker's theories and it is this Konga who is the focus of the remaining issues of the run. Eventually this second genesis is forgotten and Konga is again presumed to be the original, though it's murky. Joe Gill wrote the Konga stories and in these tales, he spends his time fighting sea monsters, space aliens and the Red Menace. He also is the reason for many young couples to find love, as it is the people around the lonely figure of Konga who is at the center of our attention. 

Artists other than Ditko worked on the series. Dick Giordano drew many of the covers and the fine team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache took over the series after Ditko withdrew after a lengthy run on the title.  Their take on the giant ape made him a cuter figure despite his great bulk, and their charming style always makes everyone resemble dolls somehow. It works very well on this series. Other artists are Charles Nicholas and Nick Alascia who created the second issue between Ditko's run. Bill Molno even drew The Return of Konga. 

Here are the covers for the run. 

This reprint from 1968 was the final issue of Konga from Charlton Comics. 

I read the series this time in the two-volume reprint series which offers a barebones reprinting of the stories scanned from the original copies. The quality of some of the scans is suspect, but it's handy to have all of this epic tale in a couple of handy volumes. 

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