Konga!

Konga, the 1961 monster movie written and produced by Herman Cohen, is a deliriously bizarre entertainment. According to some sources the original title of the movie was I Was a Teenage Gorilla, so that should tip anyone off that this is a strange flicker. (For the record Cohen was also behind such iconic titles such as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and I Was a Teenage Werewolf.) And as amazing as it sounds it's strange not just because it features a somewhat hokey giant ape stumbling across London, but because of the acting of one man -- Michael Gough. Whenever you look him up these days, his role as "Alfred" in those Batman flicks of moons ago get the main attention, but for me it will ever be Konga.

Gough plays a scientist named Decker who returns to London after a year lost in the depths of the African jungles with new ideas and some seeds. It seems he's learned how to make things big, but there is nothing on the planet able to outgrow this guy's ego. Gough's performance as Decker gives the screen one of the most repulsive people it has ever experienced. Nothing is more important to Decker than himself and he spends the movie proving it.

He turns on everyone around him, eventually killing his superiors, killing innocent kids, and then preying upon those left in his special care. He is a man who violates every boundary of trust given to him. He is truly "uncivilized" and that's the theme. The comic book adaptation spends more time in the jungle and shows us how Decker finds his special things, but in the movie all of that is ignored in service of showing the results. He betrays his lover and assistant, puts the moves on a stacked female student, and sends his gorilla on patrol to commit murder. He's not a nice guy. 

While not of the same kind as the werewolves of fiction, Decker and Konga are two sides of the same creature, and the latter is changed in physical shape to reflect the changes inside the heart and soul of the other. Decker's ego knows no bounds and so does Konga grow to giant size and in doing so plod to his doom. Decker imagined he was above, beyond the grip of society, but in the grip of Konga, his other self in the shadow of the clock tower which holds Big Ben, he is brought low at last.

If perchance you haven't seen Konga I recommend it and even more maybe the reading of the comic adaptation which shows greater details of the origin. But we'll get to that in due course. 

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Keep Watching The Skies!

Keep Watching the Skies - American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties by Bill Warren is a massive two-volume set of tomes which give summaries and opinions of most every movie you can think of from the relevant era between 1950 and 1962. These are not just movies which were released in America, so Toho among others gets great coverage. The three flickers featured this month -- Konga, Gorgo and Reptilicus -- are included as well. My goal this month (and perhaps a bit beyond) is to try and see as many of these movies again. It's a mammoth, but exceedingly fun task. 

These books have been published, revised and published again over the years. Above you can see the delightfully delicate artwork for the first editions. 

Here is the magnificent art by Kerry Gammill which graces both volumes in the set. Being able to identify every single creature, invader, robot, and mutation in this image is a badge of honor or arguably a sign of a too cloistered existence. I plead guilty. Take a closer look and see how you do. 

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Angry Apes 'N' Leapin' Lizards!

This month is all about giant monsters, especially those illustrated in strong style by "Sturdy" Steve Ditko. I've had the above Paragon book titled Steve Ditko -- Angry Apes 'N' Leapin' Lizards in my collection for many years. It's a dandy black and white gathering of some of Ditko's strongest monster material for Charlton in the early 1960's, produced at the same time he was cranking out mystery yarns for Stan Lee at Marvel. Ditko worked in tandem with the indefatigable Joe Gill on these monster stories. 

In addition to stories about Konga and Gorgo, look for Reptilicus as well. Ditko never drew any of that less successful series, but it's a lot of fun anyway. Other artists aside from Ditko drew Konga and Gorgo stories and I'll get into that a bit as the month rumbles along. All monsters all month. 

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Introducing Captain Atom -- Ditko At Charlton 1960!

Introducing Captain Atom - Ditko at Charlton 1960 is as the title advertises. It gathers together the work by Steve Ditko produced for Charlton during that year. All of the work here was also written by Joe Gill and he is the focus of the collection as much as Ditko himself. In this year, Ditko was working for Marvel and Charlton as well as others from time to time. 

For those who might not know, Joe Gill was a writing workhorse for Charlton Comics. When I first discovered Charlton, I saw his name so much, I assumed it was a house name like "Kenneth Robeson", a name shared by many writers. Little did I realize the fecundity of Joe Gill's mind. He wrote with precision and skill, but mostly speed, hammering out scripts for Charlton's array of artists for wages at their cheapest in 1960 since this was after the company's famous flood, an event used by the owners to slash pay to the talent. 

Beneath this wraparound cover is an essay titled "Into Outer Space" highlighting the fascination with space which marked the era and the historical events which sparked that fascination. "Introducing Joe Gill" offers up a short bio of the great writer himself. "The Life Story of Steve Ditko" offers a nifty chronology of the artist from his beginning right up to his demise and beyond. In between we are offered a bevy of stories by Gill and Ditko arranged by the titles in which they appeared. 

Below is a cover gallery of those issues involved which featured Ditko artwork on the cover. At this stage, art from interior stories was rearranged by the editors for covers. 

Much more on Captain Atom in April, but March will be for monsters. The Dojo welcomes one and all. 

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Ditko Cover Classics - Space War #8!

Space War #8 was published in late 1960. Ditko drew only "The Contaminated Spaceman" for this issue. You can read it at this link. 

And here's that same constructed cover on a British reprint. 

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Ditko Cover Classics - Space War #6!

Space War #6 was published in 1960. Ditko drew "The Blue Men of Bantro" for this issue which is where the cover art is derived. You can read it at this link. 

Here's another look at that artwork in a British reprint. 

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Ditko Cover Classics - Space War #5!

Space War #5 was published in 1960. The comic features one story by Ditko titled "Exiled to Earth". You can read it here. 

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