The Gold Key Kong!

Your Halloween treat this All Hallow's Eve is my first comic book, an adaptation of King Kong.  Now I'm not one thousand percent sure of that, but there's no doubt that getting my grubby little kiddie mitts on this Gold Key gem was part of what propelled me to become a comic book addict from that day to this. The George Wilson cover has all the elements you expect of the epic clash, even if Kong is a tad bit leaner than you'd expect and in the comic, a whole lot bluer.

But since this was likely not only my first comic, but certainly my first contact with King Kong I didn't find the changes odd at all. And since it hit the stands on my birthday, I can only think the fellows at Gold Key were thinking of me. Because of the convoluted rights to the character of King King and the movie King King, this is based on the novel version of the story produced at the same time as the epic film. What prompted Gold Key in 1968 to bring out the comic is uncertain, but Toho was expressing interest in Kong and a cartoon show was debuting that same year. So as had periodically been the case since Kong's 1933 debut, interest was blooming again in the King of Skull Island.

So sit back, keep the candy handy and enjoy a different version of the epic journey to the magical and deadly Skull Island. If like me, you've visited before it will be welcoming back a good friend, or if this is your first trip to the island as imagined by writer Gary Poole, and Italian artists Giovanni Ticci and Alberto Giolitti it will be exploring a new but still oddly familiar territory.

It's been a fun countdown this year and thanks to all who have come along with me. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

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