This is an often overlooked, at least rarely mentioned rendition of the mighty King Kong. In Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #2, the one-eyed spy tackles the genetic machinations of Centurius, a crazed mad scientist in the Dr. Moreau vein who plans to ravage Earth's flora and fauna and replace them with his own freshly-minted creations. As it turns out a movie crew is on the same island and Nick is forced to recruit their help to save the Earth. In that effort, the giant robotic replica of Kong is used to battle some of the local dinos created by Centurius. It's a bit lame admittedly, but it did allow Steranko to create the full-page spectacle above (with the able assistance of inker Frank Giacoia), so as far as I'm concerned, all is forgiven.
The cover of the comic echoes the giant nature of the threat in this symbolic image of Fury battling a huge Centurius. Centurius being one of those all-too-common insane scientist types in the tradition of Dr. Moreau, who has built his own world to escape to in order to pursue his forbidden experiments.
The comic features one of Jim Steranko's best double-page spreads and works magnificently inside the storytelling of the comic itself.
Now that I reflect on it, it made more sense for the mighty Kong to work for A.P.E. (Agency to Prevent Evil) alongside Lancelot Link. Let C.H.U.M.P. (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan) chew on that.
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Ah, Art vs Life....we can all remember how lively that life-sized robotic Kong used in the 1976 version was ie not at all; don't imagine it doing as much as shown in SHIELD #2.
ReplyDeleteJust watched that movie and while it has its virtues, that big dumb robot ain't one of them.
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