Gorgo was Charlton's other monster comic. Like Konga it began as an adaptation of a movie, then transformed into an ongoing series. It was a tougher go than Konga because the monsters were less identifiable and lacked an ability to show much emotion if any, unlike Konga. They couldn't be humanized in the same way. Also, the comic lacked the talent of Steve Ditko after the first several issues. Ditko illustrated Joe Gill's scripts at first but stepped away when the comic was first picked up by the Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia team then by Joe Sinnott and Vince Colletta. The latter duo produced several issues of the run early on and most all of them are poor even by Charlton's rather lax standards. Later Ditko returns for several issues before handing the comic over to Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, the same team that took over Konga after Ditko's departure. If anything, the Montes and Bache version of the great monsters was successful at finally giving the monsters some character.
One aspect of the Gorgo saga which makes it difficult for the comic is that there are two monsters -- Gorgo and Gorgo's Mother. It reminds me of the monster Grendel from Beowulf who also had a more powerful and deadly mother. Having to work in both monsters is difficult given the space allowances in a comic tale, and often Gorgo's mom just sleeps for most of a story. The stories are strongest when just Gorgo is the focus. Like Konga, we are often presented with human lovers who find one another amidst the conflicts which Gorgo's presence generates. Gorgo battles aliens (two separate invasions from Venus for instance) and Commies. He and his mom find lots of other monsters above and below the sea to fight as well. Reptilicus (or as he's renamed Reptisaurus) even makes a guest appearance in the Gorgo comic run, showing the only instance of continuity inside the Charlton monsterverse.
Here's a cover gallery of the complete run of the comic.
Gorgo's Revenge is a strange comic, in which Gorgo is associated with the dragons of myth. This story is drawn by Charles Nicholas and Nick Alascia.
The two issues of
The Return of Gorgo were both illustrated by Steve Ditko though as usual he only creates one cover. Many of the covers in the main series and otherwise were created by Dick Giordano. This series seems to be a continuation of
Gorgo's Revenge.
The Gorgo comic saga is well captured in these two volumes which reproduce the stories from scans of the comics. Some of those scans are pretty meager, but it's still nice to have all the issues at hand.
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