King Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World

    (Dark Horse, 2005)
™ and ©2005 Universal Studios Licensing, LLC

Peter Jackson’s bloated remake of King Kong is an entertaining spectacle of a film, the kind that Carl Denham himself would have been proud to make. Watching Kong battle three dinosaurs is cool, and the sequence atop the Empire State Building, in which Kong bats away airplanes like so many flies, is thrilling. Unfortunately, the movie is overlong and drags in spots, and Ann Darrow does tricks for the big galoot and even ice skates with him. (Darrow was never less than terrified of the creature in the 1933 original.)

None of the aforementioned scenes (good or bad) made it into this comic book, since it is merely the first of three issues. It’s mostly setup, with Denham hoodwinking actress Darrow and screenwriter Jack Driscoll into accompanying him and his crew to Skull Island. The big, hairy star of the show doesn’t even show his face until the penultimate page, suggesting that this project should have been released as a graphic novel instead of a three-issue series.

The art is rarely better than adequate.

— Brett Weiss
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#1

December, 2005
Cover Price: $3.99
8 copies available from $0.99 		Chris Gossett, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Merian C. Cooper, Edgar WallaceDustin Weaver