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King Kong Swings Into New BOOM! Series

by Vince Brusio

Who can ever forget their first experience seeing the world’s biggest ape, whether it was the original black and white film, or the 1970s and 2005 remakes? King Kong has long been a part of cinema history, and the creative team of James Asmus and Carlos Magno thought that tradition should now translate to comics with BOOM! Studios Kong of Skull Island #1. In this PREVIEWSworld Exclusive interview, both creators relay what went into making this six-issue mini-series.

Kong of Skull Island #1 (MAY161216) is in comic shops July 13.

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Article Image 70d9PREVIEWSworld: What sparked the idea to write about King Kong? And what version of Kong from all of his incarnations is being used as the template for his current look in Kong of Skull Island #1 (MAY161216)?

James Asmus: The spark for our story and the lineage of our Kong both stem from the vision of King Kong’s creator and original filmmaker, Merian C. Cooper. Before he made the 1933 King Kong, he laid out his vision for a novel. He, his family, and more recently artist Joe DeVito cultivated several project in books and comics in the decades since, and we’re part of that proud canon. They laid out a rich and detailed history they’d created (for Skull Island in particular), and then generously offered up for us to springboard off of in any way we found exciting. There was a wealth of inspiring detail, but I was almost immediately intrigued by the revelation that the natives actually landed on the dinosaur-infested Skull Island after their home was destroyed! This transition had never been told, but was obviously rich with high-stakes, emotional moments. A chance to tell a first-contact origin story that weaves together natural disasters, social upheaval, desperate survival, giant fighting apes, and man’s first encounters with dinosaurs. Too great to pass up!

Carlos Magno: I don’t envy what James has to do to write this story but I know he is devoted and is working hard on the script. It will be a challenging job for the both of us, but we will do our best to tell a great Kong story!

PREVIEWSworld: What do you think is Kong’s appeal to comic readers? Do you think he’s as relative to pop culture today as, say, the Universal Monsters?

James Asmus: Kong is more intelligent than traditional animals, but more instinctual than people. The result is a creature that can very handily speak to our own savage, animal nature as humans — and cause massive amounts of thrilling destruction in the process!        

Additionally, unlike say vampires or werewolves, we haven’t had a million iterations and remixes. So the metaphor is still potent, and the storytelling ground is still fertile and pretty vast.

Carlos Magno: Absolutely still relevant—King Kong is undoubtedly widely remembered. Just ask any young person if they know who Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi are. When it comes to King Kong, the first thing that comes to mind is the big gorilla with Ann Darrow in its hand. People remember this iconic image.

PREVIEWSworld: Without spoiling the book, what did you “geek” over while developing this six-issue mini-series?

James Asmus: Realizing that our story will build out THE original King Kong story’s history and canon felt like a dream I still expect to wake up from! And of course, once I started planning out Kong vs. dinosaur fights, I had to pinch myself because, in moments like that, I really can’t believe how amazing my job is. And to top it all off, having someone like Carlos Magno crafting the art is a God-send, because that man delivers rich, thoughtful, impactful detail on every. Single. Page. He really delivers incredible work and is a dream artist for Kong.

Carlos Magno: When I knew I’d be working on the original idea behind King Kong, I was thrilled. After I started working on the character designs, I realized this was something entirely new for that universe. I can’t wait for people to see what our approach is.

PREVIEWSworld: How has this book challenged you as a creator? What aspect of its production had you returning to it a few times to “get it right”?

James Asmus: I had wanted to tell a story about the complexity of human nature and the fact that different stripes of people will respond to fear and threats to their society differently. It’s easy and all too common (in comics and even, sadly, in news reporting) to paint any opposition as flat-out villains.

But if you really want to explore human nature, you have to acknowledge the good and bad in all of us. That’s something I enjoyed in my years as a playwright, but comics doesn’t always allow for that approach — and rarely to the degree my editors and I were excited about here. But Dafna [Pleban] and Alex [Galer] (editors extraordinaire!) have pushed me to go further in defining our characters and enriching the complexities of their relationships and moral conflicts — without skimping on the giant monster mayhem —and the book has become a much richer world and experience for it!

Carlos Magno: It doesn't matter if you drop a lot of heroes into a surreal environment and have them fight to the death, or if you tell the story of humans who try to find their place on a planet ruled by apes, or you’re your narrative calls for adding cybernetic parts to a policeman. When you put your mind to it, you have to do it right; you keep trying until, in your mind, you get it right. But the readers are the true judges!

PREVIEWSworld: Last question: freestyle. How about we let you speak directly to the audience. What can you say to your potential fans that will make them rush to the retailer so that Kong of Skull Island gets put on their pull list?

James Asmus: Thrills. Survival. Heartbreak. Horror. Treachery. Sacrifice. Dinosaurs. KONG.

If you like any of those things—know that an incredible team have been pouring serious passion and sweat into our work to make sure this series delivers.

Carlos Magno: James and I, as well as the entire team, will treat this with the utmost respect. I’m also a reader so for me, there’s nothing more frustrating than buying a book and seeing that it doesn’t meet my expectations. That's why we will do our best!

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