After an uneven opening chapter last month, Kong of Skull Island returns this week with its second issue. Is it good?
Kong of Skull Island #2 (BOOM! Studios)
Observations
- The Titanic movie would have been a lot more entertaining if it went down like this.
- YES! Dinosaurs! Kongs! Lots of great action!
- …and we’re back tribal politics and romance.
- A LOT of tribal politics and romance.
- That boat must be made of some amazing wood to fit so many giant gorillas on it.
- Hard to feel sorry for a giant ape when you know it’s going to absolutely wreck everything attacking it.
Leviathans make everything better.
Is It Good?
Aside from Ewata (who is great), the characters in Kong of Skull Island are painfully uninteresting.
Perhaps I’m just being a dumb meathead, but I find myself getting through those parts of the issue just to get to more stuff with the Kongs. It doesn’t necessarily have to be fight scenes, either. Ewata’s bond/interactions with them make for some of the book’s better moments. But as far as the arranged marriage and religion vs. reality subplots, I’m completely checking out as I read them. Maybe it’s because much of the human drama feels so divorced from the giant gorillas we all came here to see (or the previously mentioned meathead thing).
I do appreciate the effort to show things from points of view besides Etawa’s. It makes it harder to completely dislike/discount the parties involved in the emotional trauma she is experiencing. Unfortunately, it also separates itself from the main narrative so much that it takes over the story.
On the plus side, the book’s art continues to be great, particularly during the thrilling opening sequence. It’s enough to make me want to come back for at least one more issue—hopefully with a bit less Days of Our Lives and a lot more Thunderdome.
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