We’ve seen many different versions of the iconic monster King Kong over the years in movies, live-action and animated TV shows, books, video games and other media. The newest addition to the King Kong collection will be the sequel Godzilla vs. Kong, which premieres at theaters and on HBO Max on March 31.
While King Kong is well known from his classic original film from 1933 and some of the remakes like the 1976 version starring Jessica Lange and director Peter Jackson’s 2005 reimagining, many other Kong creations are lesser known. This includes a Mexican comic book published by Editorial Orizaba from 1965 to 1969.
The comic book was written by Guillermo Padilla and featured the art of J. Amaro and Pedro Cabrales. During its run, Editorial Orizaba published 185 issues. It is one of the first comic book adaptations of King Kong and the longest-running Kong comic book ever.
The cover art on the $1 comic books is amazing. In comic book issue No. 3 of the series, Kong is painted crushing a ship in the ocean. On the cover of comic book issue No. 37, he is destroying a city with a telephone poll in his hand. On the cover of issue No. 70, he’s running through fire while fighting off a UFO attack.
In 1972, Editorial Orizaba reprinted some of the comic books and reprinted again in 1980, this time changing the name to The Gorilla (El Gorila) and The Gorilla of the Jungle (El Gorila de la Selva).
Another King Kong comic book from Mexico was printed in 1979 called King Kong en el Microcosmos. That series ran for 35 issues.
If Hollywood is looking for its next monster movie sequel, King Kong in Space sounds both silly and intriguing.
