Charlton Comics produced a lot of interesting books in the fifties and sixties, even though they were rather eclipsed by the popularity of rivals DC Comics and Marvel Comics. I think part of the problem was that they never really cultivated their super-hero stable that much, which included a modern version of the Blue Beetle, the Question, Captain Atom, The Peacemaker and Thunderbolt. With the exception of Thunderbolt (who was created by Pete Morisi) and Peacemaker, the rest of their super-hero line was revamped and drawn by the legendary Steve Ditko. Ditko, as almost everyone knows, is the creative force responsible for Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, The Creeper, Hawk and Dove and many other super-heroes, as well as a nearly uncountable string of monster and science fiction comic tales. It is the latter prolific output that Fantastic Giants takes advantage of.

You won't find Fantastic Giants #1 through #24 anywhere ... they don't exist. This comic was actually the final issue of another monster-oriented comic, Konga. That book was, of course, based on the popular British import movie that was a take on the classic King Kong mythos, and has gained an iota of fame recently for being featured in the original version of Alien Ant Farm's "Movies" video. Charlton Comics did have a knack for getting the rights to adapt a lot of cool entertainment properties. Besides Konga, they also produced brief series for Gorgo (which also lasted 23 issues as well, so I guess this special could almost be a continuation of that series as well), Reptilicus (based on the horrible Sid Pink movie of the same name, which became Reptisaurus after the rights to the original lapsed), Space: 1999 and The Six Million Dollar Man among others.

Fantastic Giants was also odd for Charlton Comics in that the cover was emblazoned with an artist's name. There were few credits in any Charlton Comic, even up into the late seventies. Pete Morisi would always sign his work "PAM", but there was little indication of the creative forces behind any of Charlton's books. Except for Steve Ditko's readily recognizable style, that is, so having "A Steve Ditko Special!" on the cover was really superfluous, but it was nice to see him get the credit he deserves for once.

The lead story in this comic was "Konga" which was a reprint of one of the first stories to feature the lesser-known cinematic ape (from Konga #1). The story is fairly true to the movie, though the lead character Dr. Decker doesn't have most of the evilness that made Michael Gough so wonderfully "hate-able" in the movie ... in the comic he's really just a bit misguided and almost dim where it concerns the murders caused by Konga. The monkey was brought back from Africa and treated with the Colchicine Serum (which was made from a plant that Decker discovered tall natives using when his plane crashed; the serum doubles the genes in each individual cell, allowing for incredible growth and evolution). Konga rapidly evolved from a monkey, to a chimpanzee and then to a large gorilla. Decker didn't realize that the serum had also expanded the beast's mind until it had a sort of telepathy with the doctor, and the ape acted upon Decker's subconscious desires, such as to murder the Dean who had fired him from the school's faculty, or kill Dr. Tagore, the scientist who's own work was about to render Decker's years of study worthless. Decker suddenly realized what was happening when he thought about how he resented young Bob marrying his assistant Sandra (and forcing Decker to teach more instead of working on his serum). Decker and his wife were killed when Konga continued to grow after his last treatment, destroying the lab, house and rampaging through London until the colossal beast was brought down by the firepower of the RAF and the army. Konga reverted to a small monkey when he died.

The second tale is one of two new stories Steve Ditko did for this special. "With the Help of Hogar" could have easily been published in one of Marvel's old monster comics of the fifties. An alien object lands in a hidden valley in South Africa, seen only by Manu, a evil witch doctor who had been exiled from his tribe. Believing the object to be a sign of the gods, Manu carved the material into a giant, monstrous figure that he names Hogar. He led members of his tribe back to it and proclaimed that Hogar was a sign from the Gods that he was to be their leader. One tribesman voiced his doubts and told him to bring back the whole tribe on the night of the full moon and he would breathe life into Hogar. On that night, Manu spoke magic words over the idol-like figure, not knowing that the French had set off a nuclear device in the desert, and the fallout was falling on the valley with the growing storm. Lightning struck Hogar and Manu was stunned and tossed to the ground. Suddenly, the giant Hogar began to move and rise. The statue picked Manu up and carefully observed the man, and then tossed him deep into the jungle with a mighty throw, turning and walking away in huge thundering strides. Seismograph machines all over the world recorded his footsteps and observation teams were sent in to investigate, only to find the unbelievably huge Hogar ravaging the jungle. He soon moved on to cities, and the defenses of Mankind were found to be useless against the horrific creature. Meanwhile, Hogar laid in the jungle, broken and battered, and prayed for a way to make up for his sins of lust and greed before he died. He believed his prayers had been answered when he saw a star appear above him. The "star" was actually an alien spacecraft searching for the huge piece of matter that had escaped from one of their experiments. They tracked it down to Hogar and disintegrated the rampaging statue. Manu died peacefully, having atoned for his ill will and happy that the Gods had finally answered his prayers.

"Gorgo" is the third story in this anthology, and as with "Konga" it is a very good adaptation of the popular movie of the same name, and is a reprint of Gorgo #1. As adaptations go, it is actually one of the more faithful movie-to-comic tales that I've ever read. In fact, these 22 pages tell the story of the movie without missing any important plot points or scenes. The monster is even called Ogra as the young boy on the island in the movie referred to it (the name Gorgo was thought up by the circus promoter sponsoring the monster's "visit" to London), which I thought was a nice touch. Ditko's reptilian artwork is a little lacking in this story, but he makes up for it in character detail ... this tale features some of the best faces I've seen him draw since the original The Amazing Spider-Man. The lead characters look nothing like Pat Sylvester or William Travers, but I don't really mind that too much.

Another new story rounds out this monster special: "The Mountain Monster" is one of Steve's interesting takes on the legend of The Frankenstein Monster. Two youngsters playing in the woods around a European village came across the Monster. It followed them back to the village and began to walk the streets, as if searching for something. The creature stopped and burst through the door of Dr. Caesmer Karv's house. Trying to defend his daughter Martha, Dr. Karv attack the creature, but it simply lifted him up and walked off with the doctor, heading back into the dark woods.The creature travelled far, to the mountaintop castle of Dr. Hans Leiter. Leiter strapped Dr. Karv down to a table, telling the doctor that he simply wanted to "copy the lines and folds" of his brain. The next thing Dr. Karv knew he was in a cell with several other scientists who had been missing. They said they had also been captured by the creature, which Leiter calls Adam. Leiter had copied the brains of all the men, imparting his mechanical man with the "knowledge of the greatest minds of our time." Unfortunately, Leiter had not considered the shocked and frightened state of the minds he had been using...terror which had been imprinted upon Adam. When he activated the robot, Adam struck him and fled from the building. The injured Leiter managed to crawl to the cells and release his prisoners, hoping to get their help in finding Adam, who was "trying to run away from himself." Meanwhile, Adam moved through the forest at a frantic pace, his terrorized brain thinking that he would be safe on the mountain. He climbed up onto a high ledge, only to be beset by a pack of wolves. He dispatched them, but the men from the castle had caught up to him. The monster beseeched them to help him escape from the Creature. Dr. Karv asked the creature who he was...was he Dr. Karv or one of the others. The monster's confusion was redoubled when he saw, through his shredded clothes, his metallic skin. With a piercing shriek the monster climbed further up the mountain, only to be struck down by a bolt of lightning. An avalanche buried the remains of the destroyed Adam...though as the men left, a metallic hand thrust upward from the debris ...

As any Steve Ditko fan would imagine, this comic is a delight to read. I swear Steve was the only man more prolific than Jack Kirby when it came to cool and oddball monster and horror stories. The two new stories in this issue have the standard Ditko twists to them that he always uses to give his work a bit of a Twilight Zone feel. The two reprints are good too, especially considering how faithful they are at adapting the movies. "Gorgo" is especially good in that aspect. The original movie was one of the first monster movies I ever remember watching on the Late Show as a kid, so this brings back a lot of fond memories. The murky coloring of the underwater sequence where the smaller Gorgo first makes his appearance is very effective.

This is definitely a back issue to watch out for ... its worth the time and effort to find and is an excellent tribute to one of the last great surviving Silver Age pioneers.

Fantastic Giants

(formerly Konga)

Volume 2, #24

September, 1966