I’ve always been a sucker for monsters, the bigger the better. Maybe it was seeing King Kong scale the Empire State Building with Fay Wray in one hand and a whole load of biplane whooping fury in the other, or watching Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla stomp Tokyo into atoms, or it could have Doug McClure trying to figure out how to escape from The Land That Time Forgot, but whatever it was, ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper, I’ve had a soft spot for monsters. And that’s probably why I loved every panel and page of Return to Skull Island. 

Yes, it’s a continuation of an animated series, and yes, the clue for every Kaiju fangirl and fanboy is in the title, and yes, having Kong on the cover is a dead giveaway to the sort of narrative that you’re going to find yourself immersed in as soon as you open the book, but as far as I’m concerned all of those things are big ticks in the plus column. You know exactly what you’re going to get, and in a world that insists on springing terrible surprise after terrible surprise on all and sundry daily, that’s not a bad thing.

So what do you get? I’m glad you asked, as Return to Skull Island mixes Lovecraftian and Kaiju mythology and canon with a ridiculously fast-paced Burroughs meets Riverdale multi-layered plot that’ll leave you gasping for breath and wanting more by the time you reach the final page. Simon Furman’s incredible characterisation, snappy dialogue, and frantic storytelling are more than enough to give this book a double thumbs up, but when you throw Christopher Jones rich, detailed monsterific art into the mix, then you end up with something truly special, that’s about far more than the King of the Monsters going ten rounds with Fungoid titan from the depths of the Hollow Earth. Sure, you’ll probably tune in for the monsters, but you’ll stick around for the story, and if you’re anything like me, by the time the dust settles and all is said and done, you’ll want more. Much, much more… Tim Cundle 

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