The Lonely One

 

By Joe Gill & Steve Ditko
No ISBN

Steve Ditko is one of our industry’s greatest talents and probably America’s least lauded. His fervent desire to just get on with his job and to tell his stories the best way he can, whilst the noblest of aspirations, will always be of least consideration to the commercial interests that control production. So it’s a sheer delight to be able to look at his work from a happier time and a more innocent perspective.

In this slim volume, collecting four adventures of the giant ape Konga (‘The Land of Frozen Giants’– #8, ‘Monster Hunter’ – #11, ‘The Lonely One’ – #12 and ‘The Peacemaker’ – #13), plus the sci-fi short ‘Why He Survived’ (also from Konga #8), we see a confident artist nearing the peak of his powers making a frankly daft and cheesy “King Kong” knock-off look great and read well. Ditko’s uncanny ability to marry the intensely dramatic with the subversively “cartoony” is used to superb effect in the adventures of a misunderstood giant gorilla wandering the world, unknowingly fighting evil with innocence. Credit should also be given to the prolific, under-rated and much-missed Joe Gill, whose tight, economical and sly scripting on literally every subject and genre make so many Charlton titles into lost gems.

(N.B. Konga was originally a movie-tie in/licensed comic for a 1950s B-Movie. It survived its origins to become a relatively long-running title – at least by Charlton Comics’ standards.)

Also included in this high-quality black and white book – so appropriate considering the artist’s philosophical and creative fascinations – is a checklist of Ditko’s comic work, and a couple of ‘Flora the Explorer’ comedy shorts from Henry Boltinoff – another underappreciated mainstay of those more innocent and uncontroversial days.

© 1989 Robyn Snyder. All Rights Reserved.