King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

[edgaguirus]

It'd be perfect for a villain Kong story.

[ArtMaker]

Legally speaking and to my understanding of the situation, I could make a comic book based on the public domain ‘32 Kong novel as the primary source, so long as no exact likeness/specific imagery of the films is used and I remember the differences of the novel from the film. Right?

[UltramanGoji]

Legally speaking and to my understanding of the situation, I could make a comic book based on the public domain ‘32 Kong novel as the primary source, so long as no exact likeness/specific imagery of the films is used and I remember the differences of the novel from the film. Right?

Yes, if your project is 100% based purely on interpretations of the novel text without borrowing anything from any of the copyrighted works.

[ArtMaker]

Legally speaking and to my understanding of the situation, I could make a comic book based on the public domain ‘32 Kong novel as the primary source, so long as no exact likeness/specific imagery of the films is used and I remember the differences of the novel from the film. Right?

Yes, if your project is 100% based purely on interpretations of the novel text without borrowing anything from any of the copyrighted works.

Sweet.

[SpiderZilla]

Legally speaking and to my understanding of the situation, I could make a comic book based on the public domain ‘32 Kong novel as the primary source, so long as no exact likeness/specific imagery of the films is used and I remember the differences of the novel from the film. Right?

Yes, if your project is 100% based purely on interpretations of the novel text without borrowing anything from any of the copyrighted works.

Sweet.

IANAL, but I took a law class in college where the professor stressed that it’s often best to avoid a lawsuit regardless of how right you think you are. You could make a comic book that you thought was 100% based purely on the public domain novel but still find yourself facing a lawsuit from the owners of one or more of the films. It’s not that those copyright owners are malicious or greedy. Rather, it would come down to a difference of opinion between you and them that would require lawyers and judges to resolve. Even if you won, the cost of fighting the lawsuit might feel like you lost.

[ArtMaker]

Yes, if your project is 100% based purely on interpretations of the novel text without borrowing anything from any of the copyrighted works.

Sweet.

IANAL, but I took a law class in college where the professor stressed that it’s often best to avoid a lawsuit regardless of how right you think you are. You could make a comic book that you thought was 100% based purely on the public domain novel but still find yourself facing a lawsuit from the owners of one or more of the films. It’s not that those copyright owners are malicious or greedy. Rather, it would come down to a difference of opinion between you and them that would require lawyers and judges to resolve. Even if you won, the cost of fighting the lawsuit might feel like you lost.

Damn.

I am to assume that if it was a far removed parody w/ a loose following of the story beats, as to play under fair use, that’d be a better route to go?

[SpiderZilla]

I am to assume that if it was a far removed parody w/ a loose following of the story beats, as to play under fair use, that’d be a better route to go?

A lawyer would probably advise any film owner that they would be unlikely to win against a parody, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t try anyway. Proceed with caution.

[LegendZilla]

Legally speaking and to my understanding of the situation, I could make a comic book based on the public domain ‘32 Kong novel as the primary source, so long as no exact likeness/specific imagery of the films is used and I remember the differences of the novel from the film. Right?

Yes, if your project is 100% based purely on interpretations of the novel text without borrowing anything from any of the copyrighted works.

Sweet.

The original film becomes PD in 2029.

[ArtMaker]

I bring up the legality of the ape as I wanna make a parody comic of King Kong titled “Kid Kong, Boy Wonder of the World”, (8th wonder swapped out for boy wonder; you have no idea how stupidly long it took me to figure out what the replacement phrase should be). Quick backstory, was one of the first comics I made (well, attempted, was mostly incomplete) years and years ago as a kid; having been inspired by Dav Pilkey’s books. I believe the current draft outline has enough changes from the source. Any of you interested to see what I got so far?

[edgaguirus]

It's a catchy title.

[John Pannozzi]

All I know is that Neca's Kong toys heavily resembles the Kong design from the 1933 film, and yet they're apparently made without getting permission from RKO or Turner/WB (the legal info on all of Neca and Kidrobot's Kong merch from the last few years AFAIK only mentions Neca in the legal indica. They even used the name "King Kong" in a font similar to advertisements to the 1933 film).

Make of that what you will.

[ArtMaker]

I’ll just go ahead and leave all this here and see what y’all think of it.

“KID KONG, The BOY WONDER of the WORLD”

ACT ONE
Our story begins, like many Kong stories before, in New York. A failing director, Earl Dunham, has travelled here as he’s been given one final chance to make a profit and pay back the studio he works for on all the money lost from his last three motion pictures: “Jungle Love”, “Going Ape” and “Deadly Seas”. As he struggles to find an actress willing to participate in the film for cheap, he meets a little girl, Lily, who gets caught stealing an apple. He pays for it. She’s thankful. Later the girl’s mother, Diane Sparrow shows up and thanks him for his kindness. He offers them dinner and asks her if she’d be interested in starring in his film. Seeing an opportunity to become wealthy, she agrees. Through Lily’s internal thoughts, we learn this hasn’t been the first time she and her mother have pulled this stunt. It being something Lily is highly against, but must obey her mother regardless and if they want to not starve or freeze. At the docks we meet a boy named Shawn. Him working as a roustabout as he is the oldest and his mother is unable to get a job as she needs to care for her two other youngest children. On their way to the filming location, Diane continually tries to woo an oblivious Dunham. She is unsuccessful everytime much to her annoyance. Her daughter however is more successful in this regard as she and Shawn start to fall for each other. Puppy love if you will. The crew begin to stir with uneasiness as to where they’re going and demand an answer. Dunham gives in and tells them that the filming location is set on an island dubbed “Happy Island”. It was named so for it resembling a smiling clown when looking at the island from a high altitude. However, the name is meant to be ironic as Dunham doesn’t tell the crew that the island is said to be infested with the most dangerous and terrifying creatures on earth. They eventually do arrive on the island. Once they start getting ready to shoot, Lily is neatly kidnaped by the island natives to be used as an offering to their god: Kid Kong. She is swiftly rescued and they retreat to the ship. Dunham disappointed that he once again is left empty handed. Before they can leave the island, Lily is taken and is given to their god. Kid Kong takes her into the jungle. Dunham, Ms. Sparrow, Shawn and the rest of the crew set out to save her.

ACT TWO
- Lily makes an attempt to escape but is caught by Kid Kong
- A multi-horned rhino attacks the crew
- Kid Kong fights a Woolly Mammoth
- A family of sauropods stampede after getting spooked by a sneeze
- They encounter a Spinosaurus in a swamp, along w/ a Plesiosaur and other various monster fish
- Lily tries to escape once more, but keeps running into dangerous situations: leading to Kid Kong fighting a large carnivorous theropod
- A giant pelican-like bird attacks the rescuer’s camp
- Lily and Kid Kong start getting to know one another and build a bond (Lily does most of the talking, but through Kong’s gestures we get a sense of what his past was like)
- Kid Kong (w/ Lily) runs into the rescue team and they open fire on him. Believing them to be also a danger to Lily he flees. Running across a log bridge, causing it to dislodge as he does. By the time the crew make it halfway it starts to slip and only Shawn makes it across to the other side. The rest make it back to the side they started on as the log bridge falls into the deep pit below
- Lily is rescued by Shawn and they flee
- Kid Kong is lured down to the beach and gets knocked out with a boulder that was dislodged by a gas bomb Kid Kong had ducked under when it was tossed at him
- In an effort to salvage the mess, Dunham takes Kid Kong to New York

ACT THREE
In a few months, Kid Kong is finally shown off to the public who are both amazed and stunned by the sight of the gargantuan human. Kid, now dressed up in oversized modern clothing (a suit) to appear more civilized, feels indifferent as long as Lily is okay. More of a background detail, but in the public's eye, Dunham, Diane and Lily are a sort of family (something Diane is heavily pushing for which Dunham is rather oblivious to). As the show goes on, several photographers start taking pictures. Diane is soaking all the attention up like a sponge and as she tries to pull Lily in closer to pose for the photos, in the struggle this starts to upset Kid Kong as he believes her to be attacking Lily. Lily tries to tell her mother this but is ignored. He breaks his chains holding him much to everyone’s horror. Diane, Dunham and (much to her objection) Lily, split the scene w/ Kong close behind. Outside, Dunham flags down a cab to get out of there. They make an escape just as Kid makes it outside and goes the opposite direction. Shawn meanwhile as he leaves for the night to return to the docks sees the army moving in. Realizing what’s happening, he goes to find Lily and Kong. Kid Kong starts looking through New York for Lily causing hundreds of dollars worth of collateral damage in the process on accident in his confusion of the new environment. At this time Lily has managed to wriggle out from her mother’s grip and goes off to find Kid before any more bad things happen. Soon enough they find each other and go on a search for safety. Shawn is close behind on their tail. Lily suggests he go up the Empire State Building; a spot she hopes the army/military won’t be able to reach him and they’ll be left alone. As Kid Kong reaches the top to enjoy some peace and quiet with Lily, several biplanes show up and start firing at him. Shawn makes it to the building and begins to head up to the top himself. Kid Kong does his best to fight the planes only managing to take out three (one being w/ his shoe he threw). Eventually he finds himself on the verge of death’s grasp as his wounds begin to take their toll on him. In one last attempt to take out one of the planes, he loses his strength midway and falls to his death. As people start crowding his lifeless body, Lily is heartbroken by the tragic death of her friend. She is comforted by Shawn. Diane and Dunham soon arrive at the scene having gone after Lily once she ran off. Dunham overhears talk of how the airplanes got him and in response, Dunham says: “No, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty’s friendship that killed the beast...” Dunham leaves both Diane and the scene as it draws to a close...

THE END

Illustrations of the story I’ve made over the last few years:

https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -794090860
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -794490741
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -794339273
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -796983529
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -790065846
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -789939706
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -878132519
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -795482902
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -848061140
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -805828855
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -871829971
https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerprod ... -870184922

[ArtMaker]

Any of you been on the old Kong rides before they closed?

[mikelcho]

Any of you been on the old Kong rides before they closed?

No, but I do remember seeing a giant-sized King Kong ride at Morey's Piers Seaside Park in North Wildwood, NJ. This was back in the early 1970s, long before any of the modern-day King Kong rides were even conceived, let alone built. The original version got torn down long ago, but recently they built a new version to revitalize the boardwalk based on popular demand which, as far as I know, is still there. The ride even has an entry on Wikipedia named "KONG (ride)".

[canofhumdingers]

Any of you been on the old Kong rides before they closed?

No, but I do remember seeing a giant-sized King Kong ride at Morey's Piers Seaside Park in North Wildwood, NJ. This was back in the early 1970s, long before any of the modern-day King Kong rides were even conceived, let alone built. The original version got torn down long ago, but recently they built a new version to revitalize the boardwalk based on popular demand which, as far as I know, is still there. The ride even has an entry on Wikipedia named "KONG (ride)".

Huh, a google search turned up this old video. Crazy!

[YouTube]https://youtu.be/8PV2RN_iCcM[/YouTube]

[ArtMaker]

I think this was a brief topic of the conversation some pages back, but I’d like to reignite it for new opinions. Say that Skull Island was mid-late Cenozoic themed rather than Mesozoic, (colder, drier, more forest and open plains than jungle, etc.) what animals would be your picks?

[ArtMaker]

Here’s a question:

What else can be done w/ Kong? Any ideas for what you’d like to see? I ask as his overseas counterpart, Godzilla, has had many variants of character and story throughout his movie career.

[Angilasman]

^ I've always had this idea about shifting Kong back a few decades into Victorian times; late 19th/early 20th century. Make it an adventure serial with Kong encountering genre characters and situations of the time. You know; HG Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs and the like. Kong fights Martian tripods! Captain Nemo captures Kong! Kong meets Tarzan! The main human character would be a Princess or Priestess of Skull Island who'd be Kong's "girl," though a more active role in this storyline. Maybe Professor Challenger leads the expedition to Skull Island instead of Carl Denham?

[canofhumdingers]

^i would love this. Make it so!

[ArtMaker]

One idea is, inspired by this trailer for the book “Meg: Hell’s Aquarium” (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VTUQ4uit7l4), a wealthy man in Dubai wants animals for their private zoo and searches for many rare beasts, one being the giant ape, Kong. Which in typical King Kong fashion, is brought to civilization and runs amok and climbs the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa.

Edit: An extra idea that can be used for a reinterpretation is the location of Skull Island being inland, akin to Caprona in being located in the extensive frozen land (here being Siberia) and sustained by thermo activity. Instead of an island, what if it were a mountainous range, referred to as “The Skull Mountains”, that circles the area entrapping creatures of the past in total isolation. Inspired by the real life Lake Baikal which is a reverse form of isolation; instead of a sea cutting off a land mass, it’s a land mass that cuts off the sea, now making it a freshwater lake. Housing the only freshwater seal.