Review: 'Kong: Return to Skull Island'
The Netflix animated series turned into a comic book about kids surviving Kong’s world
All art courtesy of Titan Comics
To fully appreciate Kong: Return to Skull Island, you should watch the 2023 Netflix animated series it is based on. Like Jurassic Park meets Survivor, but for teens, this surprisingly good series focuses on a group of humans surviving the perils of being stranded on a monster-filled island, with this comic, Kong: Return to Skull Island, being a direct sequel to the TV show.
Written by Simon Furman with art by the animated series’ own Chris Jones, and vibrant colors by Charlie Kirchoff, this is a story great for teens but even better for MonsterVerse fans as it’s got big battles, island struggles, and a surprising amount of heart.
Available via Titan Comics in trade paperback, volume 1 is available in stores starting on March 10th. If ya haven’t seen it, both show and the comic itself serve as a direct sequel to the Kong: Skull Island movie from 2017, starring Brie Larson and Sam Jackson. I watched and read all of it specifically for this review.
Businesswise, it’s obvious that since founding Netflix Animation in 2018, the streaming service has become one of the more consistent forces in animation for both adult and kids programming alike. The show was produced in collaboration with the very popular Powerhouse Animation Studios, the same teams behind hits such as Castlevania, Blood of Zeus, and Masters of the Universe: Revelation. So yes, there’s a bit of style and clout here in this animated adaptation.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this continuing franchise is that while Kong looms large over just about everything, he is not the book’s central focus. Yes, Kong headlines the franchise as the Titan whose battles cap off the story’s biggest arcs and most explosive moments, but it’s really the heart of these grounded characters, which provide its signature emotional humanity.
The 2023 animated show centers on a group of survivors stranded on Skull Island deep inside the MonsterVerse ecosystem. It’s a world where Titans rule, as Charlie, our young 17-year-old protagonist, serves as the quick-witted lead character. Charlie is the son of a boat captain (who’s also stranded on the island). He wants to go to college and kind of regrets going on this expedition.
Like a typical teen drama, Charlie meets on this stranded island, his newfound crush, a survivor girl of similar age named Annie, whom we learn has been surviving on the island for a decade, along with her massive dog-monster aptly named, Dog. Whereas Charlie is acerbic and awkward, Annie is headstrong and assertive, with a lot of confidence in areas where Charlie is severely lacking. These two make your protagonists besides Kong.
Now, in Return to Skull Island the comic book, it picks up directly where the show stopped in the aftermath with Kong’s battle with the Kragen. In their desperation to escape the island, the survivors had taken an object from Kong’s lair in order to lure him into this epic battle.
Afterwards, Charlie is taken hostage by a local tribe. His father, Captain David, meanwhile, seeks to find a way to rescue his son, as he struggles with his fellow survivors to make sense of what’s happened.
Meanwhile, Annie and Charlie’s best friend Mike (who was poisoned and dying on the island) is back in society thanks to an escape arrangement made by Annie’s mother. Treated for their wounds and recovering, their story takes place weeks after the show’s epic season finale.
Most of these comic book pages are what you’d want from this story: massive titan clashes, desperate survival scenarios of humans against nature/monsters, and further exploration of Skull Island’s dangerous ecosystem, with new allies and enemies entering the fray. Issue one also introduces Kaia, the tribal queen who leads an island tribe that reveres Kong. As to their great ape protector, Kong, recovering from the Kraken’s poison.
We also learn in the time skip, how Annie’s readjusting horribly to civilian life with her mother, the well-off Irene, who decides midway through this comic, to return to the island with her tiny army of expedition soldiers (it is called Return to Skull Island), though I won’t spoil how we get here or why.
Suffice it to say, all of these relationships essentially form the emotional backbone of the series, approaching the story with a very YA theme of growing up and what it’s like to have kinda insufferable parents. The survivors are mostly trying to survive this ecosystem ruled by monsters, as we learn more about the tribe living on the island and their fragile balance between humans and Titans.
Much like the rest of the franchise, the book explores the themes of what these colossal beings mean to humanity, as in this MonsterVerse, Kong is not just a monster, but a protector and champion.
More than anything, this one focuses on what happens when people who depend on Kong have to fend for themselves as their champion is recovering. The balance of the island is becoming unstable, and their lives are almost always being put to the test.
The new challenger to Kong is a new villain Yuggoth, a Titan who emerges from the earth like a monstrosity straight out of an eldritch terror story. The creature appears as a fungal elemental who rises as a new alpha after Kong is sidelined.
Much of the major kaiju action focuses on bouts between Kong and Yuggoth, with the story ultimately cliffhangering which sets up the ongoing Escape from Skull Island.
Artist Chris Jones maintains strong visual continuity with the animated series. The pages are vibrant and kinetic, packed with color and monster spectacle. The action feels cinematic, as though they were lifted straight from the show and it is clear much care was taken in preserving the look and tone fans already know.
As to the pacing of the book, it’s pretty straightforward with a story that’s compelling about characters just trying to fit in as monsters constantly test them.
Overall, if you enjoyed the Netflix series, Kong: Return to Skull Island delivers more of what worked working well as a direct sequel. If you enjoyed the movie, this one is a bit of a more young teen-friendly spinoff filled with action, adventure, and creature chaos.
It’s a character-driven survival story with good characterization; this one will make you root for the battles as you celebrate Kong being king of the monsters (at least, when Godzilla isn’t there).
Christian Angeles is a writer and entertainment journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering comics, video games, and digital media. He was senior editor at The Beat during its Eisner Award–winning year and also served as managing editor of The Workprint. Outside of journalism, he writes comics and books.
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