Review by Frank Plowright

Don’t be confused by “2” being prominent on the spine. The first volume was titled Return to Skull Island, and it’s where Simon Furman’s continuation of the TV show began.

Escape From Skull Island, though, begins in 1940 and Kong trapped by Nazis. They feel he’s agitated despite being under heavy sedation, and decide the American doctor they’ve captured can be lowered into the nearby marine trench to discover why. It’s a nice, brief, self-contained adventure with a satisfying ending, and if any further proof were needed that Christopher Jones can draw phenomenal monster on monster action, it’s here, as seen on the sample art.

That done with, it’s a return to the present day where Furman sorts out the previous story’s cliffhanger relatively rapidly and the cast’s attention turns to whether or not Yuggoth was actually defeated, or whether it’s survived and gathering strength to attack again. Kong can defeat individual emerging threats to Skull Island, but the fear is that even his prodigious strength won’t be enough if they arrive in greater quantities. A secondary threat the team on the island don’t even know of concerns some very well-backed people with plans for Skull Island.

Jones approximates the cartoon style of the TV show cast and continues to design spectacular new forms of monster, and once gain delights when he sets them against Kong. Some come to a suitably gruesome end.

There’s one point where Furman resorts to cheap melodrama, but everything else is plotted to thrill. The events of the 1940s turn out to have a relevance in the present day, and the island adjacent to where the cast have so far been gathered turns out to be important as well.

While it looks as if this volume will continue into another, it’s eventually a case of perhaps leaving the door open, and it’s slightly unsatisfactory for so much still being in play. Still, this is a complete adventure and the art is amazing.