Tomahawk and King Colosso seems like an odd pairing until you remember that the long running series (September-October 1950 to May-June 1972) did all kinds of weird stories, especially in the later issues. There were robots, spaceships, giant men and tiny ones, sorcerers and dinosaurs. So why not a King Kong inspired ape?
Giant apes appeared three times. All three tales are obviously inspired by elements in the 1933 film, King Kong. The character gets a name change to avoid legal issues but Kong he is. He will be an antagonist for two issues but a member of the Rangers for the last.
Tomahawk 86 (May-June 1963)
“The Rangers Vs. King Colosso” was written by Ed Herron with art by Fred Ray.
Things begin with the Rangers trying to capture Pin-Cushion Hill from the Red Coats. Suddenly King Colosso appears, attacking the Rangers.
The Rangers get new orders. The document explains that King Colosso is an escaped circus attraction. His ship wrecked on the coast of America. The Rangers must capture the beast.
This is attempted by making a big wooden cage to trap him in. Unfortunately hostile natives release him.
Tomahawk lures the monster into another trap with fruit. He lights his powder horn like a grenade and throws it. Quicksand messes up the plan and Colosso has the chance to kill Tomahawk but doesn’t. The Rangers realize the ape is friendly and decide to send him against the British cannons on Pin-Cushion Hill.
The cannons kill the huge ape and the Rangers take the hill. It’s a double victory. Well, except for the ape.
The wooden cage reminds me of the giant barricade from King Kong. There had to be giant log architecture in there somewhere.
Tomahawk 93 (July-August 1964)
“The Return of King Colosso” was written by Ed Herron with art by Fred Ray.
The Rangers come upon a farmhouse destroyed by a giant ape. But how could that be? King Colosso died at Pin-Cushion Hill.
King Colosso shows up. Tomahawk tries to talk to him but the ape brushes him off. Tomahawk notices there is a boy trapped in the crevisse the ape is inhabiting. He has to rescue the child. Once he has the boy, King Colosso grabs them both!
And he puts them down gently. The beast is not fierce but kind-hearted. Tomahawk learns the boy, Teddy Adams, found the supposedly dead ape and made it his pet. Meanwhile the Red Coats discover a T. rex frozen in a mountainside. They shoot it with a cannon to release it on the Rangers. For more on Tomahawk and Dinosaurs, go here.
The British follow the rampaging dinosaur to the Rangers’ fort. King Colosso intercepts and we have the classic Kong versus Rex fight we all loved from the 1933 film.
At first King Colosso doesn’t do well with the Rex beating him. Tomahawk gets another idea. He blinds the beast then has King Colosso shove it over a cliff. (Pretty standard dino removal system.) Teddy agrees to let King Colosso join the Rangers if Tomahawk will help him convince his dad he can have a horse.
Arguably the best scene in the film, when Peter Jackson remade the picture in 2005, he added more Rexes and again, made it the best part of the flick again.
Tomahawk #107 (November-December 1966)
“Double-Cross of the Gorilla Ranger” was written by Ed Herron with art by Fred Ray. This time we get a new origin of the giant ape.
Big Anvil meets Mikora, a giant ape raised by the local Indians. The natives got the ape from a white man who wandered into their village and died. The Indians raised the ape to be one of them.
The ape is good at busting up Red Coat troops. (And oddly, Tomahawk never mentions King Colosso or giant apes!) The Rangers are after a weird villain named Thunder-Man. He surprises them and zaps everyone including Mikora.
The British soldiers take orders from the mad scientist. They tie up Mikora and the Rangers and take them to his Gothic castle. (Hey, giant apes, why not a Romanian castle in the wilds of America? Just go with it. It worked for Gilligan.)
Thunder-Man foists the giant beast up Franken-style to zap it with with lightning. This puts the monster under Thunder-man’s control. He sends the ape to kill the Rangers. (Which he could have done any time after he captured them.)
Big Anvil steals the control pack from Thunder-Man’s back and calms Mikora down. The Rangers win again. Thunder-Man will return in Tomahawk #111 with a pack of killer wolves. The giant apes will not be back.
Unlike the last two issues, this one seems more influenced by 1931’s Frankenstein.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. Three giant ape adventures with plenty of Red Coat slapping action. No Ann Darrow in the mix but we got dinosaurs. Tomahawk was such a strange mix of elements at times, but it works. Not until Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur in the 1970s would DC offer up such a monster lover’s comic.
