Walter R. Riccio
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This wasn't just evolution, Matemavi. It wasn't just survival, it was a war of the gods. The gods of nature. The gods of the primal earth.
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— Riccio to Matemavi on the struggle between the Kong and the Skullcrawlers in Issue 2. |
Walter Riccio is a multilingual Monarch Mythographer and the main antagonist of the 2017 Legendary Comics miniseries Skull Island: The Birth of Kong.
History
Skull Island: The Birth of Kong
"The People Who Came from the Sky"
In the year 1995, Aaron Brooks supposedly gathered the team of Evenij Medov, Evelyn Matamavi, Helen Karsten, Riccio, and their pilot Cejudo in order to investigate a M.U.T.O. fossil bed in Antarctica, but instead planned to investigate Skull Island. They took a prototype V-22 Osprey, for their trip, but just as they passed through the storm system, and Walter remarked that Skull Island was a real mythical island, as opposed to Atlantis or Lemuria. However, they were immediately shot down by Psychovultures. Cejudo went down with the Osprey, while the rest of the party parachuted to the ground. Riccio suggested that they make contact with the locals, but the party instead resolves to search for Cejudo and the Osprey, which had all of their supplies. However, when they turned to begin, they were attacked by Death Jackals, and Karsten was killed. Medov was horribly wounded, but Kong crushed all of the beasts with his hand and foot. Riccio then noticed the approaching Iwi tribesmen, lead by a boy named Ato, who claimed that they had been anticipating hteir arrival.
"The Mountain who Thunders Death"
Ato brought the party to the Iwi village, where they were treated for their wounds. Riccio took a liking to their medicine, and made fast friends with the tribe. He then lead the Osprey party to the temple in the wreck of the Wanderer where he told them the spirit of Atenatua, a wise woman who had brought the Iwi to Skull Island resided therein before falling under the hallucinogenic medicine's influence. Riccio had a vision of the Kong species, and their battle with the Skullcrawlers millions of years ago. Vowing to unravel the mystery of Kong, Riccio promised to lead the party in Atenatua's footsteps to hold communion with Kong himself. He then celebrated with the Iwi. The next morning he prepared for the voyage and demanded that his friends paint their bodies and remove their clothes. They attempted to decline, but Walter reminded them that the Iwi were sharing sacred knowledge, and encouraged them to have more respect for their traditions. When they reached the first stop, a wrecked Dutch Galleon, Riccio saw another mural and received a vision of the last two Kong in existence greeting the first Iwi to arrive on the island. Matemavi encouraged him to rest, but Walter was offended by this suggestion of sickness, and began to walk out to the next stop when a Sirenjaw attacked. However, Kong came to defeat it.
"Valley of the Fallen Gods"
With the Sirenjaw dead, the rest of Skull Island emerged to feed on its corpse, effectively blocking their path back to the village. However, while sheltering they received radio communication from Cejudo, and they decided to abandon the pilgrimage in favor of saving the pilot and their transport. However, Ato still lead them to the Valley of the Fallen Gods, where Riccio saw two Kong skeletons, like the Kong from his vision. While it was intended to be the next stop on their pilgrimage, to reach Cejudo and the Osprey, they would now have to cross it. However, Skullcrawlers emerged from the earth below them, and Ato lead them to shelter in a cave, where Walter received another vision. He saw that they were in Kong's "womb", as his mother went into labor on the battlefield, and his parents fought to keep him alive. Kong's first images were of battle, blood, and thunder. His mother sealed him inside a cave, and the infant watched as his parents were slaughtered. Walter reflected that the fury inside him since that day made him invincible. He then saw that they did not need the transport or the data, and that a communion with Kong would give them what they needed. The rest of the team, however, was content to allow Riccio to stay by himself on the island. Thourougly upset by this, he used a missile launches left by the '75 expedition to shoot down the Osprey as it tried to land. Matemavi shot at him in her rage, but Walter killed her with a pistol shot, and vowed that they would all meet Kong: The Mountain-Who-Thunders-Death.
"Over the Rainbow"
While holding the party at gunpoint, Riccio proclaimed Skull Island to be a paradise, and expressed his intention to destroy the Iwi Wall to test whether Kong was a benevolent or apathetic god. Ato spoke against this, and Walter struck his face, bidding him to follow his elders' example and stay quiet. He acknowledged it would be hard, but claimed that it was necessary to understand if Kong killed for more than vengance, but reasoned that if Kong did not come to protect them, then humanity had never deserved the wall in the first place. However he was separated from his hostages in a Death Jackal attack. Riccio managed back to the village, and used one of the previous expedition's abandoned seismic charges to blow down the wall. As Mother Longlegs poured in from the wilderness, Walter proclaimed that Kong would save them, and come Kong did. He crushed all of the spiders, and Walter was overjoyed. He ran to the beast draped in colorful cloth, singing his praises. Kong however, smashed Riccio with his great fist.
Gallery
Riccio before reaching Skull Island.
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