Konga issue 20 (1964)
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"A Monster's Dream" is the 20th issue of the comic series Konga, and was published by Charlton Comics in December 1964. It features two comics—a main adventure starring Konga and three backup stories called "Your Sun," "The Flying Fish People," and "Nature's Bomb"—alongside a short story titled "The Land of Nevermore".
Plot
"A Monster's Dream"
Konga watches tearfully as a young couple make out on a tropic isle. He wishes that he could share in their love, but cannot because they fear him for his size. They spot him and urge him away. As he skulks to the ocean, he smashes a man's golf bag, and the man curses Konga as he walks by. The giant ape swims away into the sea, and begins to float glumly on his back. A passing Air Force pilot spots him and decides that he looks too peaceful. He then races past Konga's head at 1,000 miles per hour. Pleased with the fright he gave the beast, the pilot decides to drop his practice bomb on Konga's head. Thoroughly rattled, Konga watches the plane race away, and heads to sulk on a Chinese mountaintop. He is then interested by a nearby commotion, where workers are trying to build an earthen dam on the Leeyang river. Two officials, a Chinese Area Commander and a Soviet Commissar argue about the plans for construction, as each had recieved word from his respective government. Konga examined the work that had been done already, and used that knowledge to swipe a huge mound of dirt into the hole left by the unfinished construction. The two overseers are aghast at the beast apparently destroying their work, but they watch the beast work for a few hours, moving the earth and finally patting and shaping it neatly into place. The Soviet overseer admits that Konga's work has come out better than Moscow's plan.
Konga waits patiently for some sign of appreciation, but the two overseers just wish he would move along and leave them be. They then lie into the radio, claiming that Konga is causing wanton destruction in the area, no doubt on instructions from his "capitalistic trainers." In response, a Soviet reconaissance plane arrives and fires several rockets at Konga, hitting him directly in the shoulder and stomach. Konga is unscathed, and grabs the plane from the sky before hurling it away. The Commissar and Area Commander on the ground decide that atomic weapons are needed to stand against the ape.
A Chinese bomber complies with the order and soon arrives, asking where to drop the bomb. The men insist he not drop it by the dam site, as they would all be killed in the blast as well. The pilot simply responds with "nobody lives forever!" and drops the atomic weapon. Everyone but Konga is vaporized, and all of the work on the dam is destroyed. Konga turns to leave the site, reflecting that humans have a nasty habit of pulling triggers, pushing buttons, or giving speeches without regard for the people they would end up hurting.
Lying down on a tropical island, Konga remembers happier days as a younger, smaller ape. Times when Sandra the science student had held him and loved him until he grew too big to keep. Saddened by even the sweet memories of mankind, Konga tries to shut out his woes by going to sleep. He dreamed of his time with Sandra, and how she didn't consider him any different from a human child and hated to leave him alone in the lab at night. Her husband Bob finds her attachment to the ape silly, but indulges her all the same. They take him into London, where Konga punches him for insinuating that he is not fully human. They take him to a tailor where he is fitted with a lovely orange suit to keep him warm in the colder English climate, which confuses several passersby.
Konga's sweetest dream is one in which he is accepted by the humans as one of their own. In the dream, Bob becomes jealous of Sandra's attention being spent on Konga as they eat lunch at the same table. He soon makes an ultimatum that either he or Konga must go, and Sandra chooses her ape friend.
Elsewhere in the real world at the United Nations, the Soviet bloc, backed by North Korea push for a resolution to have Konga killed for his alleged destruction of the dam. In England, the real Bob and Sandra hear the news on the radio, and agree that they cannot allow their creation and old friend to come to harm. With the help of the English government, the two devise a plan to use their miniaturization serum, reverse engineered from Dr. Charles Decker's serum that made Konga gigantic, to save the ape's life. Soon, a local sailor is able to take them to Konga's last known location. Konga is none the wiser, as he is diving for enormous clams to eat. However he soon senses Sandra's presence and makes a hasty return to the shore where his old friends are waiting for him. They are pleased to see that Konga remembers them, but Sandra wonders if Konga will be willing to take the miniaturization pills given that he has been roaming wild for quite some time now.
Konga is reluctant to take the pills from Bob, but allows Sandra to administer them. Writhing and wincing, Konga almost imedeately returned to the size of an infant gorilla. They rejoice at having their little friend back, knowing that nothing except for an immense rage could cause him to return to his gigantic form. Just then, a fugitive from some unknown forces runs out of the jungle with an aircraft pursuing him. The plane fired at the man, with its shots coming too close to Sandra for Konga's liking. Despite the protests of his friends, Konga allows himself to swell back up to his full size. This causes the plane to turn away in shock before focusing its fire on Konga. The ape is unfazed, and crushes the plane in his fist. Bob and Sandra sorrowfully realize that because of Konga's size and ability, he saved a man's life, and has saved the world time and time again, so however much it hurts them, it is better for Konga to stay a giant. After a tearful goodbye, Konga swims away into the ocean. As they watch their friend depart, Bob remarks on a theory that "lower orders" cannot cry, and wonders if there might be something more human to Konga than anyone yet knows.
"The Land of Nevermore"
An old man in small town America takes revenge on his grandson and his wife for trying to put him in an assisted living community to try and overtake his estate. However, all is going to plan. The old man had made arrangements with the Martians to become the ruler of the world after their conquest. He uses a Martian weapon that shoots blue flames to send his grandson, his grandson's wife, and the head of the care home to a mysterious fate of being sent to "The Land of Nevermore."
"Your Sun"
"Your Sun" is a nonfiction comic about Earth's sun. It lists various facts about its energy output.
"The Flying Fish People"
An American submarine floats in the Atlantic Ocean, where a John L. Manning had first reported seeing a huge silvery slying fish with the face of a man. Two men atop the submarine then spy one such creature as it leaps over their ship. The government dismisses their report as an impossibility, but under the sea, the Flying Fish Man then reports to a city of Flying Fish Men. He, a Flying Fish Man named Emlo, had been sent to the surface to investigate a disturbance. He describes a huge metallic monster crawling with Flying Fish Man-like parasites to his people's leader "Great Fin." Not since their people destroyed Atlantis had there been such an existential threat to Flying Fish Mankind. Great Fin orders they turn on their electromagnetic pulse weapon.
On the surface, all instruments in the American submarine have gone dead, and the Soviet submarine they had been stalking surfaced as well, meaning it was not any kind of secret weapon of theirs. The Soviet crew accuses the Americans of attacking them, and plan to file a complaint with the United Nations. The Americans bluff in response that they had been testing new equipment in the waters, and apologize for their mistake, suggesting that the Soviets remain in their own waters to avoid such incidents in the future. The only person who knows the whole truth of the incident is a Flying Fish Man, coincidentaly also named Manning, who had been monitoring radio activity, but he is never believed when he tells the story, so eventually he stops doing so.
"Nature's Bomb"
"Nature's Bomb" is a nonfiction comic about meteorites. It lists the two largest meteorite impacts in recorded history.
Appearances
"The Evil Eye"Monsters
Characters
Weapons, vehicles, and races
Locations
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"The Evil Eye"Monsters
Characters
Weapons, vehicles, and races
Locations
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Gallery
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A Flying Fish Person
Trivia
- It is possible that the "Leeyang river" is meant to be the Liuyang River in Hunan, China.
- On pages 7 and 14, the Leeyang river is referred to as the Yeeyang river.
External links
References
This is a list of references for Konga issue 20. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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