Donkey Kong - Dissent in the Ranks - Brian Manton

Full page splash

Wide cityscape.

Towering above the highest skyscrapers stands a titanic PS4, gleaming in the light.

Atop this monolith - Donkey Kong.

He holds a Nintendo 3DS in one hand. With his other arm he flings a Wii remote at:

The Mario Bros. circle in biplanes, firing mushrooms from twin cannons.

CAP: Donkey Kong stages a protest against Nintendo's refusal to develop games for other platforms.

CAP: Ever the company men, the Mario Bros. are on P.R. damage control.

Donkey Kong - Operation: Donkey Kong - R.A. Wonsowski

NOTE:  Sad to report, I was not a video game kid, even though Dad got me and my brother, Dan, an Atari 2600 when my artist brother, Peter, was born.  I was into my comics, and D&D, and '80s rock (Sammy Hagar & Asia - WOOHOO!)  My only exposure to Donkey Kong was the big cabinet video game in the rec room of the campground my parents took us every summer. And Dan beat me every time. But I got to watch him rack up them high scores.  Anyways, that being said, I thought an adaptation might be the way to go...

Layout:
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Panels 1 thru 5 are television screens.

Panel 1 - Foreground, we are following TARA CHACE (from Queen & Country) as she runs up a ramp.  Her gun is still in its holster at her hip.  In the background, atop painter's scaffolding, is KONG, a burly, hairy Hispanic (imagine a Colombian Andre the Giant with thick 5 o'clock shadow) guarding the Minder's asset, a moustachioed local "plomero", or assassin, named MARIO, who is suspended from the ceiling of the room by his chained wrists.  MARIO is wearing overalls over a t-shirt, KONG is in the khaki-olive uniform of the FARC.  MARIO has a ball gag in his mouth and has obviously been tortured.  KONG has hoisted a barrel over his head.  A sledgehammer handle sticks out from the lower platform of the scaffold.

CAPTION:  Medellin, Colombia.

Panel 2 - KONG has thrown the barrel, which has crashed onto the ramp.  TARA easily leaps over it as it splinters and breaks, reaching for the sledge handle.

NO COPY

Panel 3 - TARA slides like a baseball player, sledge extended, knocking the supports of the scaffolding loose.  KONG can be seen above, panicking as the scaffold gives.

NO COPY

Panel 4 - TARA, now background, grabs the winch handle on the wall to lower MARIO, as KONG lands on the concrete floor head first, his neck audibly snapping.  The scaffolding crashes all about him, and MARIO has a look of relief despite the gag.

NO COPY

Panel 5 - MARIO, now lowered to the floor, can barely stand as TARA removes his ball gag and loosens the chains around his wrists.  Clouds of concrete dust at bottom of frame.

TARA:  Oy!  No duermes!  Donde esta Luis?

MARIO:  ...en un otro...castillo....hh...

Panel 6 - DONALD WELDON, deputy chief of S.I.S., and PAUL CROCKER, director of ops, are watching Panel 5 on a television monitor in an empty room.  Both are sitting in metal folding chairs, and CROCKER is smoking a cigarette.  WELDON should be slouching a bit, as if he's restlessly bored, while CROCKER is tensely watching the telly, leaning forward in his seat.

WELDON:  Your "princess" is quite the peach...

CROCKER:  Sod off, Don...

Donkey Kong - Just Another Day On The Job - Niel Jacoby

Panel 1: we see 2 plumbers in the boiler room of a building. One is thin and wears a green shirt under his overalls, the other is rotund and wears a red shirt under his. They are hard at work.

NO COPY

Panel 2: The building is rattled and steam starts shooting out from many places, startling the plumbers.

SFX: K-KKKKSKSKHSHSHSH!

Panel 3: The plumbers are running through the building lobby, and are surprised to see shipping containers falling around them.

SFX: KSSHHH! KRRRRKKKK! WHHHHHHHN!

Panel 4: The plumbers look up through a hole in the ceiling, and see a giant monkey on what is left of the top floor, a shipping plane in one hand, a beautiful woman in the other.

Monkey: GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRAARAAAAAARAAAAAR!

Donkey Kong - Behind the Scenes - J.D. Coughlan

Panel 1: On the "set" of the first Donkey Kong game in 1981. Kong and Mario sit in those fold-up chairs you always see on film sets. Mario has a mug of coffee, Kong reads a newspaper. Various crew go about their business. Mario is bragging but Kong just keeps reading his paper.

MARIO: Yeah, I've been looking to break into this video game thing for a while now. Makes a change from the plumbing, y'know?

KONG: Mm.

Panel 2: Close-up of Mario. He is super-smug.

MARIO: Keep it under your hat, but I'm already in talks with Nintendo for more of these. Heh. My brother keeps pestering me to get him in on the action too. Life of a celeb, huh?

Panel 3: Close-up of Donkey Kong. His face mostly hidden from Mario with the paper, he rolls his eyes.

MARIO (O.P.): Hey though, don't worry, I'll see if I can squeeze you in somewhere too. We always need good villains.

SFX: BEEP BEEP BEEP

Panel 4: Kong answers his phone. It is a big 80s style mobile phone.

KONG: You're on with Donkey Kong.

KONG: Mm-hmm.

KONG: Mm-hmm.

KONG: Thanks for letting me know. Ciao!

Panel 5: Kong puts away the phone, a little grin on his face. Mario looks on in sympathy.

KONG: That was my agent.

MARIO: Oh dear. Bad news?

KONG: You could say that.

MARIO: Never mind, eh? Something will come up. Now, pardon me, I need to get into character...

Panel 6: Close-up of Kong. He puts his paper back up in front of his face, covering his bigger grin.

KONG: (small) Bad news for someone anyway.

MARIO (O.P.): IT'SA-- Hrmm! IT'SA ME-- Hrmm! IT'SA ME, MARIO!

END OF PAGE

Donkey Kong – DK Splits - Shaun Richens.

ONE PAGE – 5 PANELS.

Layout:

1234

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1.1

Close up on DK. He is eating a banana.

DK:

Munch munch.

1.2

Still tight on DK. He has finished the banana and holds the left over skin in one hand.

DK:

HEH

1.3

DK winks at us the reader.

SFX:

DING

1.4

DK is throwing the banana peel over his shoulder out of panel.

SFX:

THROW!

1.5

Large panel. Ext the Luigi Circuit from Mario Kart. Its a bright and clear day. DK speeds towards us in his go-kart inches from the finishing line, his tie flying behind him. Mario in his own go-kart is spinning off the track, birds circle his head as he gets dizzy. In the centre of the tack is the cause of the spin. DK's banana peel.

MARIO:

Wa-Hoo!

Donkey Kong – Super Mario Country – MK Stangeland Jr.

The Story Thus Far: A fat man wearing red and a thin man wearing green, both with mustaches, stole DONKEY KONG’s golden bananas and kidnapped DIDDY KONG and DIXIE KONG. DK kidnapped PRINCESS PEACH in turn hoping it would get MARIO and LUIGI to return his bananas. MARIO and LUIGI, not having the golden bananas, first mistakenly went after Bowser before realizing who really kidnapped her.

(7 Panels)

Words present in [ ] when used for a speech bubble are to indicate an small image filling that speech bubble.

Panel 1: DONKEY KONG, CRANKY KONG, MARIO, and LUIGI are all frozen in place as PRINCESS PEACH shouts at them from off panel. They are all in the exact same position they were just a moment ago when their fight was ongoing, except for that their attention is now focused towards PEACH.

CRANKY KONG is on LUIGI’s back and has him in a half-nelson, with a free arm holding his cane over LUIGI’s head from where he’s been repeatedly smacking the plumber upside the head with it.

MARIO is suspended mid-air from a jump attack he was about to hit DONKEY KONG with, while DONKEY KONG just slammed his fists against the ground in an unsuccessful attack against MARIO.

PRINCESS PEACH: !!!

Panel 2: PRINCESS PEACH, who is currently in a bamboo cage that is hanging in the air from the ceiling. She looks one part upset and one part confused.

PRINCESS PEACH (1): [DK’s head]!

PRINCESS PEACH (2): [Golden Banana]?

Panel 3: MARIO is now standing on the ground next to DONKEY KONG. He looks at DONKEY KONG with a determined, unhappy face. DONKEY KONG looks angrily at PRINCESS PEACH (off-panel) and points at MARIO as he explains.

DONKEY KONG (1): [Golden Banana]!

DONKEY KONG (2): [A fat mustached man wearing red and a tall mustached man wearing green.]

DONKEY KONG (3): [The two men from (2) greedily carrying off a pile of Golden Bananas.]

DONKEY KONG (4): [DIDDY KONG and DIXIE KONG in cages with the two men from (2) standing next to them.]

Panel 4: MARIO and LUIGI look at each other. CRANKY KONG is still on LUIGI’s back and is looking down at him.

MARIO & LUIGI: [A fat mustached man wearing red and a tall mustached man wearing green]?!

Panel 5: MARIO and LUIGI both actively try to think about who it could be since neither of them are guilty of what DONKEY KONG is describing.

MARIO & LUIGI: Hmmm…

Panel 6: MARIO and LUIGI both come to the same realization.

MARIO & LUIGI: [Lightbulb]!!!

Panel 7: MARIO and LUIGI stand next to each other in front of PRINCESS PEACH’s cage. CRANKY KONG is no longer on LUIGI’s back and stands next to DONKEY KONG instead.

MARIO: [Wario]!!!

LUIGI: [Waluigi]!!!

DONKEY KONG & CRANKY KONG: !!!

PRINCESS PEACH: !

(END PAGE)

Donkey Kong - When The Time Is Ripe - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Donkey Kong and company are relaxing on one of the many beaches of DK Island.  Donkey is lounging on a lounge chair, sunglasses and tanning sheet equipped (although note he should still be wearing his tie).  Cranky sits on a lawn-chair under a big umbrella to protect him from the sun.  He wears stereotypical beachwear such as sunscreen visible on his nose, one of those wide brimmed hats that I apparently imagine old people wear, and the like.  Candy and Dixie play frisbee near the surf.  If there's room, Funky is surfing out on the water.  I'd say the rest of the gang is also in beachwear, but their regular costumes are pretty beachy as it is.

DONKEY KONG: This is the life.

2 - Donkey Kong flips up his shades, he looks in concern towards Diddy Kong, who is running along the beach towards his companion, looking frazzled and mighty worried.

DIDDY KONG: DK!  DK!

3 - Donkey Kong sits up on his lounge chair, sunglasses fully removed.  He is worried at the ill news his friend brings.  Diddy leans forward, hands on his knees and out of breath from his mad dash.  The others have stopped what they're doing and look on in matching concern.

DONKEY KONG: What is it, little buddy?

DIDDY KONG: *huff!* It's... *puff!*

4 - Switch scene.  We're outside the cave that functions as Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard.  This is evident from the somewhat pathetic sign standing outside (in the vein of the original) that reads "Kong's Banana Hoard", along with a second, smaller sign that reads "No Kremlins A Loud!".

CAPTION (DIDDY KONG): It's the hoard!

5 - Reaction shots of the various members of the Kong family who have come to see what's what.  While we can't see what they're looking at, it's clear that they're horrified.  Most of the Kongs look towards whatever is off-panel.  Candy looks towards Cranky for guidance, but he seems to be at as much of a loss as everyone else.  Heads are scratched.  Mouths are agape or covered in fear.  That kind of thing.  I think it could also be worthwhile / add to the visual if the Kongs are still wearing their beachwear.

DIXIE KONG: What happened...?

CANDY KONG: Cranky?

CRANKY KONG: I don't know.

DONKEY KONG: Me neither...

6 - Switch angles.  We're now behind the Kongs who have been looking towards the banana hoard.  All of the bananas are still there, but unlike previous incarnations of the hoard, they are not completely pristine and yellow.  They appear to be aging, with brown spots and bruises visible on many, if not all, of the fruit.

DONKEY KONG (quietly): ...but we gotta find a way to stop this.

Why Donkey Kong?

As I remember my childhood, I had this odd habit of trying to convince my parents to buy video game consoles for pretty flimsy reasons.  Without going too much into the multitude of silly details, it all goes back to the first video game console my household ever owned: the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (remember when consoles still had wacky names like that?).  I say my household's because it was technically my Dad's.  For some ludicrous reason, one year I suggested we buy him an SNES for Father's Day.  And since my parents were apparently really into humouring me, we did.

Now that's a video game console

All this in spite of the fact that my Dad had never (and still hasn't) played a video game in his life.

So while he didn't have much use for it, I certainly took full advantage of its arrival within our household.  As you may have already gathered, video games were an incredibly formative part of my misspent youth, and that SNES was what formed the habit.  Of course, a system is all well and fine, but you need some games to play on it.  We initially had Super Mario World, which was all well and good, but the game that really set my world on fire was (unsurprisingly considering the title of this post) Donkey Kong Country.  Although the brothers Mario obviously played a not insignificant role in popularizing and defining platform gaming, I would passionately argue that the Kong family took that earlier formula and perfect it.

And a mighty fine video game to go along with it

But while I appreciate your humouring this trip down memory lane, I can almost hear you wonder what this has to do with comics.  That's what this site is all about, right?  I could focus on the series' many colourful characters, ranging from Donkey Kong and his labyrinthian family tree to King K. Rool and his kopious krew of Kremlins to the rest of the massive supporting cast that has been assembled over the years.  I could go on about the varied settings and incredible conflicts that have been fought all across DK Island, Crocodile Isle, the Northern Kremisphere, and beyond.  I could laud the gameplay, which is hands down still some of the most insanely fun video gaming I've ever experienced.  And I could most definitely praise the brilliant soundtrack provided by David Wise.  DKC had some of the best music in any video game ever, and anybody who says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.  Seriously, nearly twenty years later (how has this game been out so long?!).

I could talk about all this and more, but most of all, I think what makes Donkey Kong a subject worth taking a week to play around with is how these many disparate elements came together to create something greater than their whole.

Or, if you're really dying for a parallel to comics, all you need to do is look to the fact that, in game canon, Donkey Kong's grandpa, Cranky Kong, was the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game of the same name (which also means that Donkey Kong Jr. is Donkey Kong's father).  This series not only has continuity, but it dates so far back that every single Donkey Kong video game is also technically a crossover with Super Mario Bros, which is completely amazing.  It also raises so many questions that nothing within these games can really stand up to close scrutiny (such as the aforementioned Kong family tree, which we won't even go into here).  If that isn't what comics are all about, then I don't know what is.

So while there's a good deal of nostalgia behind my choice this week, I like to think that Donkey Kong and company have more than enough going for them for some fun little tales taking a closer look at the wonderful world they inhabit.  I hope you agree.

What do you say, friends?