The Lost Fleetway Donkey Kong Comic

Did you know that Fleetway (the folks behind Sonic the Comic) put out a single Donkey Kong comic back in 1995? Neither did I, until recently.
In this video I'll be taking a look at a long forgotten Donkey Kong comic put out by UK publishing house Fleetway; the same publishers responsible for the incredibly popular 'Sonic the Comic' series which started in 1993. We'll be taking a look at the comic's three strips starring Donkey Kong, Cranky Kong, Diddy Kong, Pauline and more. We'll also discuss Fleetway's ill fated 'Nintendo Comic' pitch, starring Mario and Luigi, which wasn't picked up by Nintendo.
If anyone knows what system that (blurry) Donkey Kong screenshot is on please share it in the comments. Also let me know how you envision a 'Fleetway Super Kong' to be. Just as crazed as Fleetway Super Sonic?
Chapters :-
00:00 Introduction
04:16 Donkey Kong Strip
08:14 Donkey Kong History
11:34 Cranky Kong Strip
16:37 Diddy Kong Strip
18:36 The Mario Comic Pitch
References to check out :-
- The original Donkey Kong comic article on Nintendo life by John Szczepaniak (www.nintendolife.com/news/202...)
- ‪@TheLonelyGoomba‬ 's "I Played EVERY Single Version of Donkey Kong" video - • Playing EVERY Single V...
Music used in this video :-
- "DK Island Swing" from Donkey Kong Country
- "Vine Valley ~ Forest Frenzy Returns" from Donkey Kong Country Returns
- "Donkey Kong / Donkey Kong Jr. Medley" from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- "At Doom's Gate" from Doom
- "Metro Kingdom ~ New Donk City" from Super Mario Odyssey
- "DK Rap (Instrumental)" from Donkey Kong 64
- "Cranky's Theme" from Donkey Kong Country
Please consider giving the video a like if you enjoyed and subscribing for more video game, movie and internet history videos in the future.
Find me on Twitter: / thejohnnyvector

[@realsalu634]

Imagine all the weird stories we would've had if the DK/Mario Fleetway comics were continued

[@JohnnyVector]

We can only imagine. Maybe we'd have gotten to see Luigi trying to assassinate Bowser with a sniper rifle like Tails tried to do to Robotnik!

[@realsalu634]

@@JohnnyVector or Mario turning Star Man and trying to kill everyone The closest oficial Mario thing to these are the Nintendo Power comics, and the Manga too i guess

[@JoshuaJacobs83]

@@JohnnyVector Wait what? Do you cover that in an episode??

[@harrietr.5073]

Or Mario appearing as an antagonist to DK as the heir to an animal circus as an enemy family to DK's Jojo style, with Luigi acting as the bumbling villain against the Kongs and as a lackey to Mario hunchback to Dr. Frakenstein style, clashing with the Mario Comics origims of the plumbers until getting retconned in the 1998 Mario DK Zelda comic crossover that the pair of brothers that fight DK are actually relatives of Mario and Luigi, Cranky's Mario, Mario Sr. being the father and Luigi Sr. being the uncle, retconning Mario Jr. and Luigi Jr. from just being plumbers from Brooklyn who found the world of the Mushroom Kingdom in a Sewer Pipe to two runaway brothers adopting new occupations to hide from the nefarious animal-abusive Jumpman circus, not wanting to become kings of abuse based entertainment and accidentally stumbling onto the Mushroom Kingdom, their new home for the foreseeable future. A dark, deep and confusing hypothetical comic situation for you all to munch on!

[@AmusedAnimatorYt]

​@@realsalu634 imagine super fleetway Mario

[@MechanicMikan]

Man, British kids around 90's had such a great time with those comics. I've been reading the fleetway comics lately and MAN THEY ARE GOOD!

[@JohnnyVector]

It was a great time to be a kid. There were lots of other cool, non-Fleetway licensed comics around too. I remember having a few Earthworm Jim comics.

[@powerkirbybomber6503]

18:53 Funnily enough, in 2015 Ian Flynn, along with Tracy Yardley and Ben Bates pitched an Archie Mario comic. Is it just a coincidence that there were two Mario comic pitches made by Sonic comic alumni?

[@JohnnyVector]

Ah yes, I've seen the pitch panels. It looked good! 2015 was when Archie started putting out a Mega Man comic I believe. I wonder if they pitched both around the same time and had success with Capcom but not Nintendo?

[@jasonjimerson7046]

Dredd Kong... "I AM THE LAW... OF THE JUNGLE!" 🤣

[@JoshuaJacobs83]

I have to say, as an American, I love this channel so much because I had never heard of Fleetway, so this is not nostalgic so much as fascinating and a deep dive into a historical era I know nothing about.

[@LARKXHIN]

Between this and SomeCallMeJohnny, and me listening to a relaxing DK music compilation right now, lots of DK in my subs this week.

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha. You can't have too much DK, right?

[@rayvenkman2087]

Imagine if this comic took off, we could have seen DK rendered in the great high quality artwork that Sonic The Comic would have.

[@internetdirigible]

All this DK lore has highlighted how it's been a real missed opportunity to not see DKs father AKA adult Donkey Kong Jr. Amazing that either Cranky or DK Jr are ok with modern DK fraternizing with Mario at all considering their contentious history

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha yeah good point. Cranky strikes me as someone who holds onto a grudge.

[@harrietr.5073]

@@JohnnyVector I mean, it's always DK going kart racing and golfing with Mario Mario, not DK Sr.

[@TheDerpyDolphin]

Had no idea this was (or was going to be I should say) a thing. I love Donkey Kong and I’m glad Fleetway was going to tell stories about both eras of DK. It also seems like they did their research about the games and were adding onto the stories of DK ‘94 and DKC, rather than making something based off those but totally separate and non-canon like the cartoon did

[@JohnnyVector]

Yes, the success of DKC overshadowed DK'94 a bit but it's nice to see it get some love in this comic.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Let’s hope someone interviews the people involved in this comic. Maybe then we’ll get to hear about their plans.

[@DaNintendude]

Man this is crazy! I especially love the Cranky Kong comic, poking fun at Cranky's days kidnapping Pauline. Really cool that they used the Kotabe deisgn from DK'94 instead of making their own interpretation of Young Cranky, like the cartoon did. Pauline being the hero is a fun twist I didn't expect. And thanks for doing your research! I wasn't aware that the line eluding to Cranky being DK's dad was changed in the Japanese version of DK'64. But I was aware that it was a one-off occurrence and that he's been referred to as DK's grandfather since. A lot of people will argue that Donkey Kong is the same character as DK Jr, but that doesn't seem to be what Nintendo is trying to portray. I've had people even mention that perhaps DK Jr is Cranky's grandson, making it possible for DK to be both Jr and Cranky's grandson. But it really feels like a reach to me. I'm a big DK fan but I've never seen any of this, so thanks for sharing it with us!

[@harrietr.5073]

Those two writers have a bit of a history with writing stronger female characters such as Amy and Techno in Sonic The Comic having dudes in distress to save.

[@Pikmanipulator]

As a self-proclaimed DK aficionado, I can confirm that the idea of there being a chamber of ancient Kong treasures was Fleetway's invention. The closest thing we've gotten in the games is the Golden Temple in DKC Returns, a whopping 15 years after this comic was published.

[@takerdemon]

I’ve been looking for this comic on and off for years so this is awesome to see! I had this comic in the 90s, all I remembered of it was that it had comic strips, matte paper inside and the front cover being the DKC title screen. I recall getting it on a holiday at the same time as I got a copy of STC 58, so it would have been on sale at a similar time. I remember feeling like it was a summer special, and a one-off. Never expected we’d get more, and alas, we didn’t. Great to have something documented of it.

[@BearofLightness]

Good stuff! The Cranky Kong comic almost sounds like a Decap Attack plot. I would've loved to see how off-the-wall Kitching got with subsequent Cranky stories.

[@CrimsonMoonM]

I'm surprised that this old comic just straight up shows that Cranky were the original DK. I wonder if that little bit of trivia would've been more widely known if this comic hadn't been lost to time for so long.

[@Pikmanipulator]

Anyone who read the instruction booklet of the original DKC would've known this as well.

[@adamnakamura8003]

17:21 Oh, that’s a meme on the right panel, there!

[@JohnnyVector]

DK bonking him from the bushes? Kinda terrifying.

[@zonix_9748]

At 6:21 on the right side the one with his eyes closed half way looks like an nft

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, unfortunate but true

[@HiperPivociarz]

5:28 "The DK-ing track..."

[@grinbrothers]

I must admit, I never knew of any Fleetway Comic's outside of the Sonic The Comic's that I grew up with. I had assume they'd done a series or two before hand but I had no idea they were around that long. I certainly didn't know they were involved with 2000 AD; always thought that was it's own thing. 1:17 - I do remember reading the odd Sparkster and Ecco The Dolphin strip in the Sonic The Comic issues. I think the most recurring non-Sonic game story seemed to be Decap Attack, which I did always enjoy. 6:12 - Yeah, mysterious chamber with ancient relics hinting at long Kong history, often filled with gold... yeah, that seems fitting for the DK series. A lack of flying or sentient bananas though. 13:19 - If they couldn't have used Mario, I wonder if they could have instead used Stanley? Great coverage of this obscure video game comic!

[@JohnnyVector]

Good point about Stanley. He would've been a fun character to use. Also, I always found it odd as a kid that StC had so many Decap Attack strips because I never knew anyone that had ever played that game. In retrospect though the game was so obscure I think it allowed the writers a lot of creative freedom to have a lot of fun with it.

[@grinbrothers]

@@JohnnyVector I only played Decap Attack via one of the latter Mega Drive compilations but I actually found it pretty fun game. My liking of it was probably helped a fair bit by those Decap Attack comics though. The fact that it was also made by (I assume) Sega of America to replace an anime licence did likely allow for even further creative freedom along with it's obscurity.

[@ChachaNuVaughn]

This was a pretty fascinating comic! I have to say, I really like the artwork in, especially using DK94 style DK for Cranky's flashback. As for those two weird DK and DK Jr screenshots... the DK Jr screenshot does seem to match up pretty close with the ColecoVision verison (from what I've looked up), but the DK screenshot looks really similar to the ColecoVision version... except all the screenshots I've seen of that version doesn't have a stack of barrels behind DK. It would make sense that they pulled screenshots of both from the same platform (and odd they didn't use the NES versions!), so I can only guess they're from a PC/console port that was released in the UK, given where Fleetway is from.... maybe the UK version of DK for ColecoVision was slightly different from the US version? I dunno...

[@JohnnyVector]

Someone pointed out that the DK screenshot actually also appears on the box for the Colecovision if you Google it but it's not how the final game looked. Best guess is it's a pre-release version of the Colecovision port.

[@TeamTrainWreck]

I have to wonder if the whole "Legend of the Kongs" secret room wasnt based off a scrapped concept from the first game? In several ways, it could be viewed as DK Isle's answer to Krocodile Isle's "Krocodile Kore"- located within the Lost World portion of the game. We also see something similar in DKC: Returns, which could have been recycled from the originally scrapped concept. Heck, even the animated series had somewhat of an equivalent(The Temple of Inka Dinka Doo). Methinks Nintendo/Rareware may have had a bit of unspoken lore sprinkled throughout the franchise...

[@firestarter6488]

What a massive missed opportunity for DK fans indeed...

[@kimaster5893]

Between this and somecallmejohnny reviewing donkey kong. It's good being a DK fan right now

[@JohnnyVector]

If only we'd seen a peak of DK in the Mario Bros. movie trailer as well!

[@BR-jw7pm]

Judge Donkey: "I am the kong!"

[@oshkeet]

14:56 Might be a joke about how the Kongs all seem to be different kinds of apes. No, nintendo, calling Diddy a chimpanzee doesnt help either.

[@BearofLightness]

That's probably also the ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong in that screenshot - both it and the IntelliVision releases uniquely feature Donkey Kong and Pauline on the top right in 25m, though the graphics are closer to ColecoVision. Visual differences in the screenshot probably come down to the image being shrunk to fit.

[@jasonjimerson7046]

I was thinking somewhere towards possibly a port of the game that was used for Atari, but you may be right with ColecoVision.

[@RADish-official]

Diddy doesn’t have a nose and now I can’t unsee it

[@MagillanicaLouM]

Old school video game comics/manga have been a blast lol

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

DKC cartoon is “bafflingly bad” eh? Well as a kid, I liked it; but I couldn’t help but notice it’s lack of polish even back then.

[@thepainthuffer886]

As someone whose a big nerd for the DK subseries, the original Rare games didn't have that much lore in regards to ancient cultures and magic tho Retro's reboot of the Country series has a lot of that to spare, and I think it was by DKC 3 when they started hinting at the Bananas having a magical element to them which was why K Rool wanted to steal them in the first place; would've been cool to see how Fleetway could've handled it, genuinely think their Sonic comics are a hell of a lot better than the garbage Archie gave us filthy yankees lol; great stuff, man

[@ms046]

Funnily enough, I was playing DKC1 when I got this in my notifications! Definitely looking forward to this, the Fleetway DK comic is such a weird footnote in the history of the series

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah for sure. A few people have mentioned to me about the Fleetway Mario comic proposal but it seems like no one knew of this comic until last year. Enjoy!

[@JerryDX]

Have you heard about about the german club nintendo comics? They're really weird and actually have a bit of a crossover element,

[@JohnnyVector]

Yes, I have heard of them actually. I think all of the characters literally live together or something weird like that. I'd love to cover them.

[@JerryDX]

@@JohnnyVector Also Santa swears in one of the comics for some reason.

[@SailorMaxie]

Judge Dredd is my favorite Donkey Kong Country character.

[@rayvenkman2087]

How did this comic even managed to go under the radar despite coming out in the golden age of gaming?

[@JohnnyVector]

Good question. I'm not sure. I'm surprised it wasn't advertised in Sonic the Comic, especially because StC ran a few DK ads when the DK cartoon aired.

[@rayvenkman2087]

@@JohnnyVector I assume Sega must have told them to not give any more advertisement to their competitor Nintendo in StC.

[@kayleejazz1669]

Would you consider reviewing the fleetway teenage mutant “hero” turtles comic strips. I’m kinda of curious about that.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

Hero Turtles... I knever knew that!

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, yeah, ninjas were deemed too violent for kids so it was changed.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

@@JohnnyVector That's exactly what I assumed. Like how the cartoons couldn't show them using blades (unless it was something like shuriken to pin someone to the wall by their clothes) It reminds me of the mentality that it's okay to show blood, as long as it isn't red. (Samurai Jack might have had an exception because he was killing robots?) I forget

[@SoranotRoxas]

Judge Dredd is obviously the best Kong in the family 😆

[@ethejumper6568]

Here is how I rank them: 1. Diddy Kong Strip 2. The Mario Comic Pitch 3. Donkey Kong Strip 4. Cranky Kong Strip

[@JohnnyVector]

Did you like the art in the Diddy strip the most?

[@NoHandle44]

Dude, can't wait until we get a Fleetway DK FNF mod where DK goes crazy and cusses put BF.

[@JohnnyVector]

Inevitable. Looking forward to seeing it.

[@caelkins6478]

We have gotten the story behind why Nintendo chose Rare to revive DK. The last time I heard this story was in GameXplain's interview with the devs. You can find it on KZbin. Basically, Nintendo was seeking to make a game that would "Wow!" the general public. After hearing that one of Rare's staff members was in possession of the impressive 3D software used to make the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (this is now known as Maya), they asked if Rare could make something for them using one of their properties. Rare was excited and then Miyamoto gave them a sketch of the original Donkey Kong and said "Do something with this character". It's a very fascinating story, not up for debate at all. Nintendo saw the cool tech that Rare had and said "Hey. Whatcha got there?" LOL

[@Thatonedrater]

Damn this was a win and a loss for DK at the same time

[@Howlabunga]

This reminds me of Donkey Kong cereal for some reason

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, I've just Googled the cereal. The box looks awesome.

[@Howlabunga]

@@JohnnyVector Wait’ll you see the ads that came with it

[@Ink_hedgehog_editz]

This was awesome oh you should do a metamorphia

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks for the suggestion. I cover her a little bit in both my Shortfuse and Extra Life videos, but I've been thinking about doing a 'Top 10 Fleetway Villains' video or something and covering her in more detail.

[@Ink_hedgehog_editz]

@@JohnnyVector ok

[@silveramyknux241]

(Screams) “let’s see how fast you can throw barrels” (Starts making a DK cover of Chaos)

[@rubyensor3007]

I want to see more Fleetway Comics like Knuckles.

[@Nukiyoz_Daily]

I din t know we hawe fletweyy Sonic and now King Kong and i like video

[@gregzotter6189]

Well. Wasn't expecting that.

[@novelezra]

99% Sure that the Donkey Kong screenshot is actually a mock up. Mostly because the legit CV version is 'flat' whilst the one you can't attribute has faux 'tube tv' curves on the corner. Also I cannot imagine any port getting DK so wrong as to have him on the right instead of the left.

[@JohnnyVector]

Someone messaged me on Twitter mentioning an identical screenshot appears front-and-centre on the Colecovision box, though it doesn't match the finished Colecovision port. So it's probably a pre-release Colecovision screenshot.

[@seancdaug]

While I'm pretty sure the screenshot here is a mockup, there were a number of early DK ports that had the big guy on the right. It was one way to deal with the fact that TVs had a smaller vertical resolution than the arcade cabinet: they just removed one storey of the level. The eventual NES port did manage to squeeze it all in, but things are kind of squished up at the top even there.

[@D_T_S_V]

Wow so Fleetway Comics just didn’t care about the Console Wars Awesome

[@rayvenkman2087]

It’s like the time ECW held a match between WWF and WCW during the Monday Night Wars.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Between Nintendo Comic and Archie Super Mario getting scrapped, Nintendo has little to no solid footing in the comic industry beyond Nintendo Power.

[@bigmacsama]

That was very good!

[@chozo914]

[@DyslexicGamer]

Anybody else notice the animation error in the first panel of the cranky Kong comic?

[@JohnnyVector]

I've just had a look. His right hand is backwards?

[@Bloodieddiamond]

Do a vid about eggrobo or the red thing in spring yard zone the one that spindashes and chases sonic

[@DirtiestDMusic]

How many playable Donkey Kong characters are there?

[@JohnnyVector]

Probably..not that many actually

[@DirtiestDMusic]

@@JohnnyVector Off the top of my head: Jumpman/Mario, DK Jr., the guy from DK3, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Kiddie Kong, all the characters in Diddy Kong Racing, Tiny Kong, Lanky Kong, Chunky Kong, Krusha (N64 multiplayer), Cranky Kong, Funky Kong, Super Kong, and the animal buddies, if they count. Might make for an interesting video someday. I'm sure I left out a few.

[@Langtree]

babe wake up new johnny vector video

[@protocetid]

I enjoyed learning about a DK comic I didn’t know existed shame about the low views

[@silveramyknux241]

The carpenter makes more sense then Mario aside from maybe Odyssey

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, he stole Mario's thunder a tiny bit though

[@YeetoTheYeetafic]

Funny that Donkey Kong Country were made by british people and so was Sonic the Comic

[@Larry]

When was Pauline's design finalized? As she looks quite like her appearance in Mario Galaxy here. Also the unamed carpenter could be Stanley, the protagionist from Donkey Kong 3.

[@walkerphillips2818]

GALAXY?!

[@MeatEatingVegan777]

😏

[@Larry]

@@walkerphillips2818 odyssey

[@Pikmanipulator]

Pauline looked that way in Donkey Kong '94, so that's probably when her design was finalized.

[@ikagura]

The 94 GB DK game is top tier. the sequel on the GBA is decent too.

[@katiamalundo9054]

It's the first donkey Kong game

[@darkangelproductions448]

Can you cover the metarex from sonic x very underrated

[@JohnnyVector]

That's a great suggestion, thanks. So many forgotten characters and storylines from Sonic X.

[@SmashProX]

For people thinking it's a shame that companies are so protective... "Imagine if Fleetway's hypothetical Donkey Kong or Mario comic books got as dark, gritty, or downright bizarre as Sonic The Comic." He just answered why.

[@gracekim25]

Say WHAAAAAT?!😮

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, yes, it's true!

[@Justobros]

Bet 1v1 fleetway super sonic vs fleetway donkey kong you are you gonna vote my moneys on super sonic

[@JohnnyVector]

Probably a safe bet

[@erikbihari3625]

What happened to them?

[@JohnnyVector]

I guess the comic didn't sell well and everyone totally forgot about it's existence until last year

[@danielferrieri7434]

Who is Fleetway Super Sonic?

[@JohnnyVector]

Check out the answer here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/onq7m5mpqL-Gqqs

[@yopyop6135]

Can I ask something without it sounding like I'm throwing shade at the Fleetway comics? Because I'm curious. A lot of other examples of 90s British comics have led me to suspect this but, were "ugly" character/art styles in comics just the "in" thing there back then? Because while the Fleetway Sonic comic seems like it'd be really interesting story-wise, all the character designs I've seen from it are tremendously ugly. And, I know it's not due to a lack of talent, as I've seen other works by the people who did art for it that looked fantastic. Again, I'm just curious because as an outsider, I was always baffled as to why they made the characters look so off-putting.

[@JohnnyVector]

Fair question. A few artists who worked on the Sonic comic had experience working on kids comics like 'The Beano' (probably the UK's most popular comic book) where a lot of the characters are presented as exaggerated, ugly caricatures. I think the artists approached Sonic the Comic with a similar philosophy and that partially explains why some of the characters looks the way they do.

[@walkerphillips2818]

Who is Fleetway Cuphead? Answer: Nothing.

[@JohnnyVector]

Accurate

[@walkerphillips2818]

Still in shock that I got a reply from you, my dude!

[@rhindlethered]

I have never felt that Rare's "redesign" of DK was that significant. And I never liked them claiming that Donkey Kong could somehow turn into tiny, little Cranky. So, while I love the DKC games, I hate and reject Rare's lore.

[@AztecCroc]

Cranky's not actually that much smaller than DK and most of the difference in size can be accounted for with loss of muscle mass with age.

[@rhindlethered]

@@AztecCroc I don't know. He's often shown to be about Diddy Kong's size. Of course, in the early days they weren't very consistent and he does seem to be shown noticeably larger nowadays. I still don't care for the idea and I've always considered the DK in the various Mario sports games, party games, etc. to be the original. If the DK of DK Country *is* a different DK, he lives only there and not in the wider Mario universe. (This is supported by the way DK acts in DKC vs in Mario titles.)

[@gonernotloner]

Mario isn’t the main character of that game that would be jump man who was a carpenter and also (I think) was Marios grandpa

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks, I need to read up on my Mario lore

[@rhindlethered]

No. That's Mario. It's silly to try and pretend they are different characters.