Due to an accident at sea, the comatose King Kong breaks free of his bindings in the ship taking him from Skull Island to New York and manages to make it ashore to Darkest Africa. Naturally a 10 meter tall predatory ape doesn't go unnoticed even before the ship's crew makes it to shore to chase after him. Battling and devouring numerous African fauna, word eventually reaches the Waziri lands and the ear of someone Denham had met before, Lord Greystoke. Already privy to bizarre prehistoric monsters and needing to protect his wife and Waziri allies, Tarzan sets out to stop Kong's ravenous, confused rampage.
A 2016 crossover novel by Will Murray in which the Lord of the Apes crossed paths and comes to clash with the King of Skull Island. Set in a shared continuity with both the original Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels and the Joe DeVito Kong series, the crossover was made with the permission of both the Cooper and Burroughs estates.
This novel provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: The extent of Kong's intelligence is unclear. While he does speak to Tarzan, it is unknown if this is due to truly understanding the Mangani language or just parroting what Tarzan says to him.
- Cool vs. Awesome: Lord of the Apes vs. The Eighth Wonder of the World!
- Crossover: Exactly What It Says on the Tin, more specifically between the original literary Tarzan and the DeVito/1933 Film universe King Kong.
- The Beastmaster: Tarzan manages to rally numerous animals to his aid to confront Kong, such as a large lion, several Mangani apes, and a herd of elephants.
- Noodle Incident: Carl Denham and Tarzan met some years ago but other than some word about Lord Greystoke saving him from some angered Mangani, we're not given the full details on what happened and why Tarzan doesn't trust him at all.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Much of Kong's rampage is caused by him being unfamiliar with his surroundings and anger at his capture. He still is a prehistoric predator running rampant and causing mass amount of slaughter.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Granted Kong was already well above average on Skull Island as its apex predator, but all other modern wildlife even in Africa can't contend with him.
- Suddenly Speaking: Tarzan speaks the word for "Surrender" to Kong in mangani note and Kong replies it in kind. However it is left ambiguous as to whether Kong understood him or was just parroting what he said while understanding the meaning.
- World's Strongest Man: Tarzan has near superhuman feats of strength and skill, the novel essentially saying he's the only man on the planet who could possibly contend with Kong without modern weapons. He does.
