The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (comic)

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride is a European comic inspired by the film of the same name. It was published in 1999.
==Synopsis==
One morning, a gentle breeze guided the Pride Landers to Pride Rock so they could pay tribute to the newborn princess heir. Timon and Pumbaa expressed excitement at helping raise another male lion cub, but Rafiki revealed that the cub was, in fact, a female named Kiara.
Time passed, and Kiara grew into a young cub. One day, as she was overlooking the Pride Lands in excitement, her father, Simba, cautioned her that the savanna was dangerous. After assuring her father that she would not talk to strangers, she ran off into the Pride Lands, and Nala reminded Simba that he had been just like her as a cub.
As Kiara chased a butterfly through the grass, she caught sight of the Outlands and determined to explore it. However, as she was entering the Outlands, an Outsider cub named Kovu tripped her and mocked her for always doing what her father said. Though Kiara denied this, Kovu bragged that he did not need anyone and that he could take care of himself. At that moment, the cubs were attacked by crocodiles. Together, they escaped into the Pride Lands and formally introduced themselves. Kiara attempted to start up a game of tag with Kovu, but he did not understand what she was doing.
Before the cubs could continue playing, Simba reared in front of Kiara and growled at Kovu. In answer, Kovu's mother, Zira, erupted from the grass and stood protectively in front of her own cub. Timon ordered Zira to leave the Pride Lands, but she retorted that the kingdom belonged to Scar. Furious, Simba reminded her that he had banished her, then commanded her to leave the Pride Lands with Kovu. She pointed out that Scar had chosen Kovu to become the next king of Pride Rock, but Simba ordered her to leave once more and declared that they were finished, to which Zira shot back that they had barely begun. As Simba and Zira carried their cubs away, Kovu and Kiara bid one another a somber farewell.
Once away from Kovu and Zira, Simba chided Kiara for her disobedience and reminded her that she could have been killed. He started to explain that she would someday have to take his place in the Circle of Life, but she interrupted that she did not want to be queen, as it was no fun. He reminded her that, as his daughter, she was part of him and that they were one.
Meanwhile, in the Outlands, Zira lectured her elder son, Nuka, for having failed to keep an eye on Kovu. When Kovu attempted to take the blame, Zira dragged him away to bed, and Nuka lamented how he should have been the Chosen One instead of Kovu. In the meantime, Zira questioned Kovu on who had killed Scar and banished them to the Outlands, to which he answered that it had been Simba. He added that he had hoped to be friends with Kiara. At first, Zira mocked him for this, but, in reiterating the cub's ideas, she realized that she could use Kovu's friendship with Kiara to help the Outsiders rise to power once more.
More time passed, and Rafiki drew Kovu and Kiara as adults in his tree. He asked the spirit of Mufasa what he thought of the paintings, and Mufasa sent a gust of wind that knocked over Rafiki's staff and cracked open one of his gourds. Picking up the two pieces, Rafiki deduced that Mufasa wanted to bring Kovu and Kiara together and protested that Zira had raised Kovu to hate the Pride Landers, while Kiara had been raised into a beautiful princess who would someday rule the Pride Lands. Thus, he reasoned, Mufasa's plan would never work.
Shortly afterward, Kiara embarked on her first solo hunt. Though Simba promised to let her hunt on her own, he secretly sent Timon and Pumbaa to tail her and watch over her. In the meantime, Kiara attempted to hunt a herd of antelope, to no avail. Eventually, she ran into Timon and Pumbaa, and, realizing that Simba had lied to her, fled the Pride Lands to hunt elsewhere. Unbeknownst to Kiara, Nuka and his sister, Vitani, set the nearby savanna ablaze as part of their mother's plot to help Kovu infiltrate Simba's pride.
Before long, the fire trapped Kiara, and Zira sent Kovu in to rescue her. From Pride Rock, Simba spotted smoke rising over the savanna and ordered Zazu to fly ahead and find Kiara. From amidst the flames, Kiara attempted to reach safety, only to collapse and fall unconscious. Before she could get hurt, Kovu approached and bore her to safety on his back. From overhead, Zazu spotted the rescue effort and resolved to inform Simba.
Once Kiara had recovered, she started to argue with Kovu that she had had everything under control, only to realize that she was speaking to her childhood friend. Just then, Simba confronted Kovu, who claimed that he had left the Outsiders and wished to join Simba's pride. Though Simba was at first adamantly against the idea, Nala and Zazu pointed out that he owed Kovu his daughter's life, and he reluctantly reserved judgment on Kovu's character.
Together, the lions returned to Pride Rock. Kiara thanked Kovu for having saved her life, but he merely mocked her for her subpar hunting skills. In answer, she challenged him to teach her how to hunt. From afar, Nuka and Zira watched Kovu and Kiara's interaction, and Zira observed that the plan for Kovu to kill Simba was proceeding perfectly.
The next morning, while Kovu was teaching Kiara how to hunt, he accidentally pounced on Timon. Timon and Pumbaa complained that the nearby birds were eating all the grubs and requested help from Kovu. Though at first confused, Kovu eventually realized that it was a game, and he and Kiara roared to scatter the birds. Together, the four friends chased the birds until they ran into a rhinoceros herd. Incited, the rhinoceroses gave chase, but the friends escaped them by taking shelter in a small cleft. Once the herd had cleared out, Timon and Pumbaa squeezed out of the cleft, and Kovu and Kiara accidentally kissed.
That night, Kovu and Kiara stargazed together. Kiara explained that her father had taught her that the Great Kings of the Past watched over them from the stars, and Kovu wondered if Scar was among them. In the face of Kiara's uncertainty, he apologized and added that the Pride Landers did not have a favorable view of Scar. From afar, Simba watched the two interact and consulted Mufasa's spirit, asking how he could accept Kovu when he was Scar's heir. Just then, Nala approached Simba and encouraged him to give Kovu a chance.
As Kovu and Kiara returned to Pride Rock, Kovu wondered if some of Scar's evil was in him and started to confess his part in Zira's plot to Kiara. However, Simba interrupted, inviting Kovu to sleep in the den with the rest of the pride. Realizing that he was alone with Simba, Kovu briefly debated killing him but ultimately refused. Unbeknownst to Kovu, Vitani had witnessed his betrayal and reported it to Zira. Nuka suggested assisting Kovu in his task, but Zira determined to do things her own way.
The next morning, Kovu resolved to confess the truth to Kiara, but Simba invited him on a walk around the Pride Lands instead. Leading Kovu to a fire-ravaged section of the savanna, Simba explained the history of Scar, and Kovu admitted that Scar had truly been a killer. Simba then encouraged Kovu that "what survives" could turn out better than what came before, if given the chance.
At that moment, the Outsiders surrounded Simba, and Zira bragged that it had been part of her and Kovu's plan all along. Enraged, Simba accused Kovu of deception, but he vehemently denied any involvement in the ambush. As the Outsiders attacked Simba, Kovu leaped to his defense, only for Vitani to intercept his attacks. Eventually, Simba escaped into the gorge and fled up a pile of logs. As Simba was climbing the logs, Kovu appeared on a ledge above him, and Zira implored him to kill Simba, but he refused. In Kovu's place, Nuka attempted to scale the log pile, only to slip and get crushed to death by falling logs. This allowed Simba to escape.
With Nuka dead and Simba gone, Zira accused Kovu of being responsible for Nuka's death and asserted that he had betrayed his pride and Scar. Defiant, Kovu declared that he wanted nothing more to do with Scar or Zira, then left to return to the Pride Lands. Meanwhile, Zira plotted with her pride to invade the Pride Lands and take it by force.
At Pride Rock, Kovu begged for Simba's forgiveness, but Simba banished him from the Pride Lands. With the Pride Landers yelling at him to leave, Kovu fled the kingdom. Kiara attempted to follow Kovu, but the lionesses blocked her path, and Simba forbade her from leaving Pride Rock without an escort. He continued that Kovu was following in Scar's paw prints and that he had to follow in Mufasa's, to which Kiara exclaimed that he did not know Kovu and that he would never be Mufasa. Meanwhile, Rafiki lamented the situation, deducing that Mufasa's plan had failed, but the wind promptly blew a gourd shell out of his hand so that it smacked into a painting of Pride Rock.
At the same moment, Kiara escaped Pride Rock through a hole in the back. After some searching, she found Kovu near a pond and reunited with him. Meanwhile, Zazu warned Simba that the Outsiders were invading, and Simba ordered Timon and Pumbaa to rally the lionesses. Before long, Simba's pride had assembled and formed a battle line against the Outsiders, and the two prides engaged in a fight.
Just as Simba and Zira were about to fight, Kovu and Kiara leaped in-between them and urged them to stop the battle. While Simba listened to Kiara's pleas, Zira refused and ordered Vitani to attack. To Zira's shock, the Outsiders joined Simba's pride, and Vitani implored Zira to stop the fighting. Ignoring her daughter's appeal, Zira lunged at Simba, but Kiara intercepted the attack, and the two went rolling into the gorge. While Kiara managed to catch hold of a ledge, Zira clung precariously over the raging river below. Kiara reached down to help Zira climb back to safety, but she fell into the river to her death.
With Zira dead, Simba welcomed the Outsiders into his pride, and Kovu and Kiara were married at Pride Rock.
==Appearances==
==Publications==
==Trivia==
* In this version of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, the gorge is referred to as "Antelope Gorge."
==Gallery==
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==References==
Category:Comics
Category:The Lion King II: Simba's Pride comics
Category:Real world