Welcome to the Good Girl world of Jungle Girls, in a new collected hardcover volume from IDW.
Edited by Mitch Maglio and Craig Yeo, this full-colour book brings us the illustrated adventures of Sheena, Tigra, Judy of the Jungle, Camilla, Jun-Gal, Rulah, Cave Girl and more!
It’s a fun read and intended to pay tribute to the phenomenon of the Jungle Girl. That is, the independently minded, self-confident single woman of the 1940’s and early 50’s comics who just happened to live in a jungle. She would swing around on ropes like a female Tarzan. She knew the local tribes, she knew the plants, she knew the ropes, literally. She usually dressed with just the bare minimum of animal skin. Comfort was not a ‘thing’ for the Jungle Girl. She never knew when she would need to wrestle a panther or lion.
Her hair was typically long, as were her legs. Sometimes she was blonde. She stayed a little aloof, which was probably just her way of ensuring she wasn’t patronized or pestered by the many males in her surroundings.
The Jungle Girls volume has some really wonderful artwork, by the likes of Frank Frazetta, Matt Baker, Everett Raymond Kinstler, and others. A number of covers are included, and many full stories.
There are also prose introductions by Dr. Sheena Howard, and Mitch Maglio, plus information on the creation of the Sheena character. Several additional articles are accompanied by a trove of illustrations, some reproduced from their original art.
It’s all good, this retrospective on the Jungle Girl. Good girls who do good in the jungle. We all win!
IDW, Jungle Girls, hardcover $29.99 for 164 pages of content. Assume Teen+ rating