JUMBO COMICS (Fiction House) 1938 Series.
No. 1, Sept 1938 - no. 167, Mar 1953.
Created by S.M. Iger, Jumbo Comics became the first comic book title published by Fiction House. Thurman T. Scott, head of the Pulp producing company, was interested in getting into comic books when he was approached by businessman Jerry Iger and future comics legend Will Eisner to do just that. For its first 9 issues, Jumbo was an over-sized anthology featuring a number of different strips, most notably the first appearance of Sheena in #1 (issues 1-8 were B&W). With the 10th issue, the title went regular size, increasing to 68 pages but keeping the anthology format. During its 167-issue run, fans of the title would see hundreds of Sheena adventures as well as a host of additional strips. There's no doubt, however, that the real star of Jumbo Comics was Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
Sheena is the original sexy white jungle goddess, plain and simple. She was conceived as a female Tarzan and first appeared in the British tabloid, Wags, in 1937. Those adventures were reprinted in her early Jumbo appearances, and Sheena never looked back. |