[MarkWarner]

Wow that really was a great first week ... but there were a lot of words. So I thought we'd wind down just a tad. It's far away from the city with good clean air for our lungs.

We're out in the jungle with Rulah #24 https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=36327

The selected story in this is "Labyrinth of Love" (page 20).

The book's total word count is still high (but less pages). I have had a flip through and this looks like it could spark quite a few comments. Next week I promise will require less reading!

[tilliban]

So much for the best laid plans of men, mice and Rulah impostors!
Pure comedy gold. The unintentional kind, you know.
And the All-Time Inanity Award goes to... the US-American comic book industry.
I find it hard to stomach these stories.
Yet I can't stop reading!

[MarkWarner]

Well by the looks of it there are two impostor stories .. or that's what I saw at first glance.

I also agree that this might not quite hit the heights of Shakespeare (or indeed Goethe) but let's face it neither of them really give us too many laughs intentional or not. So one up for Fox and Rulah on that score

[jimmm kelly]

I think there are at least four or five Rulah impostor/doppelganger stories*. I stopped counting. But impostor stories aren't unusual for classic comics in general--and by that yardstick Rulah was probably judicious in its use of the device.

This specific story is also conventional for the times in its depiction of black men, but that's kind of unusual for Rulah, where the better part of the stories illustrated black men with reasonably accurate features. Yet even in this story, the appearance of the black men changes (see p.8 of the story), which suggests to me that there was more than one artist working on the story.

In terms of women, they are mostly always white women yet native women, living with black men (at least in Rulah's kraal). The opposite situation can happen, but not often. The depiction of black women--when it happens--can be reasonable (and like the white women in the kraal, they are also hot), but there are instances where that isn't the case.

While I grant that Rulah is an inane feature, that's a large part of its charm. And it's not normally inane in the conventional way of being inane. Among the jungle features, I think it's one of the more unusual--which is why I like it. Just when you think you've read the most unbelievable plot, there's another even more bizarre story to surprise you. And if you let your imagination wander, there are, um, other benefits.

There is doubt as to whether Matt Baker worked on any of the Rulah stories. I'm not convinced either way, but this is one story where I think at least one bad Baker impostor was involved if not two.

*edit: Two doubles in this issue and four in all that I made note of, but there are a few Rulah stories that I haven't been able to track down.

[crashryan]

Definitely an easier read than Crime Does Not Pay. I blow hot and cold on Jungle Babe stories, mostly because (a) they're really silly, and (b) I'm uncomfortable with the racial stereotypes. Both traits mingle in that scene in the first story in which Rulah is teaching the natives how to string necklaces! In fact, this story implies that the natives didn't know how to do anything at all until Rulah taught them how to do it. Incidentally, I wonder if the name "Rulah" was created from the word "Ruler."

As long as I'm grumping, let me grump about fake-hero/heroine stories. I realize I think too much about these things, but in the first story we have the classic situation: the fake Rulah appears in camp. She fears animals, which Rulah doesn't; she carries a whip, which Rulah doesn't, she beats the natives and punishes plain speaking, which Rulah doesn't, AND her faithful cat doesn't like her any more. But it isn't until Rulah herself appears that it occurs to the locals that the other Rulah is a fake. And this tradition carried right down to the Marvel Age of Comics. Despite having seen years' worth of impostors, will-sapping drugs, and magical transformations, let Daredevil do one uncharacteristic act and all the other heroes say, "He's gone bad!" and attack him on sight without giving him a chance to explain. But I digress

They surely cut two rows of panels from the last story to make room for that Statement of Ownership. That story was kind of fun. I liked the idea of the woman regaining her self-confidence by singing for a party of apes.

As for the portrayal of Africans, most of these were 1950s standard, but I was surprised by several pages with solid black guys with only eyes and white lips showing. Setting aside the stereotyping, this was just bad drawing. The men looked like paper cutouts. Jimmm mentions an interesting fact: that all the jungle women are white. I'm sure this was an editorial decision. The editor figured white boys reading comics prefer to ogle white women. The unintended consequence was a truly subversive notion: a city full of black men cohabiting with white women!

[paxman53]

Great fun this one if you suspend all belief. How many exact duplicates does this woman have.

I read the whole magazine, and my thoughts reflect the comments above, black stereotypes with very hot white women. I couldn't see that happening in the sixties, unless someone knows differently.

In the 'Satan Shoes' story did the native girl get killed? No last minute rescue or miraculously still alive at the end?

In the first story a big No-No

[paw broon]

I am a bit wary of commenting here as it will be 2 on the trot that I have been a bit negative about. I just don't like jungle comics, never have.  And that's despite being a Phantom Phan. I read the whole book and waded into this not very well drawn, objectionable, poorly constructed story.  The previous comments cover a lot of my thoughts. Apart from that, doesn't she kill a lot of snakes?  The stuff with Hannah is really corny and the commissioner seems to pay a lot of attention to the scandal sheets.  In panel 6, page 3, the word balloon is coming out of Saber's mouth.  I don't know if it bothered anyone else, but, where did that lassie, the fake Rulah, come from?  Mind, there do seem to a lot of look-a-likes around.  Perhaps there is an agency specialising in Rulah's.  When Rulah enters the Shah's chambers, did she not realize that this seedy, lecherous old sod was after one thing?  She couldn't have been that naive.
At the very end, how in heaven's name did she get off that plank?  Does it matter?
Tamur gets his comeuppance but the Shah gets away with all his very worrying behaviour.  Doesn't seem right.

[mr_goldenage]

Duplicate Rulah....dumb story but nice art.
Satans shoes the story I liked and the art was serviceable.
Laybrith of Love..........ugh. Shah is a perv for sure. leave those little kids alone man!
Concert of the Apes. it has Apes.....what more do you want in a story?

Ok here is my take:
1) Rulah is no Jungle Queen she is a white chick who pushes black people around.
2) the depiction of black people while the norm for the era is offensive in this era.
3) the Ape story was pure filler.
4) Bad story writing throughout the book only the two page prose was better written.

I find it odd that the Brits here find different things to chat that us US types. Different POV's I suppose.

Whats next?

RB @ Work

[bowers]

Since my first comics experience was reading Tarzan, I am probably much more forgiving than most when it comes to this genre. I take most of it for what it is- a light-hearted period piece with hot chicks in flimsy costumes! Did we, as kids, worry whether there were really tigers in Africa? Of course not- bring on the giant pythons and the diabolical death traps! Was the writing bad? Certainly, but not much worse than a lot of stuff written back then, or even today. I, too, feel uncomfortable with some of the depictions of other races, but this was not always the norm. Much of the time natives weren't given the full "minstrel" treatment shown in the story. Check out another Fox title from the same period, Jungle Lil #1, available on site.(And, yes, there is a tiger on the cover!) This shows a somewhat more sophisticated rendering of natives, as did many other books. Was the art bad in this book? In some places, it was awful. But remember, this was the Golden Age and a lot of the younger artists, some future greats, were still learning their craft. It would, indeed be interesting to see who the artist(s) were in this issue. Cheers, Bowers

[mr_goldenage]

I would use Jungle 146 by FIction House as a classic example on how this genre is done right. even if I am not a huge fan of this type of comic I do admire a good comic if done right. Just my 2 cents.

RB @ Work

[jimmm kelly]

I hasten to add--as I said before--that it wsn't the norm for Rulah's people to be visually portrayed as stereotypical blacks. Even in this story on p. 1 you see what was the norm for her kraal. And to me Rulah is far more progressive than regressive on the whole.

It was all for commercial purposes--for the fantasies of adolescent boys--but the barriers between black and white society were broken down in the Rulah stories. I wonder how that affected those boys reading those stories back then.

Is everyone dependent on Rulah? Yes. Does this make sense? No. But that's the standard for jungle lords and ladies and even for a lot of super-heroes. All the other characters in any given story are like children to Rulah--children that misbehave and have to be corrected. She knows better and they don't. But she's not a white man lording it over black people. She's a groovy kind of chick hanging out in her free love commune with a bunch of other groovy cats and chicks who all just want to get back to nature and make out, regardless of skin colour.

There's a lot of room in Rulah stories, by which I mean there's a lot of room for the reader to make their own sense of her senseless paradigm. My take is that Rulah's portion of the Congo is in some strange almost lost land (and there are other lost lands that neighbour it, as we see in other stories). All kinds of people and beasts ended up there somehow and they created their own weird society, governed by their own rules.

It seems to me that the Iger Studio put their best artists on other work and the neophyte artists got their training doing Rulah--which is why it's all over the map in terms of style.

I know that were other jungle features that were much more classy. But comics that had messy histores are often more interesting to talk about, I think. It's odd that some folks only want to talk about comics that were obviously good.

[mr_goldenage]

Perhaps I didn't submit my thoughts good enough. I used the Jungle comics as an example of the "other" end of the spectrum of what a "Jungle" comic could be and what was "judged" to be the "standard" Jungle "Bar" to be met. I agree Rulah is "out there" for sure. Which does make it more interesting in its own way to debate. Fox books were weird to begin with. All Fox books were weird. I loved the Fox line almost as much as l loved the Centaur books for their quirkiness. My main complaint on the Rulah book I think was valid as I have read other Rulah books (yes I know I don't like Jungle adventures that much but I like good girl art and is great for body figures to swipe!) and I think she was done better in other stories, but I didn't go there as I don't believe that would have been a fair comparision, nor on the subject, thats all. Sorry if you thought I was saying Rulah was low rent. Not my intentions. Over and out.

RB @ Work

[jimmm kelly]

RB--yeah, no, I didn't really take that from your comment. And of course, Rulah is low rent--or maybe high rent, she never seemed to have to work to get her position in life, while look at all the struggles that Tarzan and Rima had to go through. Rulah plops into the jungle and everything is virtually given to her on an ivory platter.

I was only reacting in small part to your post. I come from a university background where literary criticism skirted value judgements and veered more toward analysis. You don't have to judge whether something is good or bad to analyze it.

There are all kinds of things that attract me to the comics on this site--quality of story or art is only one factor--more often I'm looking to learn about a specific moment in the culture.

[paw broon]

This is great and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I have been reading these comics and reacting to whether I liked them/art/story/etc. or not.  Jimmm's mention of a specific moment in the culture stopped me for a moment. Also, Richard mentions a different pov from the 2 sides of the Atlantic and I think that will happen.  BBC tv used to run a show, The Black and White Minstrel Show:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_and_White_Minstrel_Show
and this was my introduction to "coloureds/blacks" as non-whites were referred to.  There were no black people in our town.  Fortunately, through education, family, Glasgow buses and, later, decent newspapers, enlightenment dawned. 
So, with that in mind I went back to Rulah, and taking on board that many people had the comic's image of coloured people in their heads, the feeling grew that Rulah's position in her territory was a bit like the now discredited view that the British empire was good for the subjugated/owned countries. 
The book is created as an entertainment for adolescent males but what appealed to me as a lad was not this scantily clad jungle heroine type, rather Batwoman in that amazing cossie, or Val Venture in Ace Hart stories and I wish I had been aware of Phantom Lady, although I'm not sure if that would have been a good or healthy thing.
Despite not fancying the task, I will have to download some jungle comics and see for myself if versions of native peoples are more palatable and if the quality improves.

[bowers]

Excellent points from all. To see a surprisingly enlightened view from this same period, may I recommend the "Brothers of the Spear" Tarzan backup feature? Started in issue 25, 1951. Natongo, the black prince, was much more than a sidekick for Dan-el, the white prince. To portray them as blood-brothers and equals in the early 50's was little short of amazing. Can be viewed at the Burroughs family online museum site, http://www.erbzine.com/. Cheers, Bowers

[twiztor]

most of my thoughts have already been conveyed, but here goes:

i've never really given the "jungle stories" a chance, and this story doesn't make me regret that decision.
it was silly stupid fun, but had nothing behind it. the visuals of the blacks with eyes and lips was disgusting. poor, poor art choices there. other appearances weren't so bad, but that one panel was downright offensive.

i also wondered about the tigers in Africa and elephants outrunning them. how is that again?
also, this book gives me a new nickname for people: "fork puss".

[jimmm kelly]

This wasn't one of my favourite stories, when I was going through all the Rulah tales, but it does drop some interesting clues if you're trying to map out her world and how things all fit together in the grand scheme of things. There are several little bits of Rulah continuity unfolding here (even if Rulah continuity was never filled in, in any cohesive pattern). The part with Saber and little Hannah Moresby is my favourite portion of the story.

When Rulah stories were reprinted by other publishers in the '50s, they usually appeared in horror type anthologies. It's interesting to look at Rulah as less generic jungle feature and more weird horror feature. And there are some truly weird and gruesome stories in the run--including tales about werewolves, blood-suckers, serial killers and psychos.

[paw broon]

Oh, now you tell us.  I have to have aread at them.

[jimmm kelly]

Oh no, you don't have to do that. I've read them, so you don't have to.

It's funny how classic comic characters become the centre of their whole world. Okay, some guy like Captain Marvel being famous all over the world is one thing--but Rulah, existing in her small jungle village, is famous throughout the whole world and everything she does is of keen interest to people she's never met.

[MarkWarner]

Um ... well blimey!! First a bizarre little coincidence I noticed a couple of days ago, Wikipedia features this cover as the primary image for their "Comic Book" article. I wonder if that had anything to do with the content, which is frankly the biggest load of tosh I have EVER read! I mean complete rubbish and it was great! Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I noticed the tiger in Africa, although the fact that Rulah has access to a nuclear powered Elephant did pass me by. However I make up for that by spotting that the pythons in Rulah's jungle come equipped with fangs an interesting adaptation for a constrictor.

Anyway what I learnt from the first story is that Rulah really cares for her natives and boy do they need a lot of attention and education!!

"and so to string the shiny stones and make a necklace, we ..."

They even need guidance to make a necklace!! I just wonder how the tribe managed to survive all those centuries without her.

Also noted is that Rulah is no eco-warrior ... if you are a reptile and she spots you, then move quick or it's be a handbag time. The name Commissioner Blodgett makes him sound like he is from a comedy sketch, which is compounded by his pipe which appears superglued to his bottom lip.

The Shah in our main story says:

"Long have I heard of Rulah's spirit and beauty. Having her I will want no other but fetch her to me and you shall have my harem as reward!"

Blimey Rulah is pretty hot, but I am not sure I'd swap a whole harem for her. Perhaps the Shah knows something about her I don't, or maybe he is using it as an excuse to downsize on the wives front. I was surprised at the ending (why I don't know) as I thought the Shah would get his cumuppance, but it all ended up best buddies. And not such a bad fella after all.

The last story really took the biscuit on the rubbish front. A nightclub singer needs a new routine and decides the jungle is the place for her to find new material. As one obviously would!

The racial stereotyping I personally did not find offensive, apart from the art on the two bodyguards hit a nerve. In fact I'd say that the maid Tilda in the last story was the most stereotypical. Right out the pages of Gone With The Wind.

Attempting to skirt around politics my take on "IF" there is an Atlantic divide on what is offensive or not, may well be due to the recentness of U.S. segregation compared to the remoteness in location, and time of the evils of our Empire and before that the slave trade.

So MAYBE we view books like this Rulah issue as 65 years old, fairly benign and ignorant tosh whereas in the U.S. it may be considered more recent and insidious. If a difference does exist it certainly IS NOT due to racism or complacency on this side of the pond.

So in conclusion complete rubbish, but great fun. If you have not already read this I suggest you do and make your own mind up!

[narfstar]

Well it looks like I have to jump in earlier to make any new points. Almost everything I thought to say was already said. I just had to read all of this one. It leaves me wanting to read more. Just a few because you can only take so much so bad. But man was it fun. The only thing I could come up with (I thought I had another until Mark mentioned the gators) is that do all the doubles also sound just like Rulah. She is the most beautiful women anyone has ever seen but every other women seems to be her doppelganger and sound just like her. Also no one mentioned the text story. I am not sure how true it is but there is a Shungnak, Alaska. The text story could have been made into a comic story and been OK, probably better than the rest in story quality.

[Drusilla lives!]

...It seems to me that the Iger Studio put their best artists on other work and the neophyte artists got their training doing Rulah--which is why it's all over the map in terms of style.  ...

Although "Death Image" looks like it could be by Baker, it could also be Bill Gibson imo (or perhaps even someone trying to imitate either one of them).  I'm currently of the opinion that Baker did very little in these very late 40s Fox books... about the time he starts to work on St. John's titles.

Read "Labyrinth of Love," not much to add that hasn't already been mentioned... as I've come to expect with most Fox jungle fair, the story exists only to serve as a means to the end of showing off Rulah's physique in as many situations (and additionally, physical positions) as possible.  I suppose not a bad end in and of itself and certainly one the mass appeal of which I can understand... more so then that of the Felix Sloper portrayal in that Crime Does Not Pay story.   

[narfstar]

I think the artist were probably told to imitate Baker. I would guess that everyone recognized how talented he was and probably popular at the time.