Print

[gregjh]

Firstly, thank you to the good folks of CBP for allowing me to take this slot.

Now, my choices for this corner are White Princess of the Jungle issue #2
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=26219

and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #02
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=69040
(link corrected, thanks PawBoon)

I eschewed the first issue of each series as I just felt like skipping the orgin stories for some reason. Of course, we can all read issue 1 of each series if we so choose.


The reason for comparing these two titles is probably obvious. As well as rating each story on its own merits, I thought the more nuanced and talented readers at CBP can compare artwork, lettering, pens, panels, etc. while the more philistine folk such as myself can also explore the cultural window of the age that would invite titles and concepts such as this that, perhaps needless to say, would simply not see the light of day in modern times.

I hope everyone enjoys the titles and I look forward to reading your thoughts.

[SuperScrounge]

White Princess of the Jungle #2

Jungle Vengeance - Ah, the cliche of the secret elephant burial ground. How quaint.

Death Wears the Jungle Crown! - More name typos in this story than the previous one.

The Witch Doctor Murder Cult! - Wait a minute? Where are the witch doctors? The title promised a cult of witch doctors committing murder, but I don't think there was one witch doctor in the actual story.

Third Class Male - Eh.

The Strange Mission to Ormuz - Actually it's a mission to Tarko, Ormuz is where Garth and Zora are from.


The Taanda stories were okay standard jungle stories with the art raising them up.

[SuperScrounge]

Sheena #2

Black Orchid of Death! - You'd think those botanists would want to rest up before heading back. When we first see them it seems like they might be near death so eat, rest, heal might be a good idea. And this story was written decades before video games with instant healing potions/spells/whatever.

Treachery Trap - Ah, the old cliche of a second blow to the head restoring a person's memory. If your doctor recommends this find another doctor.

Claws of the Spotted Terror! - Why is Sheena suddenly trying to save her enemy? She's not Batman. The earlier stories showed her to be practical about dealing with enemies.

Death Takes No Holiday In The Jungle - As a reader of the webcomic Life & Death the title had me imagining Steve (Death) vacationing in the jungle... it all ends in fire.  Interesting factoids.

Swastika Plague - Some stories I feel the writer and/or artist are more interested in the stupid monkey than Sheena.

Jungle Vengeance - Okay text story.

Vampire Vultures - That title had me imagining vultures dressed and speaking like Bela Lugosi, so the actual story was disappointing by comparison. 

Killer's Safari! - Okay story.


The writing of the Sheena stories were not quite as good as the Taanda stories, but still okay jungle tales.

The artwork on Sheena was not as good as the Taanda stories.

So the White Princess of the Jungle edges out the Queen of the Jungle (in these two books, anyway.)

[Robb_K]

I will review "Taanda, The White Princess #2" first.  I read #1 for the very purpose of reading her origin story, and getting an introduction to the series. 

General Book and Series
It seems Avon waited a long time to start its Sheena copycat facsimile.  She was the daughter of a missionary couple who were killed in a raid by a nearby hostile tribe, and was adopted by the chief of her local South African tribe, whose people had been friendly with her parents.  She was trained by him in the ways of the jungle, and apparently in the ways of his tribe's warriors, for she excels all of them in warrior skills.  She, in turn, adopted an African orphan, Koru, who starts out in Issue #1, with dark skin, just like the other natives, but with absolutely straight, jet black hair (so he looks like a South Indian).  But, in the first story in Issue #2, he is a pale-skinned Caucasian boy.  And, in a later story in that same issue, he is back to having dark skin again.  Perhaps that was a mistake made by the colourist?  But, does his perfectly straight hair as a member of a South African native tribe represent a throwback recessive gene all but weeded out of that population perhaps 100,000 years ago?

Apparently, Taanda and Koru were hunting the "King of The Wild (beasts)", Leader elephant, Moloth (looks absolutely NOTHING like a native South African word), to kidnap him, and train him to become a "pack animal".  As we shall see as we go along, that this series uses a hodge-podge of made-up names that range from sounding like Inuit and East Siberian, to Afrikaans and Dutch words that wouldn't have ever become Dutch surnames or given names, to names that would fit better in Italy or Polynesia.  And the description of their locations, using the few researched Afrikaans geographical references don't match the drawn scenery in the panels.  For example, most of the scenes depict a rainforest type environment, but animals depicted (elephants, leopards, lions,) are savanna animals.  And her adopted tribe, The Torauti live in their Kraal (a village), but kraal means a farm or station with a large stockade pen for holding animals, which are located on The Veld(t), NOT in jungles, where The Tauruti reside.  Furthermore, The Veld is a large area of flat, open grassland with few trees.  There are only a couple small semi rainforest areas in South Africa, on the east (Indian Ocean) coast of The Province of Natal, which are far from The Veld.  One of the stories has people riding zebras like they were trained, domesticated horses.  Zebras have never been domesticated.

One thing in Issue #1 made me laugh.  Taanda was described as a "scarlet-haired, sun-bronzed beauty". That implies that she became tanned by the sun.  But, my lifelong experience of being a redhead, with the pasty-white skin and freckles (melanin problems) that go along with that, and always burning red like a cooked lobster, and never being able to tan, I have to assume that Taanda is not a true redhead.  In addition, the non-researching author places "The Veld" in the middle of a rainforest jungle.  So, how was she going to become tanned, even if it were possible based on her skin's melanin, with clouds covering the sky 95% of the time?  From the hue of her "red" hair (with too much blue), it appears that she must dye her hair with the same process that her adoptive father dies the feathers in his headdress.   

I guess the writers of these stories made so little money from them that they weren't willing to spend a few minutes in a library learning a few things about the countries and peoples, and animals they depict.  These stories remind me of the science-fantasy stories that appeared in the 1930s and 1940s.  The authors of these stories knew about as much about their subjects (Africa, its animals, environment, and peoples) as science fantasy writers knew about Mars and the other planets, and space travel in the 1930s and '40s.

I think it is ironic that reading Carl Barks' Funny Animal, "Uncle Scrooge" comic book stories in which Scrooge's rival South African Plutocrat, Flintheart Glomgold are featured, would result in the child readers learning a LOT more about the climate, landforms, vegetation, animal life, and peoples in Southern Africa (Union of South Africa(Cape Colony, Transvaal, Orange Free State) than reading Taanda.  Glomgold is implied to be half of Scots origin, and half Boer/Afrikaaner.  The Gold Mines and Diamond mines of the Transvaal were mentioned, as well as The Boer War, from which Uncle Scrooge has a cannon!  I knew quite a bit about South Africa even as a young child, because we had some close relatives there(both origionaly from England and from Holland), who my uncle visited a few times each year. 

I have to admit that the artwork, especially Everett Kinstler's, and also Howard Larson's, technically, is very good, even if what's depicted doesn't make much sense. 

Jungle Vengeance
Hunting the leading elephant of a (terroristic?) "Devil Herd", to domesticate him, and make him into a "pack animal' doesn't sound like something a "Princess of The Jungle", at home in her nature, would want to do.  It IS commendable, however, that Taanda fights hard to keep the German trader, who wants to steal all the bones from that herd's elephant graveyard (for the ivory), from doing so; and she also promises the local tribe of South African natives that she and her adopted son wont tell anyone where it is.  This story has great artwork, a fair amount of action, picturesque scenes, great atmosphere, despite its lack of research, and resulting lack of realism.

There is an old saying about story writing: "One should write about what he or she knows.".  That is more than evident in the stories in this book.

Death Wears The jungle Crown
This story has an interesting plot, with Taakel, ostensibly, an Afrikaaner/Boer outlaw leader of a band of terrorist thieves, who terrorise native villages, and kidnap their women to sell to Arab slave traders.  Interesting that "taak" means "task".  and the diminutive suffix, "el" makes Taakel" mean "Little Task".  I'm sure that name as a real Dutch or Afrikaans surname doesn't exist.  It would be a strange nickname for a terrorist leader of a band of thieves.  The leader planned to pass through The Veld to the seacoast, which he calls "The Gold Coast".  But there is no "Gold Coast" anywhere near South Africa.  Africa's "Gold Coast" is in Ghana, in West Africa, over 2,000 miles from South Africa.  One scene shows Taanda fighting a giant gorilla, which must weigh at least 800 lb..  this story also has cannibals and pygmies.  And the villain, Taakel, steals the crown of the newly crowned chief of their host tribe, as well as abducts Koru, to get back at Taanda.
Taanda rounds up several elephants to break down the walls of Taakel's fortress.  Of course, Taanda singlehandedly takes on Taakel and his whole army, rescues Koru, and brings the crown back to Chief Matotako, and the 2 tribes become friends forever.

The Witch Doctor Murder Cult (a deliberate misnomer attention-grabbing attempt of a title - if ever there was one)
I'll have to parrot Scrounge's point that the false advertising has reader's waiting with baited breath to see a splash panel of 40 crazed-looking, witch doctors, wielding daggers, surrounding and inching slowly towards a terrified, unarmed, British "big game hunter" (complete with pith helmet).  But, no!  Not even one Witch Doctor in this story! Instead we have another superhuman Caucasian woman leading a tribe of native Africans (a 7-foot giantess, no less).  This is taking "The White Man's Burden to an all-time high.  Not only are the native African tribes seemingly incapable of ruling themselves, because they are inferior to The Europeans, and haven't been capable enough to develop a higher civilization, and so must be ruled by Europeans, who, by accident, or by invasion and greed, came to take over their land and resources, but they need to be ruled by European women who have super strength, or gigantic size and were in that position by accidents of fate.  It's wayyyyyyyyy too much to believe.  Why would an entire tribe put their lives in the hands of an criminally insane woman who enjoys murdering people?  Just to defeat neighbouring tribes to plunder their resources?  Couldn't they have done that without devoting their lives and allegiance to the madwoman?  Given the history of tribal warfare in the southern portion of Africa, and tribes having alliances with nearby tribes to fight against common enemies, it seems it would be a terrible mistake for one tribe to be belligerent towards all surrounding tribes, and lusting in mass murder rituals.  It would invite them all to unite against the transgressing tribe, and likely annihilate it's entire population.

And this is the story that contains the Inuit or Eastern Siberian tribal name, "The Kulkuks".  What made the writer think that "Kulkuks" sounds even the slightest bit like a Bantu or Khoisan, or ANY kind of African name?  And the narrative states that ONLY Taanda could stand up against Zaleen, and her army's "fanatic war of conquest"!  The surrounding tribes' couldn't unite and fight against Zaleen's followers?  The whole of The South African Veld (or jungle (the author can't make up his mind)) is forced to pin their hopes for survival on one orphaned Caucasian woman to defeat the 7-foot madwoman and her army, singlehandedly! 

The oversized madwoman plans to conquer ALL of Africa. That makes the suspense all the greater for the reader.  She orders total destruction of "The Fang Nation", with the few survivors becoming slaves.  An entire British garrison was wiped out by Zaleen's armies.  The single soldier survivor starts the long journey from South Africa to Kenya, in East Africa, to bring back British soldier reinforcements.  No British soldiers left in ANY of The British Colonies of Southern Africa (Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Natal, The Cape Colony, Transvaal)  Zaleen's disturbances have wiped them all out???  This is fifty times bigger than the Great Zulu uprising (war against The British)?  But, of course, Taanda not only organises her Taurati army, but also all of their allies' armies together as one fighting unit.  Not only is she as strong as 10 men, but she is a military expert!  And Zaleen's and Taanda's armies are the two mightiest in ALL of Africa!  Zaleen kidnaps Taanda's adopted son, Koru.  So, Taanda sneaks into Zaleen's camp, all alone, and kills the madwoman, with a karate kick to her chin, and rescues Koru, and the leaderless army of murderers runs in panic, as Taanda's army arrives.  Days later, The British Kenyan army arrives, and the surviving captain sees they are not needed, as peace has returned to The Veld (or is it the Jungle?).

It is all too unbelievable and ridiculous, and it wouldn't have been an enjoyable read for me even at 8 years old.  The artwork is excellent.  But I've seen a lot of excellent artwork.  It's not enough of an attraction for me to want to see other issues of this series.

Third Class Male
I've never liked this comedy strip, that's never really been funny to me, and the artwork is barely average-level.  The gags are too obvious, with predictable endings that aren't very clever.

The Strange Mission to Ormuz
As Scrounge stated above, the leading protagonists come FROM Ormuz, but they go to Tarko (a couple thousand years earlier, transported by a magic spell related to the female lead's locket).  It seems, based on the architecture and soldiers' wardrobe, that Tarko is supposed to be an Eastern Mediterranean or Carthaginian city in North Africa.  I have no problem with the magic powers of the locket and the hero being transported back in time.  I think this is a relatively interesting premise for a good adventure story, and would rather have read it as a 20-30 page story, so the plot could be better paced, the setting could be laid out in better detail, and characters and plot line could be further developed.  Only a meagre 8 pages, with one of them being a single panel introduction page, is not enough room to do much.  But this is the story in this book that I like best, by far.  It is by far, the least insulting, and has a better story to tell, although, the artwork isn't as good as that of The Taanda stories.  It has the flavour of the 1930s Egyptian archaeologist curse-related B-Films, and serial shorts.

[Captain Audio]

I'm sure that name as a real Dutch or Afrikaans surname doesn't exist.

A quick search reveals it is a real name.

[Robb_K]

I'm sure that name as a real Dutch or Afrikaans surname doesn't exist.

A quick search reveals it is a real name.

Yes.  "Little Task", What a strange name!  Their was a street in Albany, New York, named after a Dirk Taakel.  Apparently, it comes from having the job of being a handyman or jack-of-all-trades, who performs little tasks for the housemaster or landowner or innkeeper, perhaps from the Middle Ages, or Renaissance Period?

Still, it seems an odd choice to use as the name of a story's villain, unless it is an attempt to poke fun at the villain.

[SuperScrounge]

Still, it seems an odd choice to use as the name of a story's villain, unless it is an attempt to poke fun at the villain.

When I read the story I pronounced Taakel as 'tackle' which is an American football move which might have influenced the writer on his name choice.

[Robb_K]

Time to review "Sheena, Queen of The Jungle #2", which I expect, based on the stories of hers I read years ago, I will enjoy a LOT more than the ridiculous Taanda stories. 
Upon having read this book's first story, which I find quite a bit less enjoyable than the Sheena stories I remembered reading many years ago, I assume I must have remembered Sheena's Jumbo Comics stories, rather than those inside the book named after her.   


The Black Orchid of Death
This is an interesting-sounding title, that makes the potential reader want to open the book and read it.  After reading it, I am sorely disappointed.  Although this story makes a little more sense than any of the Taanka stories, it was very disappointing.  At least the female villain opposing Sheena is supposed to be a native African; although the editor or unwritten US marketing rules understood by the artist, insisted that she have straight black hair, rather than kinky hair, as the US public of that time wasn't interested in seeing Black people with African heritage in positions of power, and being a person one could look up to, and emulate.

As to the story, itself, the title's advertising that connects "death" to the ultra rare and valuable Black Orchids, manufactures wonderful possibilities for plots which can be interesting to the reader.  One of these is that it could be used as an undetectable poison, to murder important people with impunity, or a narcotic that could become so valuable that criminals constantly are fighting over stealing them from the people who control the land where they grow.

Just an aside, as it's not a big problem.... but what kind of animal is Chim supposed to be?  He has no tail, and looks roughly like a chimpanzee, but his ears are so big, he looks like a Koala bear.  And aren't Chimpanzees' ears roughly roundish?  Of course Chim has to have human skills chimps don't really have, to be able to help Sheena overcome the villains. 

I have to agree with other posters that the botanists, after being rescued by Sheena, deciding to head back into Twan's tribe's valley, after being warned that they will be killed if they return, is madness, being reinforced only by a woman and a chimpanzee.  But, I understand this is an adventure story aimed at adolescent and pre-adolescent boys, and seeing a good-looking young woman in scanty outfits, and imagining themselves having adventures in faraway, exotic lands, fighting and defeating villains is a LOT more important than realism.  Just an aside......  Doesn't the name "Twan" suggest The Far East, as opposed to Tropical Africa?  I do agree with the other posters that the author used way too many narratives (almost every panel).  That is probably because the scope of this story is a better fit for a 20-page story, as opposed to the meagre 12 pages he was allotted.  The plot of this story is simpler and tighter than any of the convoluted Taanda stories. But it has several problems, which I've pointed out, and so, this story is not nearly as good  as it could have been, IF the author would have taken time to do some research, think through his premise and its possibilities, and had enough pages available to pace it correctly and build up suspense.  The artwork is good, although not nearly as good as Kinstler's.  THAT is the most enjoyable element of it; but it doesn't save it from being very expected, and not very enjoyable to read.  But, it is miles better than the insulting Taanda stories.

Treachery Trap
I have big problems with Sheena being physically battered significantly by a man tossing a vine, strong and heavy enough to hold an adult person's full weight, towards a tree, and pulling it away, and doing that again, over and over.  He would have to run to and from the tree over and over, pulling that heavy weight, and casting it towards the tree with all his strength.  I don't think the vine, with Sheena's full weight on it would move fast enough towards the tree to have her hit hard enough to hurt her, especially as it would be moving so slowly that she could easily have enough time to adjust her body's position to avoid most contact.  In addition, upon seeing that her assailant was pulling back the vine, on her second trip towards the tree she could jump off the vine and grab onto one of the tree's branches to avoid any problems, and, in addition, be out of reach of the warrior and his long knife or sword, if he had one (like his compatriots did).  After all, she left that same tree from a branch at that same height level, so, each swing would take her back there.

I could imagine her being knock unconscious from the impact of her fall.  But, the artwork depicting her fall is unclear in picturing what really happened.  It appears that she hit the back of her head and her back against a large bough, or the trunk of an adjacent, smaller tree, on her way down.  I assume that it is POSSIBLE, but not very likely, that that glancing blow and resultant concussion could affect her brain in such a way as to bring on a case of temporary (but almost total) amnesia.  She doesn't remember Bob or her tribe's people, or possibly who she is, but instinct tell her that all those strangers plan to kill her.  And then, a spear thrown at her grazes her head, and that impact brings her memory back (the old cliche of the first blow bringing on the disease, and the second taking it away, instantly, that we've read in so many novels, and seen in so many films).  All that just to add some action to the storyline?  It just got her wandering into the enemy tribe's camp because of her memory loss, and then a bit of ironic action of her own tribal members thinking she is betraying them, tossing a spear at her to kill her, and bring back her memory now that she is a prisoner of the enemy.  That could have all been accomplished by adding one panel, showing the enemy tribesmen carrying her to their camp as a prisoner after her fall.  It is clear that the author of this story spent no more than a few seconds thinking up this story's scenes, and just adding scenes one-by-one as he moved along, without thinking about the story as a whole unit first, to figure out if it was a story worth telling, and what the important elements would be, and if they would match up with one-another to make some sense.  In the end, Sheena leads the invading army to her own village, where Bob and the villagers are ready, and massacre them, and through Chim's warning (of course, Sheena understands Chimpanzee language), Sheena kills the enemy's chieftan.  The surviving enemy tribesmen run away, and peace returns.  Not a very interesting or clever story.  But, it has a relatively simple plot, which is a LOT clearer, and makes more sense than the silly, disjointed, and insulting Taanda stories.  Again, the artwork is really the only element of interest, as the rest is typical of the "Tarzan/Sheena Jungle Genre" of comic strip/comic book stories.

Sheena's Animal Kingdom
This provides an honest offering of education for the kiddies about African animals, interestingly about Savanna animals, rather than rainforest animals from where Sheena is supposed to reside.

Claws of The Spotted Terror
This story has a premise which offers a chance to be an interesting change from the run-of-the-mill commonly used Jungle Genre plot devices: A renegade tribe who worships the leopard (The Leopard People), who are unusually violent.  They also have a Leopard Witch, who could possibly be an interesting character.  She vows a death wish against Sheena, for having killed one of her people.  And The Leopard People have their own counterpart to Sheena's pet chimpanzee, Chim, in their own humanlike giant (5 ft. tall) chimp, "Marko", who is sent to "scout" the enemy.  The Leopard People kidnap a Caucasian couple who were on their way to visit Sheena.  Sheena kills The Leopard People's Queen's pet Chimp, Marko.  So The Queen (The Lepard Witch) plans to have Sheena captured, and have her killed.  Do ALL the renegade, villainous native tribes in Africa have female leaders???  I don't like the implication that The Leopard People's belief that drinking leopard blood drives people mad and makes them commit murder.  It is too silly.  It's insulting to imply that native African tribal people are  so uncivilised and so ignorant, and stupid, to boot. Worse yet, Sheena believes that superstition is true, and spills over the kettle of blood, trying to drive the Leopard People's caged leopards into a murderous frenzy, and they attack The Leopard Tribesmen.  One of the leopards kills The Leopard Witch/Queen, and the fighting magically stops.  And Sheena gives the diamond to her visiting guests as a wedding gift.

Death Takes No Holiday
More interesting educational information about Africa.

Swastika Plague
This story has a premise with potential for an interesting plot.  Germans come to this British colony in Africa to sabotage The British operations there, perhaps preparing for a German takeover.  The opening narrative mentions the natives losing their freedom.  So, I suspect that Sheena and Bob will fight to keep the natives from being mistreated by The Germans.  But Sheena and Bob are captured trying to rescue a captured British communications officer, already in The Nazis' hands. Chim brings Sheena's knife to her in her jail hut, and she, Bob, and The British officer escape, and Sheena throws the knife at the message carrier pigeon, killing it.  While Bob holds a gun on The Nazi agents.  We didn't get to see how they overcame The Germans.  It was a simple plot, drawn in only 8 pages, with the first containing a splash panel. It has too few pages to develop the story enough, and to show all the action.  Not a good situation for writing and drawing a story in an action-based genre.  As with all the other stories in this book, the plots are significantly simpler, tighter, and make more sense than the Taanda stories, and the colourisation and production qualities are better than The Taanda books, and the artwork is relatively good, but not as good as Kinstler's.

Sheena Battles The Vampire Vultures
yet another female tribal leader's co-ruling brother has disappeared, and gathered together an army to take over rule of his tribe, by himself, alone.  He tells his soldiers they must drink a magic potion which makes them vampires, who must drink Human blood.  When The Queen's loyal warriors are being defeated by her brother's Vampire Men, Sheena stampedes a herd of boars through The Vampire Men's camp, killing some and making others run away, being killed by The Queen's Warriors as they run away, in panic.  I thought The Vampire men were out of their camp, in the forest, fighting The Queen's Warriors.  That seems to be a mistake.  As Bob and Toku, The Queen's brother fight, and Toku is about to stab Bob, Sheena jumps on his back, ordering him to take them to see his magic potion that turns people into vampires.  Toku and two of his men grab Sheena and Bob, but The Queen throws a spear through Toku's back, killing him.  The fighting and the coup is over.  And once more there is peace in The Jungle.  Another 20-page plot given only 8 pages.  This book has 68 pages.  Why couldn't the editor have 3 solid, 20-page adventure stories produced, instead of 8 stories that are way too short???  The same differences in quality from the previous Sheena stories   to the Taanda stories apply to this story.

Sheena Explores Her Jungle Domain
Two more educational information pages for the little kiddies.  The title is a misnomer, as EVERY single animal discussed on these pages is a Savanna animal, as opposed to a forest ("jungle") animal.

Killer's Safari
This story has more "meat" to it!  It deals with a safari of Ivory Hunters, using native African slaves bought from Arab slavers to carry the ivory.  Interesting that the Arab slaver, Ali Rassa's name changes to an Italian name "Russo", in the middle of the story. Apparently, the chief editor didn't look through it after the project editor cleared it.  I guess Will Eisner was very busy when this one came out!  Of course, in this story, Sheena not only wrestles with an adult male lion, who must outweigh her by 3 times her weight, but also must be many times stronger, as well, and kills it with her hand knife (not a very easy thing to do).  But, she and bob fight with a bunch of paid natives and two Arabs, and win the battle.  And Ali Rassa, the evil, greedy slaver , who tortures his slaves and cruelly kills elephants for their ivory, dies an ironic death after finding the pit where Sheena had his illegally-obtained ivory buried.  Somehow, what sounded like a very promising scenario, turned into a very disappointing production, which like ALL the stories in both books, is much too short.  Nevertheless, this story is 100 times better than any of the Taanda stories, and is my favourite Sheena story in this book.

[paw broon]

gregjh, thanks for the opportunity to try some jungle comics.  Unfortunately, I just don't like jungle comics and I gave up on them many, many years ago. 
White Princess is at least graced by work from Kinstler, which makes it lovely to look at.  But the stories are poor and don't make a lot of sense to me.
As for Sheena, not my cup of tea at all. I read the first story about the orchid and that was enough.  I simply don't get the idea of this genre of comics. 
It's always good to go back to material given up on years ago, but these simply reinforced my opinion of the genre.
Sorry to be so negative.

[gregjh]

It's always good to go back to material given up on years ago, but these simply reinforced my opinion of the genre.
Sorry to be so negative.

Don't be sorry. We all have our own tastes. For me, at least, much of the satisfaction comes with reviewing literature/art and comparing my thoughts and feelings with others, regardless of the verdict. Bar a few book reviews on amazon or elsewhere, it's not really something I have done before. I myself tend to be fairly cynical in my reviews but I still enjoy the comics themselves and sharing my thoughts.

[gregjh]

I certainly can't hope to match Robb's erudite insights into these works, and perhaps I should have included the origin stories for each character. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this.

Anyway, I preferred Sheena over Taanda for several reasons. Firstly, the colouring. Sheena's pages seem to be richer and deeper in colour, though I realise sometimes the ageing of the paper and scanner settings can cause deception in this area. I noticed both comics cost 10C, so I can only guess the original print quality was similar in each. My second reason for preferring Sheena was the dialogue. Sheena is consistent. Sure, she packs as many cliches and cheesy lines as the next character in any comic, especially of the Golden Age, but for the most part she keeps it relevant and in character. Taanda on the other hand, seems to have a writer that either tried too hard or simply forgot what she is supposed to be. One minute she is saying "By Hola!", the next it's "Ai-te!", then she is using primitive analogies like ?he has always been an enemy to me" and yet next page it's "You will pay for your treachery!". This really made me feel confused about what type of personality she is, or how she communicates herself.

Moreover, Taanda just has way too much exposition and conversation going on for my tastes. I believe comics should let the pictures do the talking at least half the time. When panels are more than half full of speech bubbles and juxtaposed with a narration box next to it, my eyes feel assaulted. This is especially true when everything is in capital letters. Why do they do that, by the way? Was it to make things easier to read without strain back in the days of more primitive printing machines?

Finally, although both heroines are well drawn, I again felt Sheena's figure was just a bit more consistent.

In terms of storylines, there isn't much to choose between them and it's fairly standard fare. Both heroines use their wits, their allies, their protective instinct as well as courage and cunning to defeat fairly stereotype villains. It's simple. It works. I liked it. Artwork in both comics, to my untrained eyes, was very high caliber. Many mainstream comics today should strive for these standards.

Those are my thoughts and thank you to everyone else for sharing theirs. Jungle comics is something I find fun and forgettable, kinda like the comic equivalent of a big mac. Next time I get to pick comics for the corner, I'll go for something different.

[Captain Audio]

One thing in Issue #1 made me laugh.  Taanda was described as a "scarlet-haired, sun-bronzed beauty". That implies that she became tanned by the sun.  But, my lifelong experience of being a redhead, with the pasty-white skin and freckles (melanin problems) that go along with that, and always burning red like a cooked lobster, and never being able to tan, I have to assume that Taanda is not a true redhead.

Not all redhards are fair skinned. Its genetic.

D294H is the most common MC1R variant associated with red hair, fair skin and poor tanning ability. Variants R160W and D294H are also strongly linked with red hair and paleness.

Meanwhile, R151C, R142H, R160W and D84E are related to having red hair only, with no particular influence over skin tone.

Also its said there are as many redheaded Berber Arabs as there are redheaded Scotsmen.

[crashryan]

Time to put in my two elephants' worth on the Jungle Queen books.

Like Paw, I've never been too keen on jungle girl books. Or jungle guy books, for that matter. The French fans have a great name for the latter: Tarzanoides. To me the greatest attraction has always been the art.

Thus White Princess of the Jungle scores high marks because of Everett Raymond Kinstler's art. Especially the inside front cover. ERK's penwork always looks better in black and white. That's all that's good about this one, though. The stories are jumbled and often incoherent.

I salute Robb's noble effort to force some logic into the names, places, and events here, but it's a lost cause. Clearly neither editor nor writer gave a hoot for accuracy. They grabbed a few Africa-related words--kraal, Gold Coast, etc.--and applied them willy-nilly to a Tarzan-movie version of the jungle. Same for the names. Put in double A's along with some K's and Z's and there you have it! I'm surprised only that they didn't throw in some MB and NG names as well, like M'Bongo. Frankly, the whole book has the air of something dashed off by guys who didn't care. Misspellings, miscolorings, endless cheated panels. Only "The Strange Mission to Ormuz" shows some spirit, and that's a reprint from Slave Girl.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle comes off better if only because the production is better. I'm not a great Bob Webb fan, but he's a competent artist. He does tend to turn everyone into a silhouette when there are more than three people in a panel. I was struck (considering this is a Fiction House comic) that Sheena isn't drawn more sexy. Despite the abbreviated costume her adolescent-boy-attracting parts are held in check throughout. Webb actually spends more effort sexing up the wicked queens. Except for the Leopard Witch, who looks like one would expect a real Leopard Witch to look.

The stories are clear enough but the scriptwriter uses too many clunky captions to advance the story. All the same it's a relief not to wade through the jam-packed LeRoy-lettered verbiage WPOJ had to endure. Sheena would be in real trouble if she ever lost Chim. He saves the day even more often than Bob. His name kept reminding me of Chim Chim of Speed Racer fame. A relative? Has Chim ever hidden in the trunk of a car?

It seems to me that jungle comics are one of the most limiting genres in Golden Age comics. The stories were always short and strictly limited to the Tarzan backlot. At least over at Dell Tarzan broke the monotony with dinosaurs, ant men, and stories about lost cities. The rest of the jungle characters, especially the women, were stuck in an endless cycle of warring tribes, ivory hunters, witch doctors, and evil queens. Even crime comics had a greater range of plots. It was all about seeing a hot babe wearing a bikini jump around. Pity the Italian and Spanish boys, whose jungle girls kept being covered up by the censors.

I did have fun reading them (though 68 pages of solid Sheena is too much for one sitting). One mystery remains: why did Avon rename Taanda as Tarinda for her last issue? Did the real Taanda sue?

[The Australian Panther]

Well, Paw, Crash and I are basically on the same page here.
It's nice to see these books here and to have a chance to discuss the 'Jungle Girl' genre tho.
White princess now, Sheena later.

To me the greatest attraction has always been the art.

Jungle stories as a whole don't attract me. That said, when I was much younger I read all the ERB Tarzan books.
You can't fault his story-telling. The Jungle strips attracted good artists.

Over the years, many artists have drawn the Tarzan comic strip, notably Rex Maxon (1929?1947), Burne Hogarth (1937?1945, 1947?1950), Ruben Moreira (1945?1947), Dan Barry (1948), Paul Reinman (1949?1950), Bob Lubbers (1950?1954), John Celardo (1954?1967), Russ Manning (1967?1979), Gil Kane (1979?1981), Mike Grell (1981?1983), Gray Morrow (1983?2001) and Eric Battle (2001?2002).[3] 

In the comic books Doug Wildey, Joe Kubert and John Buscema have all had a crack. 
Here is a great list of Jungle Girls. Very thorough list.
https://darkworldsquarterly.gwthomas.org/the-jungle-girl-list/
Note

The Jungle Girl phenomenon pre-dates Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan and Jane. W. H. Hudson's novel Green Mansions (1904) featuring Rima the Jungle Girl, appeared eleven years earlier. The oldest comic books are from 1937 to the present.

 
DC had a Rima comic at one point.
I've never really understood the attraction of the genre, especially as, for the most part the jungle girl stories are stand-alones, with limited narratives. Unless written by an outstanding writer, the stories don't attract me regardless of the art.
Marvel currently still has a Ka-Zar  comic which also features Shanna the She-devil, now his wife and a vet and an ecowarrier. [But of course!]
And there are independent publishers still publishing Jungle Girl comics, both new and in reprint.So there is still a demand.
Golden age artists obviously include Matt Baker. Powell and Frank Frazetta. pretty much everyone had a go.
Note

Cat-Woman in The Jungle Cat-Queen.(Detective Comics #211) written by Edmond Hamilton

   
Great cover! 
And try this one!

Lois Lane, Jungle Girl (Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #11 August 1959.) One story deal.

Also nice Curt Swan cover.
But I digress!
White Princess of the Jungle 2 [I think thai list missed this one!]
Although the table of contents page is signed by Kintsler, it just doesn't look like his style.
I have to agree with Crash on this one!

The stories are jumbled and often incoherent.

I salute Robb's noble effort to force some logic into the names, places, and events here, but it's a lost cause. Clearly neither editor nor writer gave a hoot for accuracy. They grabbed a few Africa-related words--kraal, Gold Coast, etc.--and applied them willy-nilly to a Tarzan-movie version of the jungle. Same for the names. Put in double A's along with some K's and Z's and there you have it! I'm surprised only that they didn't throw in some MB and NG names as well, like M'Bongo. Frankly, the whole book has the air of something dashed off by guys who didn't care. Misspellings, miscolorings, endless cheated panels. Only "The Strange Mission to Ormuz" shows some spirit, and that's a reprint from Slave Girl.

I rather think that they assumed, correctly, that the intended audience didn't care about accuracy when it came to stories about Africa or Jungles.
Jungle Vengeance
It's Kintslers skill both as an artist and as a visual narrator that holds your attention here. Otherwise cliche all the way. 
Death Wears the Jungle Crown
In both these stores TAANDA uses her knife and apparently murders the villians. 
The Strange Mission to Ormuz
I quite like Howard Larson's art. Cliche but a better story.
With the TAANDA stories, my impression is that the writer had contempt for the genre and let it show in his carelessness, but the artists did their best. It must have been frustrating for artists working under those conditions.     

[K1ngcat]

Taanda
The Kinstler cover and interior art good, tho the third story passed me by until I noticed it wasn't signed, if it is  Tex Blaisdell he certainly does a fair impression.

The first story packs in elephant worshippers, a witch doctor, and a Nazi with a Brit henchman ( who, if he were a proper Cockney, should have said " 'ave an 'art guv.") Taanda kills the Cockney, her prison guard and the witch doctor in short order, finishing off the Baron at the finale. Quite a body count for one "little girl"! I'm not sure I buy the Wahima warriors in their crocodile costumes though.

Second story - more elephants, three tribes, a fabulous crown and a "despoiler of villages," and Taanda is already polishing off renegades on page two. The "days of danger" including hostile natives, deadly boa constrictors, cunning leopards and defiant gorillas are neatly (?) squeezed into one panel, and at the end Taanda's man-cub Koru cleverly replaces the pigmies dart-venom with soup, and no one notices! The whole situation gives way to wholesale homicide, and the villain's death at the hands of the heroine.

In the third story, the Giant Queen of the Kulkuks is remarkably also white (who'da thunk it? ) but at least the colourist gets Lori's skin the right colour. After a great deal more bloodletting, Taanda challenges the giantess to a duel. Now I'm not quite sure what goes down on the log, the art's a bit confusing/ misleading, but suffice it to say our heroine kicks Zaleen upside her head so hard that the pearls fall off her bra and she perishes. After a melee and a few dozen more deaths "peace has come to the jungle."
Not before time, I say.

Overall, although Kinstler thankfully doesn't use Taanda as an excuse for good girl art, the stories and the lead character are extremely bloodthirsty - still I guess that's the law of the jungle?  Fortunately the art generally saves the scripts, but our heroine does have quite a high body count!

The strange mission to Ormuz is a reprint of the first episode from Avon's 1949 Slave Girl Comics with neat (and kind of good girl) art from Howard Larsen that I discovered through IW. Sadly it only lasted two issues, nice to see it again.

Sheena
There's a lovely signed  Zolnerowich cover which the GCD seems to have missed.The internal art's also pretty cool, at first I suspected some Bob Powell input but it seems more likely semi-regular Sheena artist Rob Webb maybe with Iger shop assistance.

The black orchid of death
"You seem distressed, can I help you?" Sheena asks of two exhausted men floating helplessly in a canoe. The brave (idiot?) botanists who've just escaped death can't wait to go back and try again, tho' the native bearers Sheena rounded up get the wind up when they realise where they're headed. And rightly too, as one soon gets topped in the night.

The rest run off and Sheena, Bob and the botanists carry on next day, only to be taken prisoner by Princess Twan, local orchid-fancier. She condemns them all to death, but then starts to become a bit of a Bob-fancier instead. To save the lives of the others he offers to join Twan and is rewarded with a nice red feather hat. Sheena's miffed but leaves, then Twan's team treacherously set about murdering them.

Fortunately Chim, Sheena's pet chimp, turns up conveniently bearing a rifle with which Bob is able to save Sheena from death in a pit of hungry lions. Chim must've brought plenty of ammo too, as Bob is soon busy shooting most of Twan's followers, while Twan kills off her adviser for making bad decisions. Then, when there's no one left to kill,  peace reigns again. Sound familiar?

And yet in the next story, Sheena's village is attacked and surrounded, and soon she succumbs to a head injury. In spite of the witch doctor's ministrations she loses her memory. Forgetting her identity, she runs off and is soon picked up by the villains. She is followed by Bob and some of her tribesmen, one of whom decides to kill her for consorting with the enemy. His arrow cracks her skull, miraculously restoring her memory (don't try this at home kids!) but she's immediately captured again.

Feigning sleep, she runs off in the night only to be caught by some nasty fellow who wants to put her eyes out. She strikes a deal to lead the villains back to her village and let them in to massacre her tribe. Bob finally turns up to rescue her (about time!) and they continue with her plan, which is to turn the tables on this nasty bunch and kill them off instead. The enemy chief tries to stab our heroine but Chim warns her, she stabs the chief, and after enough people have died, peace reigns again.

Until the next story. And so on, and infinitum. I must admit Sheena's not quite so murderous as Taanda, but the body count in all these Jungle stories is pretty high, and a lot of human beings, and a fair few animals, have to be despatched before everything quietens down again. Maybe it's realistic, I've never lived in a Jungle.

I must admit to some amusement at the Leopard men, whose war cry is "Ee-awr!" Eeyore??  But as usual there's plenty of slaughter.  The Nazis in the Swastika Plague are lucky to get out alive, tho' no doubt they'll get their just desserts off-page.

My main point is of course that most of the deaths are either villains, endangered species, or black people, "heathen devils" who are culled fairly indiscriminately, with only the white characters surviving. The only black folk who get out alive are those who are sufficiently subservient to the white heroines, or heroes, to be considered friendly and useful. I'm sure this was very reassuring to readers of the time, but it doesn't read so well today.

I'm only sorry we didn't get any of those tales about villains who hoodwink the locals into believing that they're gods, which I presume are based on the Wizard of Oz. But I'm sure they'll be along in an issue or two.

It's surprising how much of this kind of rot I can stomach if there are aliens and ray guns involved! But this is all the Jungle I can handle for now.
Cheers, chaps!

[Robb_K]

Perhaps I should have included the origin stories for each character. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this.

These 2 series are not equivalents, given that Sheena appeared first in another series, Jumbo Comics, for an extensive run before she got her own title.  But, the first few Jumbos didn't contain an origin story for Sheena.  So, as Taanda's story is told in small pieces of narrative, nothing is told about Sheena's origin in either Jumbo Comics #1, OR in Sheena, Queen Of The jungle #1.

[Robb_K]

One thing in Issue #1 made me laugh.  Taanda was described as a "scarlet-haired, sun-bronzed beauty". That implies that she became tanned by the sun.  But, my lifelong experience of being a redhead, with the pasty-white skin and freckles (melanin problems) that go along with that, and always burning red like a cooked lobster, and never being able to tan, I have to assume that Taanda is not a true redhead.

Not all redhards are fair skinned. Its genetic.

D294H is the most common MC1R variant associated with red hair, fair skin and poor tanning ability. Variants R160W and D294H are also strongly linked with red hair and paleness.

Meanwhile, R151C, R142H, R160W and D84E are related to having red hair only, with no particular influence over skin tone.

Also its said there are as many redheaded Berber Arabs as there are redheaded Scotsmen.

Yes, but Taanda has the features of a Northern European, combined with pasty-white skin of the northern type, albeit, no freckles are shown.  But, her features look a lot more like a Northern European than a Berber, or a South African native who has red hair (and they exist, too).  And there are a lot of Middle Eastern people with red hair, as well.  I've seen whole villages filled with them in northern Jordan and Syria.  The locals there say that they are descendants of The European Middle Ages Crusaders.  But that areas has been the crossroads of different breeding populations from Europe, Africa and Asia for thousands of years, so, like most Humans, they are very mixed.  There are many other Middle Easterners who have a type of red hair that seems different from the type that shows up often paired with the white freckled skin with melanin problems, and they have relatively dark skin, and facial features and stature which is more common among breeding groups dwelling in The Mediterranean areas, The Levant, Arabia, Iraq, and Iran.

In any case, I think the author could have researched his subjects better (or, at least somewhat), and created a more reasonable setting, plot, atmosphere, and at least tried to understand the contexts of the cliches he used to develop his story. 

It seems to me that this weird concoction of media cliches and guesses as to what comic book readers are likely to want, still fights the reader's own views of reality based on the reader's own experience of reality, with nothing to gain by doing so.  And, at the same time, it doesn't really offer a fantasy land that will attract the reader based on its difference from reality.  What the reader wants is a good story, filled with action, which has a setting that can be understood, revelation of the characters of the main actors (characters), one or more protagonists with a challenge of sorts, whose actions can be followed, and with whom the reader can empathise.  A struggle that can be overcome (which may, or may not be overcome), and values which can be learned, or confirmed, and some kind of resolution, with the reader satisfied for having taken the journey of following the story (e.g. being entertained).  The story can be a total fantasy, or resemble The World we live in.  But, it should look almost exactly like our World, but with just several details being opposite from what the reader may know from his or her own life experience (unless the author uses those slight differences as clues to something essential to his story's plot.  Even at 8 years old, I'd have thought "Whoever wrote this story based it loosely on misinterpreted popular cliches, and doesn't know much about the subject of what he is writing." 

[gregjh]

One thing I've learned from this thread is that that perhaps discovering two 'jungle girl' comics was less random than I thought. In other words, the genre was more widespread and established than I knew.

I guess it doesn't need a marketing genius to figure out why scantily-clad females in the jungle might appeal to a typical comic demographic of past decades.

[The Australian Panther]

I guess it doesn't need a marketing genius to figure out why scantily-clad females in the jungle might appeal to a typical comic demographic of past decades.

Nope!
But why past decades? Scantily clad females are still used to appeal to that demographic. I would go further and say that's evidence that many of the artists and creators are representative of that demographic.
Note the popularity of say, Red Sonja, Vampirella and Dejah Thoris to name just three.

And the Audience shouldn't be assumed to be exclusively male.
If you look at the currently uploaded copies of PLANET comics, you will find Lilly Renee and Fran Hopper drawing scantily clad females. 
Ever notice the number of CosPlayers who go as Slave Lea, Storm, and the ladies listed above. 
As Seinfeld would say, 'Not that there is anything wrong with that!'     

[Captain Audio]

Only real difference with modern Marvel comics and imitators is the form fitting costumes cover the skin but leave nothing to the imagination.
Phantom Lady was so sexy because she was always on the verge of a wardrobe malfunction.

Futura in the first few eps was the definition of scantily clad. You have to believe she was really looking to be used in unholy alien breeding experiments or she wouldn't have dressed like that.

Something that always got me was how alien babes looked human while males of their race looked like beasts. Also alien woman often looked like Las Vegas showgirls plumed head gear and all.
This was played on for laughs in one book where after they rescue a seven foot Amazon warrior and take her to Earth she runs out on them to become a Vegas showgirl.

[gregjh]

I guess it doesn't need a marketing genius to figure out why scantily-clad females in the jungle might appeal to a typical comic demographic of past decades.

Nope!
But why past decades? Scantily clad females are still used to appeal to that demographic. I would go further and say that's evidence that many of the artists and creators are representative of that demographic.
Note the popularity of say, Red Sonja, Vampirella and Dejah Thoris to name just three.

I'm just referring to jungle girl genres and comics in general as they have sadly declined in popularity.

[paw broon]

You're right gregjh.  Declining in popularity is something we must all accept, I'm afraid. Oddly, and I can only speak for the UK, there is an increasing interest in small press. 
The thing with female attire in comics has been around forever it seems. The form fitting costume is typical for superheroes and masked mystery men/maids. Batwoman, the real one, Kathy Kane, had a belter of an outfit. Superhero attire from the '60's on often showed clearly those unfeasibly muscled male characters in graphic detail.  The problem was that at times comics hit new lows with female characters being portrayed in very revealing costumes or poses.  Particularly in the case of Wonder Girl. Cheap thrills for the younger male readers?  Did it sell more comics? I have no idea.  The underdressed heroines in the Flare universe.  That Zatanna cover? Anyone care to comment?
By the way, I'm not bothered apart from the Wonder Girl instance which concerns me and the Terra depictions from New Titans.  Jungle girls can wear as little as they like, I'm not going pore over their illustrations.

[SuperScrounge]

I guess Will Eisner was very busy when this one came out!

Well since he started doing the Spirit in 1940 and I believe he sold his stake in the Eisner/Iger shop at around the same time I don't think he would have been editing Sheena in 1942.

[Robb_K]

I guess Will Eisner was very busy when this one came out!

Well since he started doing the Spirit in 1940 and I believe he sold his stake in the Eisner/Iger shop at around the same time I don't think he would have been editing Sheena in 1942.

Yes. You are correct.  I was thinking of Jumbo Comics.  He only worked on Sheena for WAGS and Jumbo from 1938 through most of 1939.  But Eisner certainly WAS very busy in 1942!!! 

[bowers]

 Thanks for your picks, gregjh. I've always loved jungle comics. Tarzan and The Phantom strips, supplied by my mom, helped me learn to read at a young age. They'll always have a place in my heart, taking me to a world where lost cities, secret cults, and the triumph of good over evil were still possible!
I guess I'm not overly critical of most comics, as I never expect them to be great literature. To me, they are what they are- escapism and a mental refresher. I'm perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief, open the cover and go along for the ride! Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but usually worth taking the trip.
I've read both of these before but was glad to revisit them, Sheenah especially. My introduction to her was through some old Jumbo Comics I found at a junk store. Very great stuff for a pre-teen!
Sheenah 02 was pretty much representative of the whole run- Bob was usually getting the crap knocked out of him and being rescued by Sheenah and her chimp! But, somehow, it just never seemed to get old. This issue ran true to form, but we also got the murderous Moon Princess, a leopard-cult, Nazis, and vampire warriors!  In later issues, Bob was promoted to Sheenah's "mate"- wonder how the "Decency League" liked that one.
Then we meet Taanda, White Princess of the Jungle. The Kinstler art is always a big plus, but I agree with Crash- his black and white work always seems cleaner. However, the art does save the stories. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Malu, the Slave Girl in this issue. It made me go back and reread the two isues of her own comic. I also wondered about Koru's changing skin tones, but since he wasn't really a major character, I guess it just didn't much matter.
I agree with gregjh and paw that jungle comics are no longer as popular as they were, but they're not gone yet! Dynamite released a new run of Sheenah last year, updated and sans Bob but still retaining her leopard skin. American Mythology is also doing some interesting stuff with the ERB world.
Now for the down side. These comics were a product of a very different time and moral belief system. We can visit this past, but cannot and should not repeat it.
Thanks again, gregjh- I enjoyed your picks and hope to see more! Cheers, Bowers