Terrors of the Jungle was a pre-Code title from L. B. Cole's Star Publications, which ran from 1949-1955. There were twelve oddly numbered and dated issues of the comic book, starting with #17 (May 1952), running through #21 (February 1953), then the numbering jumped back to #4 (April 1953) to the final issue, #10 (September 1954). If anyone can explain the logic behind the numbering, I would be grateful.
L. B. Cole (Leonard Hildebrandt Cohen, 1918-1995) was a versatile comic book artist with more than 1500 covers to his credit; he also drew covers for books and magazines. He formed Star Publications to package comic book stories (mostly from the Iger Studio) and drew many of the covers himself. He was noted for what would be known as "poster covers" -- bold primary colors, often over a black background, to create a fault, high contrast effect, often using Good Girl Art. Considered one of the great comic book cover artist of the Golden Age, he was a winner the Inkpot Award and was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1999. His work has fetched sums over $100,000 on the collectors' market. The cover of Terrors of the Jungle #17 gained considerable notoriety when one of its stories was specifically cited by Dr. Fredric Wertham in his screed Seduction of the Innocent, eventually leading to the creation of the Comics Code.
Terrors of the Jungle covered jungle pulp themes such as wild beasts, lost civilizations, dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters, witch doctors, and voodoo cults. The books often featured recurring heroes such as Rulah and Jo-Jo (she a Jungle Goddess and he a Congo King -- both characters originated in Fox Features comic books), Torga, Tangi, and Jungle Bo/Nagra.
Issue #4 starts off with "The Harem of Horror", featuring Rulah, the white goddess of the jungle, who is approached by Meeka, who is seeking a safe passage through the jungle for himself and the harem he is taking to the Caliph in Cathia. Although Runlah does not realize it, the caravan is being targeted by the Jackal-Men, who are eager for gold and women, and who have an ambush (yes, that is the collective noun) of trained, murderous tigers at their beck and call. Captured, Rulah, Meeka, and Rulah's pygmy friend Tombo are taken to the temple of the Jackal-Men, which is curiously resembles a huge jackal. Rulah and the girls of the harem are to be given a test: they must scale, one by one, a large wall coated with oil or be devoured by beast, including the long monster. (Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me, either.) The long monster is a hungry python, more interested, it seems, in chomping down than in constricting. The monsters and beast don't have a chance against Rulah. But in the end, it is the cowardly Meeka who accidently saves the day and is proclaimed a hero. Also, it doesn't matter if you are a jungle goddess or a harem girl: the costume of the day (and every day) is a revealing two -piece.
In "Morass of Death" by Jay Disbrow, a transport plane carrying beautiful Rita Wayne and her wealthy father, Bradley, crashes into a lost valley in the Congo. Her fiance, John Cutter -- born into nobility but once Taranga, the white savage of the jungle, goes in search for her. (For plot reasons, this is months after the plane crash but it is the first Cutter/Taranga has heard of it. Don't ask.) Eventually Taranga and Rita's uncle John come to the lost valley, in which the flora and fauna resemble that of the Mesozoic Era, and watch a deadly battle between a Ceratosaurus and T-Rex. Attacked and captured by a group of hairy, primitve men, they are taken to a crude village where, sitting on high throne, is Rita, clad (of course) kin the de rigueur two-piece outfit. Alas, the village also contains a pool of bubbling pitch. Rita was the sole survivor of the crash. She was found by the natives and because she was a blondie-babe, they decided to worship her. When Rita saw Taranga, she rushed over to hug him...and because Taranga touched the goddess, he must be thrown into the pit. Taranga fights and defeats a giant native warrior and, as the rest of the tribe closes in, here come the T-Rex into the village on a murderous rampage. Taranga, Rita, and Uncle Dan make it to safety as the giant lizard falls to its death in the pitch pit. a happy ending for them, I guess. As a hero, Taranga was a comic book one-and-done, never appearing in another adventure. The artwork here is pitiful.
Jo-Jo, Congo king, is up next in "Kingdom of Terror." Rana, a native girl in Jo-Jo's krall, has been acting strangely since her father's death several months before. She no longer trades her goods for trinkets as the other women do; instead, she travels to the settlement and sells her crafts for white man's money -- money that is worthless in the krall. Curious, Jo-Jo investigates. Rana has been hording her money to buy something at the auction -- an elephant! Rana takes he elephant and heads north -- away from her native village. The she sets the elephant free! It turns out that the elephant is one that belonged to Jagger, the man who killed her father for the secret of the diamond mine. Rana hopes the elephant will lead her to Jagger so that she can get her vengeance. But somehow Jagger knows of Rana's plan and sets a trap for Rana and Jo-Jo. Ahead of them lay an avalanche, a deadly waterfall, and an elephant stampede before Jagger gets his comeuppance. The artwork by Matt Baker is an improvement on that of Disbrow in the previous story.
Also included in this issue is a two-page text story, "African Nightmare."
As with any jungle comic book of the time, one must suspend disbelief. Big time.
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