With visions of Irish McCalla (hubba hubba!) dancing through my head, I hereby present the first issue of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, dated 13 years before McCalla first graced the television screens (and my heart).
Sheena was created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger's United Phoenix Features (UPF) studio for a story that first appeared in the British magazine Wags #46 (January 1938) and reprinted in America in Jumbo Comics #1 (September 1938). Reportedly, artist Mort Mesklin was commissioned to draw the prototypes of the character. The name, according to Eisner, came from H. Rider Haggard's romantic fantasy-adventure She; Iger, claiming Eisner had nothing to do with character, said that he had come up with the name as a version of an ethic slur against Jews. **sigh*8
The Spring 1942 issue of Sheena (released in 1941) was the first comic book to be titled after a female character (the first issue of Wonder Woman was dated Summer 1942). Sheena had meanwhile continued in every issue of Jumbo Comics until April of 1953. Sheena, as a separate title lasted for 18 issues, as well as in the one-shot 3-D Sheena, Jungle Queen (1953), and an appearance in Ka'a'nga #16 (Summer 1952). She also appeared in Fiction House's pulp magazines in prose form in 1951 and 1954.
Despite being portrayed by Irish McCalla (who claimed she was hired not for her acting ability but because she could throw a bamboos spear and could swing through trees) from 1955 to 1958 in a 26 episode syndicated television series, the character remained dormant in comics until the release of the 1984 Tanya Roberts vehicle Sheena, with Marvel comics releasing a 2-issue film tie-in. Shortly before this, Bollywood began a series if uncredited Hindi films about the character, including Lady Tarzan (1983). In 2000 the character was revived by Geena Lee Nolan for a 35-episode television series.
From 1988 on, the character has appeared from five different comic book publishers, with changes of name, backstory, and powers. But let's let Jess Nevins tell you about the original character, who ws orphaned when her explorer father died accidentally and was then raised by Koba, a native witch doctor, who taught her the ways of the jungle: "Assisted by the great white hunter Bob Reynolds, Sheena fights everything under the sun, including but not limited to: hostile natives, hostile animals, giants, a super-ape, the Green Terror, sabre-tooth tigers, voodoo cultists, gorilla-men, devil-apes, blood cults, devil queens, dinosaurs, army ants, lion men, lost races, leopard-birds, cavemen, serpent gods, vampire apes, etc." Clearly, Sheena is a force to be reckoned with.
I should also mention that she has a monkey sidekick named Chiim.
Comic Buyer's Guide placed Sheena as #59 in their "100 Sexiest Women in Comics." I'm going to pull a Donald Trump; and say the election was rigged.
Sheena did not adopt her famous leopard skin vs-va-voom outfit until Jumbo Comics #10; until then she wore a simple red dress.
Ike Turner claimed that Sheena was one of the inspirations in creating Tina Turner's stage persona -- he named her Tina because it rhymed with Sheena.
In this issue, Sheena faces off against the Wongu and Talu tribes, evil diamond hunters, slavers, a villainous Pasha, an evil snake goddess, and a villainous witch doctor -- 68 pages of thrills and excitement interspersed with jungle lore!
Enjoy:
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=64607
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