Nyoka the Jungle Girl is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

created for the screen in the 1941 serial ''Jungle Girl'', starring

Frances Gifford Mary Frances Gifford (December 7, 1920 – January 22, 1994) was an American actress who played leads and supporting roles in many 1930s and 1940s movies. Early years Gifford was born and raised in Long Beach, California, and at the age of 16, ...

as Nyoka Meredith. After the initial film, Nyoka appeared in comic books published by Fawcett, Charlton, and

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

Character background

The short story that led to the creation of Nyoka was "The Land of Hidden Men" by

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

in the May 1931 issue of ''

Blue Book A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. The ...

''. The short story was later expanded into the

lost world The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late- Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century. The g ...

novel ''

Jungle Girl A jungle girl (so-called, but usually adult woman) is an archetype or stock character, often used in popular fiction, of a female adventurer, superhero or even a damsel in distress living in a jungle or rainforest setting. An alternate depiction i ...

'', published in 1932. The novel is set in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

, and the main character is an Asian princess called Fou-tan. Aside from living in a jungle region, she bears no relation to the later Nyoka character, a white woman living in Africa. The ''Jungle Girl'' serial is officially based on the Burroughs story "Jungle Girl", although there is no character named Nyoka and no Nyoka-like character in the original story. The movie's credits list Burroughs along with six other writers, but his input on creating the film character was obviously minimal, because the studio later was able to use the name "Nyoka" in a sequel without crediting Burroughs at all.

Publication history

'' was popular enough to inspire a sequel: the 1942 serial ''

Perils of Nyoka ''Perils of Nyoka'' is a 1942 Republic serial directed by William Witney. It stars Kay Aldridge as Nyoka the Jungle Girl, a character who first appeared in the Edgar Rice Burroughs-inspired serial ''Jungle Girl''. Plot Nyoka, with help from La ...

'', starring

Kay Aldridge Katharine ("Kay") Gratten Aldridge (July 9, 1917 – January 12, 1995) was an American actress and model, best known for playing feisty and imperiled heroines in black-and-white serials during the 1940s. Life and work Aldridge was born on July ...

as Nyoka Gordon. Besides the surname, some other details about the character are also changed slightly.

In other media

Comic books

Fawcett Comics Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel, the alter ego of radio reporter Billy Bats ...

used the film version of Nyoka as the basis for ''Jungle Girl'' comics. Issue #1 appeared in 1942; the character appeared irregularly until 1953, when Fawcett ceased publication. According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "Nyoka fights a variety of criminals including

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

s with human brains and Vulture, the queen of a band of Arabian outlaws, whose bodyguard is a giant gorilla named Satan". Nyoka was one of the intellectual properties sold to

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

by Fawcett in the 1950s after the

National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between DC Comics, National Comics (also known as Detective Comics and DC Comics) and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, c ...

lawsuit. Her first Charlton appearance was in ''Nyoka, Jungle Girl'' #14 (November 1955). Her final Charlton appearance was issue #22 (November 1957). Once Charlton Comics ceased publication, Nyoka's rights were sold again.

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

purchased the rights from Charlton in 1987. Nyoka appeared in AC Comics' ''The Further Adventures of Nyoka the Jungle Girl''; there were five issues printed between 1988 and 1989, consisting mostly of reprints and movie stills. Nyoka has since appeared in other AC Comics' titles.

References

External links

*
Nyoka the Jungle Girl at the Toonopedia

Republic Studio's 1941 Jungle Girl
{{Golden Age of Comic Books Edgar Rice Burroughs characters Jungle girls Jungle superheroes Film serial characters Female characters in literature Female characters in film Female characters in comics Golden Age adventure heroes