Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is a fictional

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

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 ...

heroine, originally published primarily by

Fiction House Fiction House was an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.Saunders, David"JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"Field Guide to Wild American P ...

during the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...

. She was the first female comic book character with her own title, with her 1941 premiere issue (

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...

d Spring 1942) preceding ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

'' #1 (

d Summer 1942). Sheena inspired a wealth of similar comic book jungle queens. She was predated in literature by Rima, the Jungle Girl, introduced in the 1904

William Henry Hudson William Henry Hudson (4 August 1841 – 18 August 1922) – known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson – was an Anglo-Argentine author, naturalist and ornithologist. Life Hudson was the son of Daniel Hudson and his wife Catherine (), U ...

novel ''

Green Mansions ''Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest'' (1904) is an exotic romance by William Henry Hudson about a traveller to the Guyana jungle of southeastern Venezuela and his encounter with a forest-dwelling girl named Rima. The principa ...

''. An orphan who grew up in the jungle, learning how to survive and thrive there, she possesses the ability to communicate with wild animals and is proficient in fighting with knives, spears, bows, and makeshift weapons. Her adventures mostly involve encounters with slave traders, white hunters, native Africans, and wild animals.Sergi, Joe
"Tales From the Code: The Near Extinction of Sheena,"
CBLDF website (January 25, 2013).

Publication history

Fiction House

Sheena debuted in Joshua B. Power's British magazine ''Wags'' #46 in January 1938.''Wags''_[UK
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/nowiki> #46 (January 14, 1938)">K">''Wags'' [UK
/nowiki> #46 (January 14, 1938)at the Grand Comics Database">K
/nowiki> #46 (January 14, 1938)">K">''Wags'' [UK
/nowiki> #46 (January 14, 1938)at the Grand Comics Database.Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original November 10, 2011 She was created by

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

and S. M. "Jerry" Iger. One source says Iger, through his small studio Universal Phoenix Features (UFP), commissioned

Mort Meskin Morton Meskin (May 30, 1916 – March 29, 1995)Social Security Death Index, SS# 071-16-1099. was an American comic book artist best known for his work in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, well into the late-1950s and 1960s Silver Age. Early ...

to produce prototype drawings of Sheena. UFP was one of a handful of studios that produced comics on demand for publishers and syndicates, and whose client

Editors Press Service Editors Press Service (EPS) (later known as Atlantic Syndication) was a print syndication service of columns and comic strips that was in operation from 1933 to 2010. It was notable for being the first U.S. company to actively syndicate material ...

distributed the feature to ''Wags''. To help hide the fact their studio consisted only of themselves, the duo signed their Sheena strip with the pseudonym "W. Morgan Thomas". Eisner said an inspiration for the character's name was H. Rider Haggard's 1886 jungle-goddess novel ''

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

''. Iger, who maintained that Eisner had nothing to do with the creation of the character, claimed that he picked the name because his mind wandered to the derogatory name "sheenies" that Jewish people were sometimes called in his early days in New York. Sheena first appeared stateside in Fiction House's ''

Jumbo Comics ''Jumbo Comics'' was an adventure anthology comic book published by Fiction House from 1938–1953. ''Jumbo Comics'' was Fiction House's first comics title; the publisher had previously specialized in pulp magazines. The lead feature for ''Jumbo C ...

'' #1, and subsequently in every issue (Sept. 1938 – April 1953), as well as in her groundbreaking 18-issue spin-off, ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' (Spring 1942 – Winter 1952), the first comic book to title-star a female character. Sheena also appeared in Fiction House's ''Ka'a'nga'' #16 (Summer 1952) and the one-shot ''3-D Sheena, Jungle Queen'' (1953)—the latter reprinted by

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

as ''Sheena 3-D'' (January 1985) and by

Blackthorne Publishing Blackthorne Publishing, Inc. was a comic book publisher that flourished from 1986–1989. They were notable for the ''Blackthorne 3-D Series'', their reprint titles of classic comic strips like Dick Tracy, and their licensed products. Blackthorne ...

as ''Sheena 3-D Special'' (May 1985). Blackthorne also published ''Jerry Iger's Classic Sheena'' (April 1985). Sheena No 4

Fiction House, originally a

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

publisher, ran prose stories of its star heroine in the latter-day pulp one-shot ''Stories of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' (Spring 1951) and ''Jungle Stories'' vol. 5 #11 (Spring 1954).Sheena (character)
at the Grand Comics Database

Contemporary appearances

Blackthorne in the 1980s published original Sheena stories in the three-issue series ''Jungle Comics'' (May–Oct. 1988). A reboot of Sheena written primarily by

Steven E. de Souza Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

and set in South America rather than Africa, began with London Night Studios in 1998, and continued at

Devil's Due Publishing Devil's Due Publishing (often abbreviated as DDP) is an independent comic book publisher in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, DDP is best known for its wide selection of genres, including licensed and original creator-owned proper ...

from 2008–2009, and at Moonstone in 2014. London Night Studios published ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #0 (February 1998), a one-shot color comic book, followed by three issues of a planned four-issue black-and-white miniseries of the same name (May 1998 – February 1999). Devils Due Publishing releases include ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #1–5 (June 2007 – January 2008), a ''Sheena, Trail of the Mapinguari'' one-shot (April 2008), and ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle: Dark Rising'' #1–3 (October 2008 – December 2008). Moonstone published ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #1–3 (2014). Additionally,

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

publishes Sheena reprints as well as new stories of the jungle femmes that followed in her wake.

Dynamite Entertainment

Dynamite began publishing Sheena comics in 2017. Co-written by

Marguerite Bennett Marguerite Bennett (born 1988) is an American comic book writer. She has worked on '' Bombshells'', '' Angela'', ''Josie and the Pussycats'', and her creator-owned books ''InSeXts'' and ''Animosity''. Her work has been recognised for her depicti ...

and Christina Trujilo, with art by Moritat (issues 1-4) and Maria Laura Sanapo (issues 5-10), it ran for ten issues. A special 25¢ issue 0 preview comic surpassed 100,000 pre-orders. A new Sheena comic series came out in November 2021. It is written by Stephen Mooney and drawn by artist Jethro Morales.

Fictional character biography

Sheena is the young, blonde daughter of Cardwell Rivington, who is exploring in Africa with his daughter in tow. When Cardwell dies from accidentally drinking a magic potion made by Koba, a native witch doctor, Sheena is orphaned. Koba raises the young girl as his daughter, teaching her the ways of the jungle and various central African languages. The adult Sheena becomes "queen of the jungle" and acquires a monkey sidekick named Chim. According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "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 tiger ''Smilodon'' is a genus of the extinct machairodont subfamily of the felids. It is one of the most famous prehistoric mammals and the best known saber-toothed cat. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related ...

s, voodoo cultists, gorilla-men, devil-apes, blood cults, devil queens,

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s, army ants, lion men, lost races, leopard-birds, cavemen, serpent gods, vampire-apes, etc." Originally costumed in a simple red dress, by issue #10 of ''Jumbo Comics'' Sheena acquired her iconic leopard-skin outfit. In time, Sheena's home village is destroyed, leaving Sheena with a white safari guide named Bob Reynolds (alternately called "Bob Reilly" or "Bob Rayburn"), who becomes her mate. In later incarnations, Sheena's mate is Rick Thorne. In the 2007 remake set in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, Sheena's real name is Rachel Cardwell, daughter of Tony and Ramona Cardwell.

Reception

Sheena was ranked 59th in ''

Comics Buyer's Guide ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The public ...

''s "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.

In other media

Model

Irish McCalla Nellie Elizabeth "Irish" McCalla (December 25, 1928 – February 1, 2002) was an American film and television actress and artist best known as the title star of the 1950s television series ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle''. She co-starred with act ...

portrayed the titular character in ''Sheena: Queen of the Jungle'', a 26-episode TV series, aired in first-run syndication from 1955 to 1956. McCalla told a

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

interviewer she was discovered by

Nassour Studios Metromedia Square (later known as Fox Television Center from 1986 to 1996) was a radio and television studio facility located at 5746 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on the southeastern corner of Sunset and Van Ness Avenue ...

while throwing a bamboo spear on a Malibu, California beach, famously adding "I couldn't act, but I could swing through the trees.""TV actress Irish McCalla dead at 73"
Associated Press via ''The Honolulu Advertiser'', February 11, 2002

Although the Sheena character was often called "the Queen of the Congo," the TV series clearly located her in Kenya, which is hundreds of miles from the Congo River. Though the character was created in comic books by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger many years earlier, a 1956 ''New York Times'' obituary for Claude E. Lapham, a 10-year editor at Fiction House, says, "His story 'Sheena' was the basis for the television story of that name." The 1984

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

film, '' Sheena'', produced by Paul Aratow, starred

Tanya Roberts Tanya Roberts (born Victoria Leigh Blum; October 15, 1949 – January 4, 2021) was an American actress. She played Julie Rogers in the final season of the television series ''Charlie's Angels'' (1980–1981), Stacey Sutton in the James Bond fi ...

, who had previously co-starred as Kiri in

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

's 1982 film '' Beastmaster''. In this version, Sheena's real name is Janet Ames, daughter of Philip and Betsy Ames. Roberts's Sheena had a much-expanded vocabulary from McCalla's (as well as a telepathic connection with jungle animals).

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

published a comic-book adaptation of the ''Sheena'' film as ''

Marvel Comics Super Special ''Marvel Comics Super Special'' was a 41-issue series of one-shot comic-magazines published by Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1986. They were cover-priced $1.50 to $2.50, while regular color comics were priced 30 cents to 60 cents, Beginning with issu ...

'' #34 (June 1984), reprinting it as ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #1–2 (Dec. 1984–Feb. 1985). The

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film industry in India produced a string of uncredited Hindi versions of Sheena, beginning with ''Tarzan Sundari'', also known as ''Lady Tarzan'' (1983); ''

Africadalli Sheela ''Africadalli Sheela'' ( Sheela in Africa) is a 1986 Indian Kannada-language fantasy-adventure film, written, directed and produced by Dwarakish. Made on the similar lines as the Hollywood film '' Sheena'', the film was extensively shot in the ...

'' (1986); and '' Jungle Ki Beti'' (1988). Sheena was revived by

Hearst Entertainment Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...

in October 2000, portrayed by

Gena Lee Nolin Gena Lee Nolin is an American actress and model. She is best known for her television appearances on ''The Price Is Right'' and ''Baywatch'' in the 1990s. During the early 2000s she played the lead role in '' Sheena''. Career In 1994, she became ...

. In this version, Sheena's real name is Shirley Hamilton. Sheena was given a new power in this 35-episode Columbia/ TriStar series: the ability to adopt the form of any warm-blooded animal once she gazed into its eyes. She was also depicted as a ferocious killer, capable of becoming a humanoid creature called the Darak'Na; this form killed numerous individuals, though in her regular form she was also seen in numerous episodes stabbing soldiers and other villains to death. As with Tanya Roberts, Nolin's Sheena spoke whole sentences. In 2017,

Millennium Films A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

was developing a Sheena reboot. The

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

song "

Sheena Is a Punk Rocker "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" is a song by American punk rock band Ramones, released in 1977 through Sire Records. Written by front man and lead vocalist Joey Ramone it appears on the band's third studio album '' Rocket to Russia'' (1977). The song ...

" was inspired by Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. The song first appeared on the band's third album, ''

Rocket to Russia ''Rocket to Russia'' is the third studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones, and was released on November 4, 1977, through Sire Records. Its origins date back to the summer of 1977, when "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" was released as ...

'', in 1977. A cartoon drawing of Sheena appears on the record sleeve of the LP version. The

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

song " Crush on You" contains the lyrics "She makes the Venus de Milo look like she got no style/she makes Sheena of the Jungle look meek and mild."

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

credited Sheena, Queen of the Jungle as one of his inspirations for creating

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

's stage persona. He chose the name "Tina" because it rhymed with "Sheena."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle American comics characters 1938 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1937 Characters created by Will Eisner AC Comics titles Blackthorne Publishing titles Devil's Due Publishing titles Eclipse Comics titles Marvel Comics titles Dynamite Entertainment characters Fictional activists Fictional archers Fictional queens Fictional explorers Fictional hunters Fictional knife-fighters Fictional orphans Fictional polearm and spearfighters Fictional women soldiers and warriors Jungle (genre) comics Jungle girls Jungle superheroes 1955 American television series debuts 1955 American television series endings American adventure television series American comics adapted into films Comics adapted into television series Comics about women Female characters in comics Golden Age comics titles Golden Age adventure heroes