Rulah, Jungle Goddess is a fictional character, a

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. A prehistoric depiction ...

, in

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

published by

Fox Feature Syndicate Fox Feature Syndicate (also known as Fox Comics, Fox Publications, and Bruns Publications, Inc.) was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. ...

. She first appeared in ''Zoot Comics'' #7 (June 1947). The cover of her debut issue was illustrated by

Jack Kamen Jack Kamen (; May 29, 1920 – August 5, 2008) was an American illustrator for books, magazines, comic books and advertising, known for his work illustrating crime, horror, humour, suspense and science fiction stories for EC Comics, for his work i ...

; however, the writer and artist responsible for her origin story remain unknown. In addition to Kamen, Rulah was illustrated by several notable artists, including

Matt Baker Matthew James Baker (born 23 December 1977) is a British television presenter. He co-presented the children's television show ''Blue Peter'' from 1999 until 2006, BBC One's '' Countryfile'' since 2009 and ''The One Show'' from 2011 to 2020, wi ...

and Edmond Good. While the ''

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

'' lists Matt Baker as a possible contributor to Rulah's origin, his involvement remains uncertain. Rulah was inspired by a boom in jungle girl comics in the late 1940s, headed by Fiction House's

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is a fictional American comic book jungle girl heroine during the Golden Age of Comic Books. She originally debuted in the British magazine ''Wags'' #46 (January 1938). and later made her first American appearance i ...

Character background

Rulah's real name was given variously as either Jane Dodge''Zoot'' #7 (June 1947) or Joan Grayson.''Rulah, Jungle Goddess'' #20 (Nov 1948) In the former version, she is a young

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

on a solo flight over

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

when her plane loses control and crashes. She replaces her clothes (which were destroyed in the crash) with a

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering ...

made from the skin of a dead

giraffe The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on ...

. Soon afterwards, she saves a local tribe from an evil woman, and is accepted as its queen, who remains in the jungle as its protector. She is often accompanied by her pet

panther Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

, Saber. Her ex-boyfriend, Tim Pointer, is introduced in issue #20. According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "she tackles ordinary enemies, like wild animals, wicked natives, and wicked whites, and extraordinary enemies, like the Harpies from Hades, the Panther Queen, the Thirsty Tyrant of Tii, the Jungle Napoleon, the Ice Vikings of Valhalla, and the Ape Women of Antilla".

Publication history

Rulah appeared in each issue of ''Zoot Comics'' after issue #7. By issue #17, ''Zoot'' was retitled ''Rulah, Jungle Goddess''. She also appeared in ''All Top Comics'', alongside Dagar, the Desert Hawk, and the

Blue Beetle Blue Beetle is the name of three superheroes appearing in a number of American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939. The most recent of the companies to own rights to Blue Beetle is DC Comics, which bought the rights to the ...

. Her last appearance in her own title was issue #27 (June 1949), after which it became a romance comic renamed ''I Loved''. ''All Top'' was canceled in July 1949. After the demise of Fox Feature Syndicate, some of Rulah's adventures were reprinted without permission by Star Comics (no relation to the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

imprint), and

I. W. Publications I.W. Publications (also known as Super Comics) was a short-lived comic book publisher in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The company was part of I.W. Enterprises, and named for the company's owner, Israel Waldman. I.W. Publications was notable fo ...

, under the ''Super Comics'' and ''Skywald Comics'' lines. The last original story featuring Rulah is "Clash of Gods", written by Enrico Teodorani and drawn by Antonio Conversano, published in 2004 by

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

in ''

Femforce ''Femforce'' is a comic book published by AC Comics that began publication in 1985, detailing the adventures of the titular team: the "Federal Emergency Missions Force" or "Femforce", some of them original creations, while others originated in th ...

'' # 129. In 2011, Rulah was ranked 79th 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 publ ...

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

References

External links

{{Wikisource, Rulah
Rulah, Jungle Goddess
at the

Rulah, Jungle Goddess at Comics Art Gallery

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

The Rise of Rulah
Metahuman Press Golden Age adventure heroes 1947 comics debuts 1949 comics endings Fictional aviators Fictional explorers Fictional hunters in comics Fictional queens Fox Feature Syndicate adventure heroes Fox Feature Syndicate titles Jungle (genre) comics Jungle girls Comics characters introduced in 1947 Female characters in comics Public domain comics