Review: Golden Age Sheena- The Best of the Queen of the Jungle Vol. 1

GOLDEN AGE SHEENA: THE BEST OF THE QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE VOL. 1(Devil’s Due, 2008; Softcover)

Collects selections from Jumbo Comics Nos. 8, 30, 48, 58, 74, 79, 90, 100, 148 and Sheena No. 12 (cover dates June-July, 1939- Summer, 1951)

Writer: Unknown

Artists: Bob Powell, Bob Webb, Matt Baker, Dan Zolnerowich, Joe Doolin, Nick Viscardi, John Martin, Artie Saaf, Will Eisner and possibly others

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is an important comic book character. Her first appearance in comic books pre-dates Superman, while also earning her the distinction of being the first female comic book character to headline her own title. The vile Dr. Frederic Wertham unfairly targeted Sheena, along with EC Comics, in his book Seduction of the Innocent. This all led up to the Senate sub-committee hearings on comic books contributing to juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I was blown away by the high quality writing and artwork throughout this book. This is a sampler, and it is apparent that a high standard was maintained for a prolonged period of time. These comic books reflect the mores of the time, and as such, the rampant sexism and racism portrayed here could be considered offensive to modern audiences. I find this stuff unintentionally funny, and find it hard to believe that this sort of stuff was openly passed off as entertainment to children and teenagers at the time. I adore the violence and action throughout this book, though. This is pretty hard-edged stuff. I love this title, and it's a pity that there are only two collections of this vintage material available. 

It's unfortunate that Devil's Due is essentially belly up at this point, because I'd love to see a comprehensive series of hardcovers collecting the whole of the run of this title. I believe that Moonstone has taken up the franchise as of late, but their low-fi trade paperbacks are not optimal for this material. I hope that Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, or Craig Yoe would take it upon themselves to bring this material back to the masses.

The OCD zone- This book has the biggest contrast in presentation that I've ever seen. High resolution scans, with no touch-ups, reveal a warts and all approach the belies the slick coated stock of paper used. To see aged comic books and covers with dog eared corners and chunks missing on modern paper is a bizarre combination that really seems to work for some odd reason. It doesn't sound like it, but it really does, and it is extremely pleasing to the eye. My only gripe is that the gutters are extremely tight, the result of jamming the wider Golden Age comics into the narrower modern comic book dimensions.

Review: Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Jungle Adventure Vol. 2

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA JUNGLE ADVENTURE VOL. 2 (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Jungle Action Nos. 1-3, Jungle Tales Nos. 1-4 and Lorna, The Jungle Girl Nos. 10-12 (cover dates September, 1954- March, 1955)

Writers: Don Rico and Paul S. Newman

Artists: Werner Roth, Al Hartley, Joe Maneely, John Forte, George Tuska, John Romita, Sr., Fred Kida, and others

These 1950s Atlas Comics are so much fun to read, and often have terrific artwork to boot. There are several features which repeat themselves in the anthology titles collected here:

Lorna, The Jungle Girl- This is probably my favorite in the book, with great writing by Don Rico and what must be Werner Roth's finest artwork. Like I've mentioned in my blog posting for Vol. 1, I always considered him a bottom of the barrel type of artist because of his run on The X-Men in the '60s. He really shines when depicting jungle scenes with trees, animals, and non-superhero people. Great stuff.

The Jungle Adventures of Greg Knight- A regular back up feature in Lorna's magazine, he is a member of Lorna's supporting cast. While I question the man's sanity and/or sexual orientation for shunning Lorna's continual advances, he is an all right guy for the era.

Jann of the Jungle- A pretty generic but enjoyable female jungle heroine riff.

Waku, Prince of the Bantu- I really enjoy this strip, as Waku uses his brain more than his brawn. There's still plenty of action and adventure here, though. Fred Kida is arguably in his prime during this era.

Cliff Mason, White Hunter- This strip features crisp, clean artwork by Joe Maneely. Maneely is an absolute master, and it is one of comics' great tragedies that he died at such a young age. One can only imagine “what if” when it comes to what he could have achieved if he had lived.

Lo-Zar, Lord of the Jungle- The umpteenth Tarzan rip-off, one can either write them all off as cheap knockoffs or do what I do, simply admire the artwork and the craftsmanship of the execution of the story.

Man-oo the Mighty- A strip from a gorilla's point of view, the third party narrative carries the story in this dialogue, and human, free series.

Leopard Girl- Al Hartley's cheesecake in a leopard skin catsuit is a lot of fun. The concept is silly and would never work today, and maybe that is why I like it so much.

There are other features in this book, but they didn't really stick with me well enough to bother commenting about them. Consider this another fine addition to the ever expanding library of Atlas Era Marvel Masterworks.

The OCD zone: Y-A-W-N. The same beautiful restoration, both in original color palette and in linework, the same wonderful paper, and the same superb sewn binding. I am glad to be lulled into a place of contentment with this line of hardcovers.

Reviews:MARVEL MASTERWORKS- ATLAS ERA JUNGLE ADVENTURE VOL. 1; ASTRO CITY- SHINING STARS; Winnie the Pooh movie 2011

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA JUNGLE ADVENTURE VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2009 ; Hardcover)

Collects Lorna, The Jungle Queen Nos. 1-5 and Lorna, The Jungle Girl Nos. 6-9 (cover dates July, 1953- September, 1954) and the “Loona” Lorna spoof story from Riot No. 6 (cover date June, 1956)

Blame it on Sheena. I passed on this when it was originally solicited because I couldn't care less about Jungle comics. Then I found a copy of Devil's Due Golden Age Sheena Vol. 2 trade paperback in a $5 box at my local comic shop. Months and months went by, and I read it. I was completely blown away, so much so that I tracked down Vol. 1 and then grabbed this book.

This is superb! Don Rico's writing is excellent, if somewhat offensive to 21^st Century sensibilities. Sexism and unflattering portrayals of minorities abound, but this was the 1950s. Werner Roth does the artwork on all of the Lorna stories, and I was shocked by the quality of his artwork. I was unimpressed on his run on The X-Men during the '60s, but here he is a master. Rich, lush linework is the norm. His jungle scenes and animals are photo realistic, and I love how he crams so much detail into each panel without sacrificing clarity. His page layouts are tightly structured, with 7-9 panels per page.

The writing can be a little formulaic after a while (how many lost lands can there be in one jungle, after all?), but this was a blast to read. Dinosaurs, giant apes, jewel thieves...this stuff rocks. Do yourself a favor and check it out. On the OCD side of things, everything gets two thumbs up: nice paper, sewn binding, superior linework and color restoration, nice aroma...I am ill, but at least I admit it. If loving these things about books is wrong then I don't want to be right. 

ASTRO CITY: SHINING STARS (Wildstorm/DC, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Astro City: Astra Nos. 1, 2, Astro City: Beauty, Astro City: Samaritan and Astro City: Silver Agent Nos. 1, 2 (cover dates September, 2006- September, 2010)

This collects the odds and ends of the Astro City series, an assortment of one-shots and mini-series. These are all character sketches that add to the mythos but do not necessarily function as a cohesive read. Still, it is nice to get all of the odds and ends tied up in collected edition form. The Samaritan one-shot is great, with writer Kurt Buseik coming close to Alan Moore level cleverness...back when Moore was still clever and didn't rely on boobies to be “mature”. The Silver Agent mini-series was excellent, and I love how he was a mailman in his civilian identity. It's about time that a superhero was a mailman. I hope that we see a follow-up to this book sooner than later. The only thing that is frustrating to fans of this series is the wait between “seasons”.

Winnie the Pooh (Disney, 2011)

I took my hatchlings to see this yesterday, and they seemed to like it. For kids weaned on CGI films, this throwback to traditional animation must have seemed archaic. I guess that I liked it well enough, too.