Halloween Heroines FANTOMAH "Mystery Woman of the Jungle"

Jungle Heroine or Spirit of Vengeance?

Can you tell which one she is, dear reader?

I certainly can't!

As rendered by the...unique...Fletcher Hanks, Fantomah was the first comic book superheroine (as in heroine with super-powers instead of a costumed "normal" woman), predating Wonder Woman by a year!

This particular story, from Fiction House's Jungle Comics #2 (1940), was her premiere appearance, and reads like a drug-induced nightmare!

Hanks handled the character from her premiere in #2 to #15, with the stories becoming even more surreal every issue!

When new creatives took over with #16, the character was immediately "toned-down", eliminating the skull-face look, and limiting her almost-limitless powers.

As of #27, she was rebooted as "Daughter of the Pharaohs", queen of a lost civilization made up of descendants of an ancient Egyptian expedition stranded in central Africa centuries earlier.

Her series ended in #51 (1944).

Trivia: Despite being popular enough to run for several years in Jungle Comics, Fantomah never made the cover!

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Asian Avengers TAJ OF THE ELEPHANTS

Probably the first Desi heroine in American comic books...

...this one-shot character (and princess, to boot) appeared in Fiction House's Jungle Comics #57 (1944)

For a "frail girl", she kicks serious a$$!

It's a shame she never got another appearance.

Sadly, both the writer and artist are unknown.

(The records for long-defunct publisher Fiction House are lost to history.)
Note: India is a subcontinent of Asia, so she qualifies as Asian even if she doesn't look stereotypically "Oriental"!

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Darna

CoronaVirus Comics NYOKA THE JUNGLE GIRL "Jungle Fever Fury! Chapter Three: Dance of Death!"

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

...when Nyoka tries to put an end to the awful death toll claimed by the most horrendous enemy of the Jungle People, swamp fever...her life hangs in the balance as she battles twin terrors...disease and ignorance!

(BTW, you haven't missed a chapter!

The second part of this post appeared on our "brother" RetroBlog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!)

Though the long-running comic was based on the two Republic Studios movie serials Jungle Girl and Perils of Nyoka, those were based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, Jungle Girl aka Land of Hidden Men...

...which took place in Cambodia and featured an Asian heroine!

All the studio took was the title and Burroughs' name.

The rest was totally-new!

The novel itself has never been adapted into live-action or animated form, or even a comic book, though there is an internet comic strip at the official Edgar Rice Burroughs website!

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Jungle Girl

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Perils of Nyoka

The two movie serials the character appeared in!

CoronaVirus Comics NYOKA THE JUNGLE GIRL "Jungle Fever Fury! Chapter One: Burning Revenge!"

Since it was based on a movie serial character...

...the Nyoka comic book followed the multi-chapter cliffhanger format, which is rather convenient for our purposes!

Actually, the next chapter will appear on our "brother" RetroBlog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video over the weekend, with the final chapter returning here next week!

You'll note that the African natives, unlike most jungle comics of the era, aren't portrayed in overly-racist stereotypes.

Also: unlike most of the jungle heroines of the era, Nyoka isn't garbed in a tight animal skin, but safari jacket and shorts!

Despite that, her book lasted longer than most, first at Fawcett from 1945 until 1953, then at Charlton until 1957!

Their dialogue and imagery is no worse than most examples of American Indians from Westerns in the same era!

Sadly, none of the creatives from this never reprinted story from Fawcett's Nyoka the Jungle Girl #54 (1951) can be definitively-identified!

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Jungle Girl

and

Perils of Nyoka

The two movie serials the character appeared in!

CAVE GIRL "Spears of the Snow-Men"

How do heroines in skimpy animal skins deal with snowy locales?

Have a look at this gorgeous story and find out!

Now that warmed my chilly bones!
In the 1940s-50s, one of the most popular genres in comics was the "jungle hero", the most famous one of all being Tarzan.
A horde of imitators followed, with some interesting variations, including an entire sub-genre--the "jungle heroine"!
While many had weird names like "Sheena", "Rulah", or "Zoot", one of the best-illustrated was known only as "Cave Girl"!

Beginning as a backup in the first issue of Frank Frazetta's Thun'da comic, Cave Girl was a little girl named Carol, whose explorer parents were killed by natives in the jungle they were mapping.
Before Carol could also be put to death, an eagle swooped down and took the child to it's nest.
There, the eagle and a wolf raised the girl to young adulthood, teaching her how to survive and communicate with other animals.
Though in the first couple of stories, the jungle was shown to be home to timelost creatures like sabretooth tigers and Neanderthals, by the time she got her own title, it was pretty much a generic jungle heroine strip...with one notable exception!
Legendary "good girl" and romance artist Bob Powell handled the art as Cave Girl cut a svelte path thru Africa's villains from backup feature in every issue of Thun'da to four exciting issues of her own title as well as a one-shot entitled Africa: Thrilling Land of Mystery!

This story from Magazine Enterprises' Cave Girl #11 (1953), her premiere issue, was produced by her co-creators, writer Gardner Fox and illustrator Bob Powell.

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Whether it's Cave Girl...

...Tiger Girl...

...Princess Pantha...

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Atomic Kommie Comics™ has the perfect Jungle Heroine as a Christmas present for the heroine in your life!
We even have a Jungle Girls 2014 12-Month Calendar with nine MORE Queens of the Jungle from both comics AND movies!

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SOUTH SEA GIRL "Echoes of an A-Bomb"

Because it's a chilly late Fall/early Winter in the US...

...we're going to look at the tropical adventures of a sarong-clad heroine battling atom bomb-wielding Commies in an airship!

This tale from Leader's Seven Seas Comics #6 (1947) was scripted by Manning Lee Stokes with art by legendary "good-girl" artist Matt Baker, who also illustrated most of the legendary Fox Comics Phantom Lady series (which we ran HERE).
Stokes was a pulp/paperback writer specializing in mystery and action.
His only comic book work was for various strips in Seven Seas Comics.
This strip ran for all six issues of Seven Seas Comics and some of the stories have been reprinted, usually renaming the heroine or changing the story title.
When it was reprinted in the 1950s, the heroine's name was changed to "Vooda", and her bare midriff was covered both on the new cover art and the modified story pages...

When it was reprinted in the 1960s, she was once more "Alani" and her tummy was uncovered (in the interior pages)...

...but not on the new cover art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito!

Be here next week, when we present another tale of classic comic grrl power!