Sexy & Badass - A Pulp classic: the Jungle Girl

The concept of the Jungle Girl is old, older than pulp. A proto-version of the jungle girl was the ancient but eternally young sorceress Ayesha from She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard's (published in 1886). And the first fictional jungle-dwelling young girl character was Rima, from the 1904 novel Green Mansions written by W.H. Hudson. But then the concept was mass popularized again after the success of Tarzan (by Edgar Rice Borrows, first magazine publication in 1912, and book publication in 1914).
The character and concept of the feral/jungle girl was a complete hit in the golden age of pulp novels and magazines and came to stay in popular culture for a long time! 

The Jungle Girl is usually an adventurer type, superhero or in a few and less interesting cases a damsel in distress who lives in a rainforest environment. The concept has also the prehistoric version with the same characteristics but being a cave girl.
She usually is a blonde girl in the middle of the jungle (representing the Western lost in a strange world), of course exuberant (initially to attract young audiences and propitiate more sales), with usually a story similar to Tarzan's (not the first but the most famous feral child story): an orphan who grew up in the jungle, learning to survive and thrive there, possesses the ability to communicate with wild animals and is an expert in fighting with knives, spears and improvised weapons. Her adventures mainly involve encounters with slave traders, white hunters and wild animals, with an environmentalist background at its best.
There is really a lot of examples of the Feral/Jungle Girl in pop culture: 

• Ann Mason/Kaänga (1949–1954, Fiction House's Jungle Comics) 
• Camilla, Wild Girl of the Congo (1940 Fiction House Jungle Comics) 
• Cave Girl, Magazine Enterprises' Africa, Thun'da, and Cave Girl (1950s)
• Cavewoman Meriem Cooper (Basement Comics, 1993–2006)
• Dhalua Strong and her daughter Tesla (America's Best Comics)
• Fana the Jungle Girl (Incarna Comics, 1989)
• Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle (Jungle Comics by Fiction House, 1940s)
• Irish of the Jungle (1990s comic based on Irish McCalla, TV series "Sheena")
• Jann of the Jungle (Marvel Comics, 1950s)
• Janus, companion of Voodah (Crown Comics, 1947), later revived by AC Comics
• Jessie (Jungle Comics from Fiction House, 1940s)
• Jungle Judy (Better/Nedor Comics' Exciting Comics, 1940s)
• Jun-Gal (1940s comic)
• Jungle Girl, a.k.a. Jana Sky-Born (2007) (Dynamite Entertainment comic)
• Jungle Lil (1950s comic)
• Jungle Queen/Julie Winters (comic/TV series The Maxx)
• Kara, Jungle Princess (Exciting Comics #44, Feb 1946)
• Kazanda (1940s comic)
• Kyra (1985-1988 comic) by robin ator
• Kyrra - Alien Jungle Girl (2013 comic)
• Leopard Girl (Atlas Comics' Jungle Action, 1950s comic)
• Lorna, the Jungle Girl (comic, Atlas Comics, 1953)
• Makyou No Shanana (2009 Japanese manga)
• Marga the Panther Woman (1940s comic)
• Nyoka (Fawcett's Jungle Girl/Nyoka the Jungle Girl and Master Comics), and the main character of the Jungle Girl film series and its 1942 sequel Perils of Nyoka
• Pamela of the Jungle (Italian comic, 2007)
• Pantera Bionda (Italian comic, 1948–1950)
• Princess Pantha (Better/Nedor Comics' Thrilling Comics, 1940s)
• Princess Taj (Fiction House's Jungle Comics, 1940s) — rides an elephant
• Princess Vishnu (Fiction House's Fight Comics, 1940s)
• Prymal: The Jungle Warrior (Maelstrom Comics, 2014-Present)
• Ranee, Jungle Princess (1950s comic)
• Rarotonga, (Mexican comic series of Tears, Laughter and Love)
• Rulah, Jungle Goddess (Fox Comics' Zoot Comics and Rulah, Jungle Goddess)
• Saari, the Jungle Goddess (1950s comic)
• Safari Cary (1940s comic)
• Shanna the She-Devil (Marvel Comics, created in 1972)
• Shirl, The Jungle Girl (1950s comic parody)
• Taanda from White Princess of the Jungle (comic by Avon Periodicals, 1951–1952)
• Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (comic book, released 1937)
• .... and many more...

But today I want to talk a little about those 2 who have been my reference for creating my new Vampi-set for this month, my tribute to the pulp Feral Girl.
-One is a classic character, probably the most famous Jungle Girl: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.  
-And the other is a more contemporary comic version, with even more pulp-y and fun touches: Jungle Girl created by Frank Cho.

(So my gallery in today's post is about these two exuberant Jungle Girls!)

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a fictional comic book jungle girl heroine, originally published by Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comics. Sheena debuted in Joshua B. Power's British magazine Wags #1 in January 1937, and was later published in the U.S. being the first female comic book character with her own name on the title, with her first issue from 1941, preceding Wonder Woman #1 (cover dated Summer 1942).
Sheena inspired a lot of similar comic book jungle queens, but for me among all its different comic versions, its adaptations to series and movies, there is one that stands out especially (ok I admit this and the early 2000s TV show it's the only one I've seen): the Sheena movie played by the beautiful Tanya Roberts (co-star also in The Beastmaster). That movie totally nailed the pulp-y tone, combining adventures for the whole family with light script, but without cutting out the character's typical pinup-sexy content... even going so far as to show nudes of the protagonist during a family entertaining product (oh my!...):

But one of the aspects I don't like about Sheena is that its context is always placed in the reader/viewer's present making the whole world building for me a bit boring. And all those elements that I enjoy the least (typical also from other jungle-girls like Marvel comics Shanna the she-devil) are corrected in the campy action comic "Jungle Girl" by the Korean-American author Frank Cho. Cho's Jungle Girl repeats the same concept but keeps the action far from our society and time line and confronts the heroine with all kinds of fantastic-pulp elements (and : massive sea creatures, lots of dinosaurs, Lovecraftian fish-men, ...

What do you think of this subgenre? Are you a fan of any Jungle Girl?
Going on for the quick social analysis I believe that it is a concept that has aged, well not great, in contemporary world standards and that despite its numerous adaptations it is going to be quite difficult to see on screen again. As much as I enjoy the pin-up aesthetic, the kind of stories to tell were always a very Western vision of the world with touches of "white savior" narrative, with a woman who survives perfectly shaved living in the jungle with flawless makeup, fighting wild beasts wearing just a skimpy micro bikini... is something very difficult to sell on screen today in my opinion. I mean with audiences as polarized as they are today, a group of viewers would say: this is too male-fantasy appealing, it is not right that the character is so sexy so it's misogynistic. And another group of spectators would say: no one believes a woman so strong and prepared to survive in the jungle fighting the wild on her own, she is a Mary Sue, this is too woke!

Gorgeous model Irish McCalla portrayed Sheena in a 26-episode TV series aired from 1955 to 1956.

In any case, very soon you will see my tribute to this classic subgenre of pulp novels and comics! I really hope you like the idea and enjoy these blog posts where I try to explain my inspirations, references and a bit of analysis to put some of my pin-up photosets (exclusive for patrons) in context! As always, I read you in comments or DMs!