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This is a cool idea from the House of Ideas to collect. This looks to be the start of 4 or 5 Jungle Adventure books that will focus on the various jungle-themed books that Atlas released in the 50’s. The first collection up contains the first 9 issues of Lorna, the Jungle Queen (renamed to Girl by issue 6). The titles here ran from July of 1953 to September of 1954. The majority of the work in this collection is from writer Don Rico and artist Werner Roth, who did all three Lorna stories in each issue. The back-ups featuring first M’Tuba and then love-interest Greg Knight were all written by Don Rico and featured art from Sal Buscema (#1), Jim Mooney (#’s 2-5), George Tuska (#6), and Jimmy Infantino (#’s 7-9).
Dr. Mike Vassallo pens the introduction here and just like all the ones he’s written, this is a great six-page definitive look at the artists featured in the book, the time-frame in which they took place, and a summary of each issue (including some critical viewpoints on the more nutty things from each tale). He also talks about Lorna being a female lead-character and how her bust seemed to expand with each issue. I really recommend reading anything from Vassallo as he has encyclopedic knowledge of the Atlas Era and is becoming an authority on Atlas Marvel.
Spoilers Ahead
-Lorna, The Jungle Queen #1- The first issue of Lorna starts appropriately enough, with the origin of Lorna. She lived in the jungle with her father who ended up dying and she was trained in the ways of the jungle by M’Tuba, although she eventually surpassed her teacher. The second story shows Lorna in all her jungle glory, stopping Agu the Giant Ape by realizing he’s actually a good ape and he’s just been attacked too many times. M’Tuba makes his only appearance in a solo tale, showing the rules of a jungle and having a lion save him from a traitor. Finally, we end with a cave eating a man who tried to steal its treasures. It was definitely outlandish. There’s a written story in every issue (that’s the old style Anthology type of books) that finds a girl and her dad running with a bag of pearls from pirates. This would be the only issue of just Lorna herself, as Greg Knight would be introduced next issue.
-Lorna, The Jungle Queen #2- Greg Knight makes his appearance. He’s a jungle guide and hates that women are in the jungle, specifically Lorna. This leads to an interesting relationship between the two where Lorna is vying for his affection and Greg is continuously wondering aloud why Lorna is in the jungle. The first story of the two finds them stopping a killer elephant that has gone rogue, traveling through the black swamp and finding a man in an alligator suit, and falling prisoner to the Head-Hunters. Don’t worry, they escape thanks to Greg challenging and defeating their leader. This issue starts the Greg Knight back-up stories. Here he is saved by a friend who ends up dying so he protects his legacy by preventing thieves from stealing the gold that was rightfully his. Our written story was called Magic Music and some girls get together an orchestra to raise money for a girl hit by a car and one of the guy friends bringing a famous bandleader at the last minute.
-Lorna, The Jungle Queen #3- Lorna is tied up in the opening splash panel, which I’m sure drew the ire of Wertram. Lorna wanders into a Lost City, is captured, but frees herself and reveals a communist cell underneath the pyramid. Of course! Agu the giant ape returns and he’s pissed at Greg for treating Lorna like crap and he roughs Greg up a bit. Greg searches for the Jungle of Wajiji but two men want it for themselves and are willing to do anything to get it, including capturing Greg and the guy who is looking for the treasure. Of course, the treasure is a leopard and those goons are killed in short order. Lorna saves Greg from a fire that two goons set to kill Greg. Luckily, the dry spell in the area is fixed by some tribal chants so the fire is put out and the goons are captured. The written story was a funny one showing two guys going to a tribe against violence and plundering them, until they attack the sacred shark divers that are protected by the villagers. I really liked the ending there.
-Lorna, The Jungle Queen #4- A man wanting to take animals from the jungle for the circus is the victim of a jungle rampage and jungle justice is served! Lorna fights off an octopus that is taking villagers (but keeping them in an underwater lair that is without water but full of air). Sure you can question how an octopus is in a fresh-water pond like this but why would you? Our written story was zany. A guy tries to kill a tiger but ends up impaling himself instead. That’s pretty big on the FAIL list. Greg Knight reveals in his solo story that this is actually a refuge that is probably close to civilization. He stops two people from murdering a white lion. We return with Lorna and Greg stopping a man in a vulture suit from stealing diamonds for his own gain. Where are these jungle people getting these costumes?
-Lorna, The Jungle Queen #5- Our first story was a fun one with Lorna and a Voodoo Ghost stopping a Voodoo queen. Some of these stories are so off beat you can’t help but enjoy them. We move to our written tail (I mean, tale) and it is a simple encounter between a man and a tiger. It wasn’t terribly interesting. Lorna has to deal with an Indian tiger that has been loosed upon the jungle, but luckily she and Greg capture the beast. Greg brings a man through the forest that turns on him but then the jungle turns on him, saving Greg. There’s a cool scene of them walking through the forest with the map around them showing the landmarks. We end with yet another Lost Kingdom, which is the second lost city in this refuge, and Lorna saves a traveling Greg and friend from two-headed dinosaurs and the cavemen inhabiting this secret land.
-Lorna, The Jungle Girl #6- Lorna is no longer the Jungle Queen (which Vassallo muses could be because of pressure from Fiction House who published Sheena, Queen of the Jungle) but the Jungle Girl. She deals with a wildfire in the forest thanks to some evildoers. The run does come to wash away the fire and the evil. We have a change of order for the stories in here. Before it would be Lorna story, written story, Lorna story, Greg story and Lorna story but the written story has been placed between the second Lorna story and the lone Greg story. So the second Lorna story sees her head to yet another Lost World to find a poisonous flower (in the shape of a skull) to save M’Tuba. This area must not be too well explored if there are that many lost worlds. The third story (the written one) is a non-descript man becomes a jungle god only to get killed through his own greed type of tale. Greg stops the jungle from attacking a village by having a boy give back a cub lion he found. We end with Lorna meeting her double (a woman set out to get diamonds, who is just as good as rope-swinging as Lorna) and only Mikki helps Greg figure out which one is which. There’s a risqué panel of Lorna’s double putting on her clothes (well, snapping together the last strap of her dress) that probably made young boys happy they plunked down the dime for this book.
-Lorna, The Jungle Girl #7- Lorna finds a black snake whose venom makes those mad before killing them so she can save Greg. After that she exiles a man from her tribe and the man gets revenge by donning the skin of a hyena. This was one of the better tales of the book, with the man getting his come-uppance at the end. Our written story is another greed kills type of story, as three greedy men kill each other to get the gold that would’ve been theirs anyway if they weren’t so greedy. Greg and his friends like to fight and we start our third story by having the man who hired Greg vow NOT to fight. So Greg wins a fight by not throwing a punch AND he captures a criminal, too. What a (sexist) guy! We end with Lorna fighting off the jungle while Greg is oblivious, thinking that Lorna is just being a girl. That was a funny finish and overall this is the best book of the collection.
-Lorna, The Jungle Girl #8- A kid pretends to be a ghost so he can get at M’Tuba’s reign. He fails thanks to Lorna. Lorna must then battle a shark that has been put there by some evil guys wanting to horde pearls for themselves. The written story is something about flowers that give life and Russians using it for evil purposes. Don’t worry; they lose out in the end. Greg Knight starts losing his nerve in his solo story but it’s only because of the funky juice someone has been feeding him. We end with a crocodile/ape combination (croc head, feet and tail with an ape body) that Lorna defeats by sending him plummeting to his death.
-Lorna, The Jungle Girl #9- Lorna battles the Devil Bird, which is really just a machine put together by the Reds. Lorna stops them. Agu the ape returns and he fights another giant ape that is being controlled via hypnotism by some guy. Remember the king story from #7? It’s the same plot here. Greg helps a meek guy find his way through the forest but the meek guy is really a diamond hoarder who has Greg in his cross-hairs. Only a timely appearance by a lion can help Greg here! We end with Lorna saving Greg from a horde of elephants who were just heading towards their death. There’s also a three-page spoof of Lorna called Loona the Jungle Girl that was published in Riot #6 from June of 1956. It’s Stan at his hokey best.
-The Bottom Line- Sure some of the stories were completely out of left field and made no sense but there was a certain sort of fun here that I really enjoyed. Being a comic fan now you don’t really see any Jungle books like the ones from days past. This is a very quick volume to get through (only about 230 pages) and the longest stories in each issue are only about 7 pages. The art was well-done by Werner Roth and it is worth the price of admission alone. Sure the misogyny of Greg can get a bit tiresome at times and the quality of the tales can vary in a single issue, but like I said, it’s a fun book to read and get through and it is certainly something different than what you’ll read on the stands today. Recommended.
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