View source for Sheena, Queen of the Jungle

{{short description|Comic-book heroine}}
{{about|the original comic-book character Sheena, and her appearances in related media|other uses|Sheena (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox comics character <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|image=Sheena, Queen of the Jungle 18.jpg
|caption=''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #18 (Winter<br>1952-53). Cover art by Maurice Whitman.
|character_name=Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
|real_name= Sheena Rivington<br />Janet Ames<br />Shirley Hamilton<br>Sheila Fortner<br>Rachel Cardwell
|publisher= {{collapsible list|
* [[Fiction House]]<br>(1938–1953)
* [[Blackthorne]]<br>(1988–1988)
* [[London Night Studios]]<br>(1998–1999)
* [[Devil's Due Publishing]]<br>(2008–2009)
* [[Moonstone Books]]<br>(2014–2014)
* [[Dynamite Entertainment]]<br>(2017–present)}}
|debut= ''Wags'' #46 (January 1938)
|creators= [[Will Eisner]]<br />[[Jerry Iger]]
|alliances=
|aliases=
|powers={{plainlist|
*Ability to communicate with wild animals
*Proficiency with knives, spears, bows
*'''1984 film version:'''
*Telepathic communication with jungle animals
*'''2000 TV series version:'''
*Ability to shapeshift into any animal she makes eye-to-eye contact with}}
}}
'''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle,''' is a fictional [[American comic book]] [[jungle girl]] heroine, originally published primarily by [[Fiction House]] during the [[Golden Age of Comic Books]]. She was the first female comic book character with her own title, with her 1941 premiere issue ([[cover-date]]d Spring 1942) preceding ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' #1 (Summer 1942). 

Predated in literature by [[Rima|Rima, the Jungle Girl]] of [[William Henry Hudson]] 1904 novel ''[[Green Mansions]]'', Sheena was essentially a female version of [[Tarzan]]. An orphan who grew up in the jungle and learned how to survive and thrive there, she possessed the ability to communicate with wild animals and was proficient in combat with knives, spears, bows, and makeshift weapons; her Golden Age adventures mostly involved encounters with slave traders, white hunters, native Africans, and wild animals.<ref name=Sergi>Sergi, Joe. [http://cbldf.org/2013/01/tales-from-the-code-the-near-extinction-of-sheena/ "Tales From the Code: The Near Extinction of Sheena,"] CBLDF website (January 25, 2013).</ref>

==Publication history==
[[File:Sheena No 4.JPG|thumb|left|upright|''Sheena'' #4 (Fall 1948). Cover art by Joe Doolin<!--per GCD-->]]
Sheena debuted in Joshua B. Power's British magazine ''Wags'' #46 in January 1938.<ref name="Wags">[https://www.comics.org/issue/1099989/ ''Wags''<nowiki> [UK] #46 (January 14, 1938)</nowiki>] at the [[Grand Comics Database]].</ref><ref name="toon">[http://www.toonopedia.com/sheena.htm Sheena, Queen of the Jungle] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20120913212733/http://www.toonopedia.com/sheena.htm Archived] from the original November 10, 2011</ref> She was created by [[Will Eisner]] and [[Jerry Iger|S. M. "Jerry" Iger]].<ref name="Wags" /> One source says Iger, through his small studio Universal Phoenix Features (UFP), commissioned [[Mort Meskin]] to produce prototype drawings of Sheena.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Iger |first=Jerry |title=Jerry Iger's Sheena, Queen of the Jungle 3-D., No. 1 |last2=Zone |first2=Ray |publisher=[[Blackthorne Publishing]] |year=1985 |oclc=886653774}}</ref> UFP was one of a handful of studios that produced comics on demand for publishers and syndicates, and whose client [[Editors Press Service]] distributed the feature to ''Wags''.<ref name=":0" /> To help hide the fact their studio consisted only of themselves, the duo signed their Sheena strip with the pseudonym "W. Morgan Thomas".<ref>{{cite book|title=Will Eisner: A Dreamer's Life in Comics|first=Michael|last= Schumacher|publisher=[[Bloomsbury USA]]|year=2010|isbn=978-1-60819-013-3|page= [https://archive.org/details/willeisnerdreame0000schu/page/39 <!-- quote="W. Morgan Thomas" eisner. --> 3]}}</ref> Eisner said an inspiration for the character's name was [[H. Rider Haggard]]'s 1886 jungle-goddess novel ''[[She (novel)|She]]''.<ref>Archive of Heintjes, Tom. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080618110741/http://www.adventurestrips.com/spirit/spirit_origin_heintjes_2.html "Will Eisner's The Spirit: The Wildwood News, Chapter 2 – Setting Up Shop"], AdventureStrips.com. Reprinted from ''The Spirit: The Origin Years'' #2 (Kitchen Sink Press, July 1992). [http://www.adventurestrips.com/spirit/spirit_origin_heintjes_2.html Original page]</ref> Iger, who maintained that Eisner had nothing to do with the creation of the character, claimed that he picked the name because his mind wandered to the derogatory name "sheenies" that Jewish people were sometimes called in his early days in New York.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jerry Iger |date=April 1985 |title=Heroine in the Jungle |journal=Jerry Iger's Classic Sheena |volume= |issue=#1 |pages=inside front cover}}</ref>

Sheena first appeared stateside in Fiction House's ''[[Jumbo Comics]]'' #1, and subsequently in every issue (Sept. 1938 – April 1953), as well as in her groundbreaking 18-issue spin-off, ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' (Spring 1942 – Winter 1952), the first comic book to title-star a female character.<ref name="toon" /> Sheena also appeared in Fiction House's ''Ka'a'nga'' #16 (Summer 1952) and the one-shot ''3-D Sheena, Jungle Queen'' (1953)<ref name="toon" />—the latter reprinted by [[Blackthorne Publishing]] as ''Sheena 3-D Special'' (May 1985). Blackthorne also published ''Jerry Iger's Classic Sheena'' (April 1985). 

Fiction House, originally a [[pulp magazine]] publisher, ran prose stories of its star heroine in the latter-day pulp one-shot ''Stories of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' (Spring 1951) and ''Jungle Stories'' vol. 5 #11 (Spring 1954).<ref name=gcd-sheena>[http://www.comics.org/character/name/Sheena/sort/chrono/ Sheena (character)] at the Grand Comics Database</ref>  [[AC Comics]] has published reprints of classic Sheena stories.

The property then remained dormant until the release of the [[Sheena (film)|Sheena film]]. Since then, it has passed through the hands of several publishers: 

* [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] released a two-issue adaptation of the movie in 1984.
* Sheena and her male counterpart Kaanga headlined ''Jungle Comics'', a three-issue [[Blackthorne Publishing|Blackthorne]] series that ran from May to October of 1988.<ref>[http://www.comics.org/series/3727/ ''Jungle Comics'' (Blackthorne Publishing, Inc., 1988 Series)] at the [[Grand Comics Database]]</ref>
* [[London Night Studios|London Night]] - an independent publisher specializing in female heroines and softcore erotica - launched a reboot of Sheena in February 1998, with a one-shot color comic book followed by three issues of a planned four-issue black-and-white miniseries (May 1998 – February 1999). This series moved the setting from the jungles of Africa to those of South America, an innovation retained by most subsequent adaptations.

{| style="float:right; border:1px solid #BBB;margin:.46em 0 0 .2em"
|- style="font-size:86%"
|  style="vertical-align:top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Series
!Issues
!Year
!Continuity
|-
|[[Fiction House]]
|187
|1938-1953
|original
|-
|[[Marvel Comics|Marvel]]
|2
|1984
|[[Sheena (film)|1984 film]]
|-
|[[Blackthorne Publishing|Blackthorne]]
|3
|1988
|original
|-
|[[London Night Studios|London Night]]
|4
|1998
|1st reboot
|-
|[[Devil's Due Publishing|Devil's Due]]
|10
|2007-2008
|2nd reboot
|-
|[[Moonstone Books|Moonstone]]
|3
|2014
|2nd reboot
|-
|[[Dynamite Entertainment|Dynamite]]
|25
|2017-2023
|2nd reboot
|}
|}

* A second reboot was launched by [[Devil's Due Publishing]] in 2007 under the guidance of [[Steven E. de Souza]], who situated it in his pre-existing fictional South American country of [[Val Verde (fictional country)|Val Verde]]. Devil's Due titles included ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #1–5 (June 2007 – January 2008), a ''Sheena, Trail of the Mapinguari'' one-shot (April 2008), and ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle: Dark Rising'' #1–3 (October 2008 – December 2008). All subsequent series have taken place in this continuity.
* [[Moonstone Books|Moonstone]] revived the title with ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #1–3 in 2014, again written by Steven S. and David de Souza.
* The most substantial Sheena revival to date has been a [[Dynamite Entertainment|Dynamite]] run beginning with a ten-issue 2017 series<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/news.html?showNews=DFN05231735301|title = Dynamite - the Official Site &#124; Dejah Thoris Vs. John Carter of Mars, James Bond: Agent of Spectre, Vengeance of Vampirella, the Boys and More!}}</ref> co-written by [[Marguerite Bennett]] and Christina Trujilo, with art by Moritat (issues 1-4) and Maria Laura Sanapo (issues 5-10).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/news.html?showNews=DFN07091793502|title=Dynamite Entertainment's Sheena #0 From Marguerite Bennett and Christina Trujilo Breaks 100,000 copies in initial orders}}</ref> A second ten-issue series written by Stephen Mooney and drawn by Jethro Morales<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2021/08/the-queen-of-the-jungle-returns-with-new-sheena-series/ | title=The Queen of the Jungle returns with new Sheena series | date=2 September 2021 }}</ref> premiered in November 2021; a third, subtitled ''Fatal Exams'' and set at an elite boarding school, ran for five issues in 2023, and was co-written by Steven S. de Souza and Wes Clark Jr., with art by Ediano Silva.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnston |first=Rich |date=2023-06-22 |title=Sheena Heads To the Jungle Of Exam Conditions |url=https://bleedingcool.com/comics/sheena-heads-to-the-jungle-of-exam-conditions/ |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=bleedingcool.com |language=en}}</ref> The Dynamite series represented a soft reboot, retaining the setting and characters of the Devil's Due / Moonstone series but not the continuity.

== Fictional character biography ==
Sheena is the young, blonde daughter of Cardwell Rivington, who is exploring in Africa with his daughter in tow. When Cardwell accidentally dies after drinking a magic potion made by Koba, a native witch doctor, Sheena is orphaned. Koba raises the girl as his own daughter, teaching her the ways of the jungle and various central African languages. The adult Sheena becomes "queen of the jungle" and acquires a monkey sidekick named Chim.<ref name=Sergi />

According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "Assisted by the great white hunter Bob Reynolds, Sheena fights everything under the sun, including but not limited to: hostile natives, hostile animals, giants, a super-ape, the Green Terror, [[sabre-tooth tiger]]s, voodoo cultists, gorilla-men, devil-apes, blood cults, devil queens, [[dinosaur]]s, army ants, lion men, lost races, leopard-birds, cavemen, serpent gods, vampire-apes, etc."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nevins |first1=Jess |title=Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes |date=2013 |publisher=High Rock Press |isbn=978-1-61318-023-5 |page=240}}</ref>

Originally costumed in a simple red dress, Sheena acquired her iconic leopard-skin bikini by issue #10 of ''Jumbo Comics''.<ref name=Sergi />

In time, Sheena's home village is destroyed, leaving Sheena with a white safari guide named Bob Reynolds (alternately called "Bob Reilly" or "Bob Rayburn"), who becomes her mate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Kurt |last2=Thomas |first2=Roy |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944 |date=2019 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490892 |page=37}}</ref> In later incarnations, Sheena's mate is Rick Thorne.<ref name=Sergi />

The 1988 Jungle Comics began with the original 1940's Sheena living in retirement in contemporary New York, under the name '''Sharon McClory'''. She is given the opportunity to be rejuvenated by magical means so that she may return to Africa and join her similarly de-aged 1940s Fiction House stablemate (and Tarzan pastiche) Kaanga in a struggle against a murderous gang of terrorist poachers.

The 1998 London Night reboot moved the action to [[South America]], made Sheena a redhead, and gave her real name as '''Sheila Fortner'''. This incarnation of the character headed a substantial organization, with a crew of assistants and an elaborate underground base.

In the 2007 [[Steven E. de Souza|de Souza]] reboot (also set in South America, but in a different [[fictional country]]), Sheena's name was '''Rachel Rivington Cardwell ('''also spelled "'''Caldwell'''" in the later Devil's Due and Moonstone series, and "'''Cadwell'''" in the early Dynamite series), a homage to her father's name in the original 1940s comics. An orphan raised in the hidden city of Piatiti, Sheena was actually the long-lost granddaughter of the ruthless industrialist Harrison Cardwell, and was revered by the tribal peoples of the Zona Prohibida (the unexplored interior of Val Verde) as the "Matayana," the legendary protectress of the Mother Forest. In addition to several human sidekicks - the idealistic environmental activist Bob Kellerman, cynical Cardwell security head Martin Ransome, college student Chamo, and fellow rich girl Tyler Pinto - she shared a telepathic link with three animal partners: the black jaguar Yagua, scarlet macaw Pete, and spider monkey Chim.

==Reception==
Sheena was ranked 59th in ''[[Comics Buyer's Guide]]''{{-'}}s "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.<ref>{{cite book| last = Frankenhoff| first = Brent| author-link = Brent Frankenhoff| title = Comics Buyer's Guide Presents: 100 Sexiest Women in Comics| publisher = [[Krause Publications]] | year = 2011| page = 41| isbn = 978-1-4402-2988-6}}</ref>

==In other media==
{{multiple image
 | align     = left
 | direction = horizontal
 | header    =
 | width1    = 140
 | width2    = 210
 | image1    = IrishMcCalla2.jpg
 | caption1  = [[Irish McCalla]] in 1950s publicity photograph as TV's Sheena.
 | image2    = Sheena (Gena Lee Nolin).png
 | caption2  = [[Gena Lee Nolin]] as Sheena in the publicity still of the syndicated television series ''Sheena'' (2000–2002).
}}
Model [[Irish McCalla]] portrayed the titular character in ''[[Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (TV series)|Sheena: Queen of the Jungle]]'', a 26-episode TV series, aired in [[first-run syndication]] from 1955 to 1956.<ref name="Woolery">{{cite book |last1=Woolery |first1=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series |date=1985 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1651-2 |pages=450–451}}</ref> McCalla told a [[newspaper]] interviewer she was discovered by [[Edward Nassour|Nassour Studios]] while throwing a bamboo spear on a Malibu, California beach, famously adding "I couldn't act, but I could swing through the trees."<ref name=ap>[http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Feb/11/il/il08a.html "TV actress Irish McCalla dead at 73"], Associated Press via ''The Honolulu Advertiser'', February 11, 2002. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100701041242/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Feb/11/il/il08a.html WebCitation archive].</ref> Although the Sheena character was often called "the Queen of the Congo,"{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} the TV series clearly located her in Kenya,{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} which is hundreds of miles from the Congo River. Though the character was created in comic books by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger many years earlier, a 1956 ''New York Times'' obituary for Claude E. Lapham, a 10-year editor at Fiction House, says, "His story 'Sheena' was the basis for the television story of that name."<ref>{{cite news| url = http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/09/25/86698254.html?pageNumber=33 | title= Claude E. Lapham [Obituary No. 5] | work = [[The New York Times]]| date= September 25, 1956|page =33| access-date= February 4, 2015}}</ref>

The 1984 [[Columbia Pictures]] film ''[[Sheena (film)|Sheena]]'', produced by [[Paul Aratow]], starred [[Tanya Roberts]], who had previously co-starred as Kiri in [[MGM]]'s 1982 film ''[[The Beastmaster (film)|Beastmaster]]''. In this version, the character's name is '''Janet Ames''', daughter of Philip and Betsy Ames, before being renamed Sheena by [[Shamanism|Shaman]]. Roberts's Sheena had a much-expanded vocabulary from McCalla's (as well as a telepathic connection with jungle animals). [[Marvel Comics]] published a comic-book adaptation of the ''Sheena'' film as ''[[Marvel Comics Super Special]]'' #34 (June 1984), reprinting it as ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' #1–2 (Dec. 1984–Feb. 1985).

The [[Bollywood]] film industry in India produced a string of uncredited Hindi versions of Sheena, beginning with ''Tarzan Sundari'', also known as ''Lady Tarzan'' (1983); ''[[Africadalli Sheela]]'' (1986); and ''[[Jungle Ki Beti]]'' (1988).{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

''[[Sheena (TV series)|Sheena]]'' was revived by [[Hearst Entertainment]] in October 2000, portrayed by [[Gena Lee Nolin]]. In this version, the character's real name is '''Shirley Hamilton'''. Sheena was given a new power in this 35-episode Columbia/[[TriStar Pictures|TriStar]] series: the ability to adopt the form of any warm-blooded animal once she gazed into its eyes. She was also depicted as a ferocious killer, capable of becoming a humanoid creature called the Darak'Na; this form killed numerous individuals, though in her regular form she was also seen in numerous episodes stabbing soldiers and other villains to death. As with Tanya Roberts, Nolin's Sheena spoke whole sentences.

In 2017, [[Millennium Films]] was developing a Sheena reboot.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Busch|first=Anita|url= https://deadline.com/2017/09/sheena-queen-of-the-jungle-movie-millennium-films-female-superhero-1202161575/|title='Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle' Reboot Feature on Works at Millennium Films|date=September 5, 2017|access-date=September 5, 2017|magazine=[[Deadline Hollywood]]}}</ref>

The [[Ramones]] song "[[Sheena Is a Punk Rocker]]" was inspired by Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.<ref name="Eby2012">{{cite book|first=Margaret |last=Eby|title=Rock and Roll Baby Names: Over 2,000 Music-Inspired Names, from Alison to Ziggy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpxRTlukdxgC&pg=PT269|date=3 April 2012|publisher=Penguin Group US|isbn=978-1-101-56153-9|page=269}}</ref> The song first appeared on the band's third album, ''[[Rocket to Russia]]'', in 1977. A cartoon drawing of Sheena appears on the record sleeve of the LP version.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

The [[Bruce Springsteen]] song "[[Crush on You (Bruce Springsteen song)|Crush on You]]" contains the lyrics "She makes the Venus de Milo look like she got no style/she makes Sheena of the Jungle look meek and mild."

[[Ike Turner]] credited Sheena, Queen of the Jungle as one of his inspirations for creating [[Tina Turner]]'s stage persona. He chose the name "Tina" because it rhymed with "Sheena."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tina Turner: Break Every Rule|last=Bego|first=Mark|publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing|year=2005|isbn=9781461626022}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=36018|title=Sheena, Queen of the Jungle}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.chs.org/comics/fictionhouse.htm | title=Fiction House: History and Influences|first=Andrew |last=Goldstein|publisher=[[Connecticut Historical Society]]|date=n.d.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908090243/http://www.chs.org/comics/fictionhouse.htm | archive-date=September 8, 2008}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.accomics.com/accomicsgoldenage/goodgirl.htm |title=Sheena: Golden Age to Present |publisher=[[AC Comics]] |date=n.d.|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070823013121/http://www.accomics.com/accomics/goldenage/nuggets_sheena.html |archive-date=August 23, 2007 |url-status=dead }}

{{Will Eisner}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle}}
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