Monday, October 1, 2018

Manic Monday Bonus--Where Do You Think Sheena Got All Of Those Leopard-Skin Outfits?

The problem with writing jungle based comics--particularly if you've never been to the jungle, and have no knowledge beyond what cliches Hollywood and the pulps and other comics have filled your head with--is sooner or later, you've gotta run out of ways to tell your stories.

Take, for example, Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle #17 (1952). The first Sheena story in the issue starts thusly:



Ouch!!

Fair enough. But the very next story--in the same comic book--starts like this...


OK. Well, sure, there are probably tons of leopard attacks.

The third Sheena story in that same comic begins:



Oh, come on, now!! Three separate stories, that each start off exactly the same--with Sheena saving someone from a leopard attack by stabbing the big cat with her knife?!?

Was there no other way to start 3 consecutive stories? Were there no other animals who could attack? Was there no other way to dispatch them? 

For what it's worth, there were an awful lot of Sheena stories over the years, and yeah, while she killed a lot of leopards, she had plenty of other ways to open a tale, and lots of other jungle denizens to spar with. Why this issue was where the storytelling devolved to all-leopard, all the time, I couldn't tell you. Maybe Sheena needed to stock up on new leopard skin outfits?

The author is unknown for these stories. The artist for all three was Robert Webb. The editor doubtless went into hiding after this.

 Meanwhile: leopards!

That was from Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle #3 (1943)...

Maybe my next project after Kid Eternity will be to document all the leopards Sheena killed over the years...

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