Jungle Comics

Jungle Comics #89

Having not been able to saturate the market’s insatiable demand for jungle sirens with Sheena in Jumbo Comics, Fiction House unleashed another series titled Jungle Comics.  Running 163 issues staring January 1940 the series did not end until Fiction House succumbed to the Comics Code Authority over 14 years later.

Stories featured the main character Kaänga, a rather familiar sounding westerner child raised by apes. Another westerner, Ann Mason, became his mate after he rescued her from slave traders.

Jungle Comics #92

#89* from May 1947 (featuring a bound Kaänga facing a zebra mounted, spear throwing wild woman) is by Joe Doolin, an illustrator for pulp magazines brought over to comics by Fiction House from its pulp magazine wing.

#92* from August 1947 (another Jungle Siren female protagonist threatens Kaänga by leading a horde of violent apes against him) is also by Joe Doolin.  It has inside stories including yet a different Jungle Siren, Camilla by Fran Hopper and a Teddy Roosevelt biography by Mike Peppe.

Jungle Comics #94

#94* from October 1947 (Kaänga rushes to save his mate Ann Mason as she is roasted above hot coals by an evil Jungle Queen) is by Joe Doolin

Jungle Comics #122

#122* from February 1950 has no less that two Jungle Sirens go toe to toe while a leopard leaps onto the mounted elephant.  This cover is by Iger Shop and contains inside story of obscure Jungle Siren Marvella, the Priestess of Life (“the woman who cannot die”) by Enrico Bagnoli.  This was Marvella’s only appearance ever.

Jungle Comics #83

#83* from October 1947 artist Joe Doolin depicts Kaänga riding to the rescue on a zebra to save Ann Mason from a leaping lion.  Cover story titled “Vampire Veldt” uses a rare word”veldt” which is also used on #122.  The word means “an extensive, treeless grassland of southern Africa.”

Lastly, the prized Jungle Comics #42 from June 1943 is  this post’s featured image.  The cover titled “Master of the Moon-Beasts” is classic golden age “bondage and skulls.”  Interestingly, cover art by Dan Zolnerowich is swiped from the cover of Jungle Comics #18 with Kaänga’s head redrawn by Ruben Moreira.

A ranking of 66 golden age jungle girls can be found here.

Jungle Comics #81

Jungle Comics #85

Jungle Comics #91

* Sold Copy