Dec
30
Happy Jungle Book Day!
Filed Under jungle
It’s Rudyard Kipling’s birthday today. He would’ve been 143.
In his honor, I think we should all find orangutans to dance with.
Archive for the ‘jungle’ Category
Dec
16
Adventureblog Gallery: Siriusly
Filed Under jungle, mermaids, pirates, queen la, tarzan
Action Girl Pulp of the Day
Mermaid vs. Pirate
Greatest painting ever. Found at Never Sea Land, naturally.
Queen La
By Roy G. Krenkel.
Dec
8
Adventureblog Gallery: Warrior Women and Jungle Girls
Filed Under fantasy, femme noir, jungle
“Orphan of Atlans”
Black Wing
By Brom.
Zegra, Jungle Empress
Download the issue here.
Femme Noir #4
The jungle girl issue, with a variant cover by Mike Wieringo. Chris Mills has the skinny on lots more Femme Noir plans, including a Free Comic Book Day short story, the book collection of this first mini-series, and a print collection of the original web comics. Lots of good stuff coming.
Dec
4
One Action Girl and a couple of runners up
Filed Under jungle, queen la, space girls, tarzan
Empire of Jegga
La
By J Allen St. John.
La’s single-minded obsession with having sex with Tarzan disqualifies her as an Action Girl, but I have a nostalgic soft-spot for her. She’s beautiful, cunning, deadly, and she lives in a lost jungle city. And it’s been a while since I’ve read those stories, but isn’t her lust for Tarzan born out of her desire to continue her race? If true, that makes her more noble than just a hot chick who’s tired of fighting off beast-men who want to mate with her.
Rulah the Jungle Goddess
Here’s another one who’s more cheesecake than adventure, but it’s nice cheesecake. The Comic Book Catacombs has three Rulah stories:
“The Secret of the Leathermen” (Part One. Part Two.)
“The Stalking Death” (Part One. Part Two.)
“Devil Ladies” (Part One. Part Two.)
Dec
2
"Lord" of the Crystal Bow, My Butt
Filed Under dinosaurs, edgar rice burroughs, hollow earth, jungle, space opera
SSSHHUNK!
By H.W. McCauley.
At the Earth’s Core
Both by Frazetta.
“The Man-Killer!”
Nov
15
Jungle Girls and Giant Monsters
Filed Under dinosaurs, femme noir, giant monsters, jungle, tarzan, the phantom, xenozoic tales
Who Knew Tarzan Lived in California?
I got an email from Danielle, who runs the way cool Who Knew Tarzan Lived in California blog. There are a lot more Tarzan-California connections than you’d think and Danielle’s exploring them all.
Jungle Fables
The Comic Book Catacombs has a short, Golden Age jungle girl story up. Fair warning: it’s from 1948 and racial depictions are typical of that era.
Femme Noir meets Okona the Jungle Girl
Writer Christopher Mills reveals that Femme Noir #4 will feature a jungle girl character and an island full of giant monsters. Everyone else can stop making comics now. Chris wins.
The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks
Okay, obviously I was just kidding with that “no more comics” crack. There’s always room for more awesome. Like Moonstone’s Phantom comics, which are soon rebooting. According to the press release I got, they’re leaning towards “edgier stories” that are “torn from today’s headlines of modern day Africa.” I’m not sure that’s the direction I’m most interested in, but I loves me some Phantom, so I’ll give it a shot.
They also promise “new issues more often,” which will also be nice.
The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks #1 will be written by David Michelinie and Mike Bullock, illustrated by Silvestre Szilagyi, and will have a variant cover by legendary Phantom artist Sy Barry.
“Blitzkrieg in the Past”
Xenozoic Tales print by Mark Schultz
Flesk Publications has an awesome print of Jack and Hannah in their car fighting a horde of dinosaurs. 18″ x 24″ for $19.95.
One step closer to Jurassic Park
Making live clones from dead animals is now possible.
Oct
14
Action Girl News: Sheena, Red Sonja, and Valkyrie
Filed Under jungle, red sonja, sheena, strangeways, valkyrie
Sheena movie?
No, unfortunately, that’s the not the art for it. The place that I stole it from thought that maybe it was concept art from an abandoned Sheena film in the ’60s that was going to star Raquel Welch, but I can’t confirm that.
The film I’m talking about – if it gets made – will be written by Steven de Souza (Commando, Die Hard) and will star – if de Souza gets his way – someone like Jessica Alba or some other “multi-ethnic Latina.” Which would be pretty cool. Sheena’s always been blonde as far as I can tell, but she’s also a South American heroine. I think the latter should trump the former.
De Souza’s pretty serious about it too. He’s even writing the next Sheena comic for Devil’s Due. It’ll be interesting to get a preview of his take on her, but I’m going to have to be sold. I hated the first issue of the Devil’s Due version, mainly because they seemed intent on taking Sheena out of the jungle. De Souza doesn’t seem to disagree with the decision:
“When people have these characters who understand that they have roots in civilization and in the jungle, they’re not going to go back and live in a treehouse,” said de Souza. “They’re going to want indoor plumbing.”
That may be true, but it’s not the reason I pick up a jungle adventure comic.
Adventureblog Gallery: Red Sonja
By Chris Butler (whose blog is now on my regular rounds).
Valkyrie
I mentioned before that I dig Valkyries. Actually, I thought I’d mentioned it more than once, but a couple of those times may have been in emails.
Anyways, Valkyries combine two of my favorite things: Viking culture and Action Girls. And if we’re talking about Marvel’s version, then she also includes another favorite category: people who hang out with the Hulk and Sub-Mariner.
After that post I linked to above, Matt Maxwell (whose werewolf Western comic Strangeways you really should read) emailed me with a little more information about the Marvel character. With his permission, I’ll quote him:
Marvel’s Valkyrie has an… interesting lineage … Most of her earlier appearances were reprinted in the Essentials Defenders Vols. 2+3, which are essential reading, simply because it’s Steve Gerber at his most off-the-rails-crazy.
Matt then asked if I’d be in Baltimore and I told him that I wouldn’t, but that I’d tell people that they should look for him there and then of course I didn’t get around to talking about any of this until just now… well after the convention. So, I’m sorry about that, Matt.
Anyway, after asking if I’d be in Baltimore, Matt gently reminded me, “But really, get those Defenders books.”
Which, of course, I did. Or one of them anyway. I’ll get Vol. 3 too, but for now I have lots of Defenders to read and tell you all about. So, thanks, Matt, for the push. And I’m way looking forward to the next Strangeways book.
Sep
16
The White Huntress (1954)
If I knew who was responsible for the title, I’d seriously be tempted to sue him for false advertising. There’s absolutely no huntress in this movie, white or otherwise. A woman picks up a gun at one point, but she’s told by a man not to use it and she obediently puts it right back down again. Nice.
According to IMDB, White Huntress is just the US title. It’s actually a British film called Golden Ivory, which is bit more accurate. At least it describes something that’s actually in the plot. The story is about a couple of brothers who are obsessed with finding a hidden valley with a ton of elephants that they can shoot for the tusks. Not having any money to finance their own expedition, they hire themselves out as guides to a British family hoping to homestead near the valley in the far wilds of British East Africa. When one of the brothers starts falling for one of the girls in the caravan, the other brother questions his commitment to the scheme.
It’s actually not a bad movie for what it is; I just didn’t appreciate the bait-and-switch. What it is though is a British version of a Western wagon train movie. I’m curious if more of these were made, because it’s really an ingenious concept. You could take just about any Western plot, move it to the British colonization of Africa, and substitute African tribal people for American Indians. Instead of the calvary running around trying to keep the peace, you’ve got British officers. There’s no gold rush, but there are plenty of diamond mines. And it’s even better than a Western because you get to add monkeys, big cats, and giant snakes.
The acting isn’t great in The White Huntress, but it’s serviceable and there are actually some nice moments. Robert Urquhart as the love-struck brother is especially good. He’s perfectly convincing as a guy torn between loyalty to his brother and the desire to settle down and start a new life with nice people and a beautiful woman.
Even though it wasn’t what I expected, I’m giving it…
Three out of five leopard attacks.
The movie is part of a double-feature DVD with 1942’s Jungle Siren. Hopefully that one’s got a leopard skin-wearing gal fighting wild animals in it.
Sep
15
Jungle News: Jungle Girl 2 and a sucky new Tarzan flick
Jungle Girl 2
Of the three recent jungle girl revival comics that have been tried, Dynamite’s Jungle Girl is the only one that I liked. Marvel’s first Shanna the She-Devil series was pretty good, but overly gory and serious. The sequel improved on that some, but the art wasn’t at all attractive. Devil’s Due’s Sheena comic didn’t get that a jungle girl comic ought to be about a jungle girl. The first issue was boring, so I didn’t go back for a second.
So, I’m excited that Dynamite’s got a new Jungle Girl mini-series coming out. Calling it “Season Two” is misleading though. The first mini-series was only six issues long; hardly a “season.” I barely understand the concept of comic book “seasons,” but it seems to me that if you’re going for a TV comparison, a season ought to include more than a single story arc.
Dynamite’s publisher Nick Barrucci says that the new story will continue to feature the high adventure and comedy that made the first one successful, but will spin off into Lovecraftian horror as well. I’m all for mixing genres, so consider me intrigued.
Why the new Tarzan movie will suck
Stephen Sommers is directing it. That’s not at all a fair trade-off for Guillermo del Toro.
Sommers is approaching the movie from a completely new direction instead of adapting a book, and I’m okay with that. I don’t need to see yet another version of Jane’s discovering Tarzan for the first time. What I’m not okay with is knowing that Sommers will use the cheapest CGI possible in lieu of actual animals or stunt people. I’m so disappointed.
