Lorna the Jungle Girl

Lorna the Jungle Girl

Lorna the Jungle Girl #6 (March 1954).
Cover art by Russ Heath
Publication information
Publisher Atlas Comics
First appearance Lorna the Jungle Queen #1 (July 1953)
Created by Don Rico
Werner Roth
In-story information
Abilities Skilled fighter

Lorna the Jungle Girl, initially called Lorna the Jungle Queen, is a comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Werner Roth. She debuted in Lorna the Jungle Queen #1 (July 1953), published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics.

Publication history

Marvel Comics' jungle-girl protagonist Lorna debuted in Lorna the Jungle Queen #1 (July 1953), published by Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics and created by writer Don Rico and artist Werner Roth.[1][2] After issue #5 (Feb. 1954), Lorna the Jungle Queen was retitled Lorna the Jungle Girl and ran 21 more issues, through #26 (March 1954 - Aug. 1957).[3] [4] The trademarked cover logo of both titles placed a comma after the character's name, though the copyright as indicated in the postal indicia is without a comma in both cases.

A wide variety of cover artists included Carl Burgos, Vince Colletta, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, and Syd Shores. Bill Everett contributed five of the final six issues' covers. Rico and artist Jim Mooney initiated the backup feature "Greg Knight", starring a jungle-explorer character from the lead feature, with Shores, George Tuska, and John Romita Sr. among its later artists.

While the character has not appeared in new stories since her original 1950s run, selected adventures were reprinted in the 1970s Marvel comic Jungle Action #1-4, 6 (Oct. 1972 - April 1973, Sept. 1973)[5] and in two hardcover volumes in the 2010s.

Fictional character biography

After her mother had died in childbirth, young Lorna was brought to the African interior by her father, who died after being mauled by a lion known locally as Numa. Lorna then was raised by her father's friend Chief M'tuba and learned aboriginal skills, honing proficiency with knife and spear. She developed an almost mystical rapport with native animals, particularly with the chimpanzee Mikki. In adulthood she became a jungle protector, befriending natives, government authorities and explorer Greg Knight.

Collected editions

Title Material collected Publication date ISBN
Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Jungle Adventure, Vol. 1 Lorna the Jungle Queen #1-5, Lorna the Jungle Girl #6-9 January 2010 978-0785141914
Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Jungle Adventure, Vol. 2 Lorna the Jungle Girl #10-12 (also non-Lorna Jungle Action #1-3, Jungle Tales #1-4) June 2011 978-0785150121

References

  1. ↑ Lorna the Jungle Queen #1 at the Grand Comics Database
  2. ↑ Lorna the Jungle Girl at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ Lorna the Jungle Queen at the Grand Comics Database
  4. ↑ Lorna the Jungle Girl at the Grand Comics Database
  5. ↑ Jungle Action (Marvel 1972 series) at the Grand Comics Database

External links