Comic Book / Sheena, Queen of the Jungle

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a comic book character created by Will Eisner and S.M. "Jerry" Iger (exactly who came up with the original concept is in dispute as both men have claimed credit). Sheena first appeared in a British tabloid comic called Wags in 1937. Her American debut occurred a year later as a reprint published in the first issue of Fiction House's Jumbo Comics. Sheena soon became the featured character in Jumbo Comics and appeared in every one of the book's 167 issues, ending in April of 1957.

Sheena also appeared in her own self-titled book, running from the Spring of 1942 to the Winter of 1952-1953. She was the first female character to headline her own book, beating Wonder Woman into publication by three months.

Sheena was brought to Africa as a young child by her father, an explorer named Cardwell Rivington, who became friends with a tribal witch doctor named Koba. Koba became quite attached to Rivington, who taught him English. When Rivington planned to move on, Koba concocted a magic potion that would make his friend decide to stay. Unfortunately Koba botched the potion and Rivington died.

Koba took the orphaned Sheena under his wing and she grew up to become skilled in the ways of the jungle. Under the tutelage of the witch doctor, she became a strong, courageous and beautiful Jungle Princess. As an adult, Sheena met Bob Reynolds, a hunter/explorer who would become her Love Interest. Along with Bob and her pet ape Chim, Sheena spent the majority of her time battling evil white hunters, slave traders, misguided natives and the occasional rampaging wildlife. She also frequently found herself having to rescue the hapless Bob, who was always blundering into sticky situations.

Reprints of the original Sheena comics were issued by Blackthorne in the 1980s, and AC Comics in the 1990s. London Night Studios published a new Sheena mini-series in 1998, which was generally not well-regarded by fans of the classic comics, as this Sheena was a redhead mercenary named Sheila, with no connection to the previous Sheena mythology.

In 2007, Devil's Due Publishing acquired the rights to Sheena and rebooted the Queen of the Jungle with a series of one-shots and mini-series plotted by Die Hard writer Steven E. de Souza. The new stories moved Sheena from Africa to South America, where she protected the jungles of the Banana Republic of Val Verde from the encroachment of the local government and Caldwell Industries. While playing with the usual Jungle Princess tropes, the series did a fair job of modernizing the character, with Sheena now a Chosen One with a Secret Identity who fought loggers and land-developers instead of slavers and strange cults and her companion Bob now leading a nature preservation group rather than being a Great White Hunter.

Moonstone Books briefly acquired the rights to Sheena in 2014 and published a three-issue mini-series set in the same reality as de Souza's revamp. Sheena also made an appearance in their Phases of the Moon mini-series, teamed with fellow Golden Age Of Comics heroes Captain Action and Domino Lady.

The comic rights to Sheena currently reside with Dynamite Comics, who have held them since 2016. Sheena first appeared in a six-part crossover with Tarzan called Lords Of The Jungle. and a new limited series that was loosely based on the 2007 de Souza revamp.

In other media, Sheena has appeared in a pulp magazine, a 1950s TV series, a 1984 feature film, and a 2000 TV series.

Tropes introduced in the classic Sheena comics include:

• Aesop Enforcer: Sheena often preaches about environmentalism with a Rightly Self-Righteous attitude.
• Action Girl: Sheena was one of the earliest in comic books.

• The Beastmaster: Sheena has the ability to control all animals in the jungle so no animals ever attack her, instead of the classic Speaks Fluent Animal, where the animals are generally their own characters and act independently of a Friend to All Living Things.
• Broken Aesop: “Trapping innocent animals and using them for your own ends is cruel and Obviously Evil, but forcing innocent animals to kill dangerous threats for you by using your superpowers is perfectly fine”
• Distressed Dude: Bob spent a lot of his time rescued by Sheena.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Until Jumbo Comics #10, Sheena wore a red dress instead of her trademark leopard skin Fur Bikini.
• Earthy Barefoot Character: Sheena usually runs around barefoot in the jungle.
• Evil Poacher: A frequent enemy.

• Flanderization: Originally Sheena was more compassionate to a degree and focused on protecting her people, even if said people were Hollywood Natives that worshipped her. Over time, she has grown more distant from whatever tribe that raised her and more focused on protecting her jungle, and today she is focused to the point of protecting the environment to the point of borderline terrorism and entirely Rightly Self-Righteous. Her compassion is also reserved for the animals she can control anyways or her Mighty Whitey friends, with no real relation to the tribe that raised her.
• Fur Bikini: Sheena wears skimpy clothes made of leopard fur (the exact level of skimpiness is Depending on the Artist).
• Great White Hunter: What Bob was supposed to be.
• Hollywood Natives: The tribe that raised Sheena is given very little characterization, apart from the Witch Doctor that raised her. She has no friends or hobbies to enjoy within her tribe. Today, they are depicted as completely innocent and childlike Noble Savages, and still largely lack individuality or personal agency. They can’t have complex personalities and realistic flaws because they are In Harmony with Nature.
• Informed Attribute: The tribe that raised Sheena was descended from Mongols and an African tribe. Outside of the tribe's backstory, there is little indication of this as they display no elements of Mongol culture, as realistically the two cultures would have merged, and are instead depicted as just another generic African tribe.

• Jungle Princess: Sheena is one of the Trope Codifiers.
• Mighty Whitey: Sheena has always been depicted as stronger and more intelligent than her native tribe, with the tribe worshiping her as a queen, goddess or at least their Chosen One, and Sheena consents to this worship. This trope has been more downplayed in modern incarnations, mostly by ignoring her tribe entirely and focusing on her animal friends for the Green Aesop. She’s still allowed to have and fall in love with a Mighty Whitey characters however.
• Ms. Fanservice: Sheena has always been drawn in alluring poses wearing revealing outfits. She also experiences Most Common Super Power.
• Nature Hero: Sheena has always been willing to defend her people and animal friends, but she has grown far more violent in recent incarnations.
• Nature Is Not Nice: (Averted) Sheena’s status as The Beastmaster prevent jungle animals, including insects, from disobeying or killing her.
• Nubile Savage: Despite living in the jungle, Sheena always looks beautiful and clean.

• Raised by Natives: Sheena
• Those Wacky Nazis: They show up every so often, most recently in the graphic novel Sheena: Dark Rising.
• Witch Doctor: Koba (in the early comic strip) and N'bid Ela, later called Ebid Ela.

Tropes introduced in the London Night Sheena comics include:

• Adaptational Dye-Job: In the 1998/1999 mini-series Bound, she's a redhead.
• In Name Only: Sheena in the 1998 Bound series, where she's a redhead named Sheila with no relation to the classic jungle queen.
• Prophetic Name: In the mini-series Bound, her real name was Sheila, which got corrupted by the natives as "Sheena".

Tropes introduced in the Devil's Due/Moonstone & Dynamite Sheena comics include:

• Absurdly Youthful Mother: In the Dynamite version, it's an extremely youthful maternal grandmother. Outside of a few frames that give her some smile lines around the mouth to make her appear in her late 30s, Sheena’s grandmother almost always looks like she's in her mid to late 20s and outside of a darker skin tone, her body is identical to Sheena’s.
• Advanced Ancient Humans: The Ancients, whose ruins and temples Sheena protects. Originally they were the survivors of the sinking of Atlantis and had technology that Sheena and her friends believe to be either Magic from Technology, Magitek or both. This includes portals to other dimensions, time travel and the creation of Sheena's enchanted knife. The Val Verdeans are descendants of the Ancients but not the only ones, where there's a tribe with the Maitreyan tradition that's an indicator of Ancient heritage.
• Always Someone Better: In the Dynamite comics version, as powerful as Sheena is, her maternal grandmother easily kicked her ass and pins her down.
• Banana Republic: Val Verde is a South American country run by a military dictatorship, with a corrupt Secret Police force and heavy influence by corrupt corporations.
• Bedsheet Ladder: In the Devil's Due series, Sheena fakes an escape from a hospital by dropping a bedsheet ladder out of a window and hiding behind the door. While the guards are looking at the ladder and wondering how she got away, she sneaks out the door.
• Big Scary Black Man: One shows up in the Fatal Exams miniseries from Dynamite. This mercenary thug was almost twice the height of Sheena and he catches her panther Yagua in mid-leap with one hand in a Neck Lift. Sheena who had smashed through steel cages and overpowered monsters was actually losing to this guy in a fight, even though all he had done were some bar brawl punches and then he was able to pin her down and hold her with one hand. Sheena was only able to escape by biting him.
• But Not Too Foreign: Sheena is now of mixed ancestry via her rich American dad and a local woman of Val Verde. Possibly to make her less of a Mighty Whitey.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive:
  • Sheena's paternal grandfather, though it seems he might be doing a Heel–Face Turn after finding his long-lost granddaughter after 20 years, with Sheena playing on the old man's one functioning heart-string.
  • Played straight with Laura Jeffries, an executive at Cardwell Industries and the heir apparent to take over the company before Rachel Cardwell was found.
• Defector from Decadence: Sheena's dad, who was so horrified by his father throwing in with the corrupt government of Val Verde that he turned his back on his dad and their company and tried to flee the country with his wife and daughter.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In the Moonstone series, CEO Cardwell dearly loves his son and with Sheena as his son's only child, he starts backing away from being an evil tycoon.
• Evil Uncle: In the Dynamite comics, Sheena's father has a brother who's a Smug Snake trying to wrest control of Cardwell Industries from current CEO Laura Jeffries. If he did Cardwell would become even more corrupt as Sheena's uncle is a criminal and fugitive from the law, he hasn't been arrested only because he's paid off the judges and politician in Val Verde.
• Fakeout Escape: In the Devil's Due series, Sheena fakes an escape from a hospital by dropping a Bedsheet Ladder out of a window and hiding behind the door. While the guards are looking at the ladder and wondering how she got away, she sneaks out the door.
• Granola Girl: Bob is a male equivalent, being devoted to protecting the rain-forest but utterly hopeless at surviving in the wild without Sheena's help.
• Heroic Lineage: In the Dynamite comics version, Sheena's maternal lineage is unbroken, every woman has inherited the power to be the Mateyana, the protector of the jungle. This includes Sheena's mother who was kidnapped as a child and subjected to internment in a residential school - Sheena's mom could lift a bed with one hand.
• Insistent Terminology: Tyler, Sheena's school roommate in the Fatal Exams series, is the daughter of the head of the Secret Police. She repeatedly states that they do not call it that, instead preferring the official name "Internal Security Division".
• Kid Hero: Downplayed, Sheena is in her late teens so in the developed mainland, she has to go to high school. But to her mother's people she has adult responsibilities and then some, additionally unlike contemporary drawings of teenagers, Sheena usually looks indistinguishable from someone in their 20s. That said, Sheena's classmate friend said she got "pedo" vibes when a new handsome equestrian trainer shows a suspicious amount of interest in Sheena and even said the man was old enough to be Sheena's dad though he appears to be in his mid 20s or 30s. Sheena becoming younger also changed the relationship with the men around her to something more platonic, though the comics do note her stunning good looks.
• Matriarchy: The Val Verdean tribe that Sheena belongs to, is run by a woman chieftain. In the Zenoic Age story arc, Sheena and friends time travel to a Pacific island in World War 2 where they encounter a tribe that's traditionally run by a Matreiya, which later faces an uprising by ambitious men who wishes to overturn this order.
• MegaCorp: Cardwell Industries, with all the negative tropes associated with it. It might be turning around, however, as Sheena is the heir to her grandfather's empire.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: As Rachel Cardwell, Sheena plays the role of the dumb blonde heiress to make people less likely to connect her to the jungle queen disrupting Cardwell Industries' activities.
• Panthera Awesome: Yagua, a fearsome panther, is one of Sheena's strongest and most prominent allies, and even acts as a mount for her from time to time.
• Professionals Do It on Desks: In the Devil's Due series, Laura Jeffries and Martin Ransome have sex on the desk of the CEO of Cardwell Industries.
• Race Lift: Downplayed as Sheena is now half-Indigenous South American.
• Recycled In Space: The new series makes Sheena the protector of a South American jungle rather than an African one.
• Secret Identity: The DDP/Moonstone reality has Sheena playing at being flighty heiress Rachel Caldwell, while fighting her grandfather's corrupt company as Sheena in secret.
• Shadow Dictator: Val Verde is officially led by a figure known only as El Presidente, who hasn't been seen in public in years. This is because he's been in a coma that whole time, with his wife actually running the country in his name.
• Super-Strength: The Dynamite comics give Sheena a high degree of superhuman strength as she's easily capable of smashing through steel bars and thick layers of blast-resistant bulletproof glass. She'd also been able to outmuscle the strange other-dimensional beings, the Mapingauri, that can tear a human in two with its bare hands. Sheena does seem to lose the bulk of her strength in later issues under different writers.
• Teens Are Short: The Dynamite comics makes interesting use of this to differentiate between Sheena and her Val Verde identity of Rachel Cardwell. When she's in her school uniform, her height is roughly similar to that of old ladies such as her schoolmaster. When she's active as Sheena, her height is closer to that of the adult men, just a few notches shorter.
• Those Wacky Nazis: The traditional Jungle Princess enemy shows up in the Zenoic Age storyline. They encounter a submarine crew of nazis who had a mission to deliver next-gen fighter planes to Japan, before their sub got depth-charged and forced to beach on an island

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