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Hello BC readers, it’s been a while. I’ve been off working on comics (The Freeze Vol 1 trade from Image Comics/Top Cow is in stores now…) but after
Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, Corinna Bechko, dynamite, entertainment, Lords of the Jungle, sheena, tarzan
Corinna Bechko's Writer's Commentary For Lords Of The Jungle #1
A Writer's Commentary: Corinna Bechko talks Lords of the Jungle #1 (of 6), on sale now from Dynamite. Cover is by Alex Ross. Interiors by Roberto Castro.
Page 1 Since we're dealing with a different Sheena than many people might be used to seeing, it's important to get her origins established right off the bat. And so we start in her jungle, in South America instead of Africa, and make it clear that this is happening now, in 2016. This will be an important contrast for later in the story.
Page 2 And here she is! And she's not alone. We're introduced to the fact that she's got a great rapport with animals here, and see that she's a woman of action.
Page 3 We also see that she cares deeply about one thing: her home. Forests around the world are disappearing at an alarming rate. Luckily for this stretch of fictional jungle, Sheena's willing to fight to make sure it stays pristine. She can't be everywhere at once, though…
Page 4 Now that's an explosion! Roberto Castro does such a great job conveying big action. I'm very lucky to be working with him on this project.
Page 5 More Sheena action as we meet another of her animal friends. Parrots are very smart animals, and we'll be seeing more of this one soon. Meanwhile, something very strange is happening…
Page 6 Sheena might live in the modern world now, but she's still a pulp character. Here we get to have some fun with that, as the ruins something strange lurking beneath them…
Page 7 Sheena's determined, though. Nothing is going to stop her from seeing this fight through… But noticing that tattoo certainly gives her pause. Hopefully we're setting up a couple of different mysteries here, things that will resonate later on.
Page 8 Oh, hubris! When has it not gotten people like this guy into trouble? It's the one thing that Sheena didn't quite count on…
Page 9 A vortex! Well, Sheen's got to more across time and space somehow… And we'll be learning much more about exactly how as the story progresses. We'll also be learning why, but for now, I just want to point out that last panel, with the guy cut in half. I just love what Roberto did there.
Page 10 & 11 Nothing like being set adrift in time and space to make you focus on your past regrets. Happily, it also makes for a compact way to bring the reader a little more up to speed on what Sheena's like since we've only seen her in action up to now.
Page 12 What's this? More ruins, and more jungle. But not Sheena's jungle! She's attuned to this, and will notice right away. Most of us would probably have a harder time picking up on the clues, especially after such a disorientating trip. However, we might recognize that tree house fairly quickly…
Page 13 Okay, so at this point Sheena still doesn't understand the time component of her trip, or exactly how much trouble she's in. Happily, she's about to meet someone who can help her out… As long as she's willing to offer some aid in return.
Page 14 It's true, the natural world is under threat just about everywhere, and has been for the entire last century. What these people are doing here is mirroring what's happening back in her own time, which will turn out to be the opposite of a coincident…
Page 15 Sheena's not at all what these workers were expecting, especially dressed in her iconic costume that is a bit worse for wear after all she's been through. The subtext here is that they don't trust what they're seeing, because they associate this area with an entirely different jungle protector.
Page 16 What? More people dressed rather like Sheena attacking the workers? Sheena doesn't know them, but she recognizes something about them (and the reader will perhaps remember a certain tattoo from earlier in the story)…
Page 17 These men obviously want this area left alone, but they aren't prepared for what they're up against. And they don't know that Sheena isn't with the workers.
Page 18 & 19 It's a slaughter. The workers are prepared, and they're not taking any chances. Hopefully the sympathy of the reader here will be with the attackers since they are trying to defend their home, just as Sheena was doing at the start of the issue, but are not equipped with guns as the workers are.
Page 20 A classic cliffhanger for Sheena, something I'm a fan of doing for characters that have their roots deep in the pulps.
Page 21 So, we've seen Tarzan's home, and his friend Cheetah, but where is the Lord of the Jungle himself?
Page 22 London! Something pretty important must be going on for Tarzan to leave his home unprotected like this, and we've already seen the consequences. We'll be learning much more next issue, but for now we leave Tarzan on a cliffhanger too, but one that functions in a different way from Sheena's.
It can be tough to serve both characters during a crossover, and this first issue was heavy on Sheena's story. That's because we're meeting her in such a different time and place than we expect, and we're seeing a lot of the mystery through her eyes. Future issues will focus more on Tarzan, as his fight becomes Sheena's fight, and vice versa. But for now building the mystery is of primary importance.
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