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"Dinosaurs And Other Beasts With Large Claws Are Hard On Clothes" – Doug Murray Talks Jungle Girl Season 3

Published Thu, 09 Apr 2015 21:30:12 -0500

Nancy Collins, writer of Vampirella #11, talks with writer Doug Murray about Jungle Girl: Season 3 #1, both on sale now. Cover art by Frank Cho, interior art by Jack Jadson.

NANCY COLLINS: Can you give new readers a brief explanation of who Jungle Girl is and how she came to be a dinosaur hunter?

DOUG MURRAY: Jana the Jungle Girl is a product of her environment. As a baby, she and her father crashed into what is, to all practical purposes, a Lost World where dinosaurs, cave men, and other creatures co-exist in uneasy proximity. Jana grew up in that environment and, as she came of age, became a hunter so she could contribute to her people's (read "tribe" in this case) well-being. Her lack of fear and sharp mind makes her more than a match for most of the creatures she hunts, no matter how big and strong they might be.

NC: What's the reason behind Jungle Girl's unusual costume change?

DM: Dinosaurs and other beasts with large claws are hard on clothes. Jana keeps various furs and garments stashed in various caches around her jungle home, changing when she needs to.

Her current outfit is a wetsuit that she wore while a passenger on Captain Mason's submarine (see Season 2). She had no time to change when she returned to her home as things began to happen almost instantly (which seems to happen a lot around people like her!).

NC: Were you a fan of Lost World fiction as a kid?

DM: I grew up in New York—and visited the Hayden Planetarium for lessons every Saturday morning from my eighth to my tenth birthday. That meant that I spent the morning in the future and the afternoon in the past, looking through the great dinosaur halls and imagining what those skeletons would look like if they were covered in flesh and muscles—Charles Knight's paintings helped me in those imaginings and one of my proudest possessions is one of his original pieces.

As for Lost World fiction—I read any SF I could find as a youngster, including the Doyle Lost World and similar novels that featured dinosaurs—I still look for them now!

NC: How closely do you collaborate with your artist, Jack Jadson?

DM: Not as closely as I would like. Generally, I work full script and don't see the art until I get to the stage where I'm going through things to make sure the imagery fits what I had in mind and the word balloons and captions are where they should be. Once in a while I change the position of a caption or write a new one if I don't think a point is clear—but generally, Mr. Jadson has done just what needs to be done to tell the story.

NC: Can you give us a hint of what Jana and her pals have to look forward to in upcoming issues?

DM: This is the ultimate battle—Jana and her friends against alien creatures from outside time and space—creatures intent on freeing one of their own, the sleeping god that Jana encountered in Season 2. If the aliens get what they want, the world ends—quite literally. It is up to Jana and her friends to prevent that—no matter what the cost.

For more on Jungle Girl: Season 3 #1, click here.

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