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Sheena's Legacy and Marvel's Lorna, the Jungle Girl, at Auction

Just as Fiction House was ending Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Marvel launched Lorna, the Jungle Queen by Don Rico and Werner Roth.

Published Sat, 15 Apr 2023 07:47:09 -0500

by Mark Seifert

Last updated Fri, 04 Oct 2024 11:18:56 -0500

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The history of jungle girl comics has seen many characters rise to fame, but Lorna, the Jungle Queen was Marvel's underappreciated first entry into the genre. Created by writer Don Rico and artist Werner Roth and featuring covers by the likes of Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Al Williamson, Sol Brodsky, Al Hartley and more, Marvel's Lorna attempted to continue the legacy of Sheena at a perilous time for such characters. But Lorna managed to survive the introduction of the Comics Code despite some challenges and enjoyed a solid 26-issue run from 1954 – 1957. There are several high-grade issues of Lorna the Jungle Girl up for auction in 2024 October 3 – 5 Good Girl Art and Romance Comics Showcase Auction #40269.

Jungle adventure comics were still relatively popular in the early 1950s; however, the genre seemed to have lost its queen when the iconic, long-running series Jumbo Comics, featuring Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, ended at Fiction House in January 1953. That publisher's Sheena, Queen of the Jungle title had ended the prior November. It would appear that Marvel sensed an opening and quickly stepped up and introduced Lorna, the Jungle Queen, with the first issue released just two months after the end of Jumbo Comics. It is likely that Fiction House forced Marvel to change the Lorna, the Jungle Queen title, as Sheena returned for the one-shot 3-D Sheena, Jungle Queen #1 in the same month that Lorna, the Jungle Queen #5 was published. The next issue continued the series with the title Lorna, the Jungle Girl.

Lorna was the creation of writer Don Rico and artist Werner Roth, and she was certainly a typical jungle girl in the Sheena mold. The character had been raised by her father in the African jungle, until one day the man was killed by an attacking lion. Lorna honed her fighting skills with the help of native tribesmen, who also gave her a helpful chimpanzee companion named Mikki. When a group of headhunters attacked the friendly tribe, Lorna was able to defeat their leader, and was declared jungle queen. Issue #2 introduced guide and hunter Greg Knight, who became Lorna's romantic interest.

The series was well-drawn throughout its run. When Werner Roth left the title, Jay Scott Pike became one of its primary artists for the remainder of the series. Pike worked on a vast range of material and creations at Marvel during the 1950s, and eventually moved on to DC Comics in the 1960s, where he focused on romance titles and created the character Dolphin. Covers by the likes of Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and Al Williamson set the tone for the series.

Unsurprisingly, Lorna did not make the transition to the Comics Code era without attracting the attention of would-be censors. At the end of 1954, Lorna became one of the subjects of a meeting between Buffalo News Co. executives and officials of that city, and the title ended up on the American Legion's list of objectionable comic books in early 1955, despite Comics Code approval.

Lorna was enough of a success that Marvel expanded its presence in the jungle adventure genre, which came to include Jann of the Jungle, and Leopard Girl in Jungle Action during that period. There are several high-grade issues of Lorna the Jungle Girl up for auction in 2024 October 3 – 5 Good Girl Art and Romance Comics Showcase Auction #40269.