Although the sub-genre of jungle comics is one which has a solid foundation in the golden age of comics, it is also one which is limited in both its appeal and its ability to impress.  In the early golden age when the jungle comics were originally introduced, there was only 7 or 8 decades since when Africa and India were being heavily colonized by the European powers, and without the advent of mass media, there was still very much the feeling of the exotic when it came to these places.  Now further separated from this era in time, and far better able to access these remote areas through all forms of media, there is less place in popular culture for stories featured around the jungle.

It is likely there that the creative team got behind this issue got to this mish-mash of story telling.  Jana’s jungle island is already one which is intersected by other sub-genres, notably the apocryphal dinosaur setting.  Those reading this series at the moment might think that Jungle Girl is even a bit of a misnomer.  The titular series heroine Jana is after all dressed in a black catsuit which would be more at place in an espionage story and her main enemies seem to be some kind of extraterrestrials.  She still has her old enemies, the Dirt People, to deal with, but there is definitely a bit of science fiction mixed into this jungle fantasy.

While the mish-mash of genres doesn’t seem like it would produce anything of note, it actually manages to do so.  Conversely it is not as though this is amazing story telling or a gripping plot, but it contains pretty much what one would expect out of a series called Jungle Girl, a cool heroine embroiled in adventure, and in the case of this series, with a heavy dose of humor thrown in.  That the story doesn’t necessarily follow a jungle story line makes the title of the series a bit of a misnomer, but it doesn’t make the series any less fun.

Story: Frank Cho and Doug Murray Art: Jack Jadson
Story: 7.7 Art: 7.7 Overall: 7.7 Recommendation: Read

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review