Sheena, Queen of the Jungle

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #18 (Winter
1952-53). Cover art by Maurice Whitman.
Publication information
Publisher
List
First appearanceWags #46 (January 1938)
Created byWill Eisner
Jerry Iger
In-story information
Alter egoSheena Rivington
Janet Ames
Shirley Hamilton
Sheila Fortner
Rachel Cardwell
Abilities
  • Ability to communicate with wild animals
  • Proficiency with knives, spears, bows
  • 1984 film version:
  • Telepathic communication with jungle animals
  • 2000 TV series version:
  • Ability to shapeshift into any animal she makes eye-to-eye contact with

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is a fictional American comic book jungle girl heroine, originally published primarily by Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. She was the first female comic book character with her own title, with her 1941 premiere issue (cover-dated Spring 1942) preceding Wonder Woman #1 (cover-dated Summer 1942). Sheena inspired a wealth of similar comic book jungle queens. She was predated in literature by Rima, the Jungle Girl, introduced in the 1904 William Henry Hudson novel Green Mansions.

An orphan who grew up in the jungle, learning how to survive and thrive there, she possesses the ability to communicate with wild animals and is proficient in fighting with knives, spears, bows, and makeshift weapons. Her adventures mostly involve encounters with slave traders, white hunters, native Africans, and wild animals.[1]

  1. ^ Sergi, Joe. "Tales From the Code: The Near Extinction of Sheena," CBLDF website (January 25, 2013).