JUNGLE COMICS 333
Even sarong-wearing movie star Dorothy Lamour had her own comic, in which she
starred as a sarong-wearing jungle girl. While most of the jungle girls wore fur, there
was one other jungle heroine who ruled her land in a sarong. Starting in 1946, South
Sea Girl, who appeared in the aptly named Seven Seas Comics, was Polynesian. Th is
made her, like Tiger Girl, one of the few non-Caucasian comics heroines of the 1940s.
South Sea Girl was a product of Jerry Iger’s studio, the same man who co-created
Sheena. Elegantly drawn by Matt Baker, her name was Alani, and she ruled over “Th e
Vanishing Islands,” hidden somewhere in the mists of the Pacifi c Ocean. Th e natives in
South Sea Girl were all handsome sarong-clad people with the same skin color as their
ruler. However, by 1954, Fox had gotten hold of South Sea Girl and was reprinting
her, with her name changed to Vooda, Jungle Princess. Th ey also changed the coloring.
Now the natives, male and female, were a light brown while their renamed ruler stayed
Caucasian.
Without a doubt, the jungle comics published by Fox were the most grotesque of
all. Th e women wore the briefest costumes and the native tribesman were depicted in
the most racist manner. One of the worst is a story from Zegra, Jungle Empress. In
a tale that is so weird it is funny, Zegra’s tribe is menaced by a manlike beast called
Zubba, when along comes a safari headed by a woman named Tugga, dressed in a bra
and jodhpurs, described as “a cruel and ambitious female wrestler who owed much of
her wrestling success to her hypnotic powers... ” “If the stories we’ve been told are half
true,” she tells her manager, “we’ll fi nd the world’s next heavyweight champ in this gal
Zegra’s tribe.”
Apparently for no other reason than because she is crazy and homicidal, Tugga
suddenly breaks her manager’s neck. Th en, because her native guide has witnessed her
crime, she pushes him over a cliff and gets herself “rescued” by Zegra: “I almost went
over (the cliff ) like my guide, Simba.” Tugga then takes a gander at the tribe’s treasures,
gold and jewels (in jungle comics, the tribes always have treasures), which of course she
plans to steal. She fi nds the monster Zubba and hypnotizes him to be her slave. “I’ll get
those fabulous jewels,” she says, “and I’ll take this beautiful hulk back to the states. Me
with those jewels and owning the heavyweight champion of the world! Ha, ha, ha ha!”
Pointing to Zegra and her tribe, she orders Zubba,” “Go and kill, kill, kill!!!”
Th e tribesmen roll a boulder down onto Zubba and smash him fl at. Next, Tugga tries
to hypnotize Zegra, but as is to be expected, the jungle queen is too smart for her and
resists. Finally Tugga goes for Zegra with a dagger, shouting, “I’m going to kill you, kill
you, kill you!” However, she goes over the cliff instead, and Zegra waxes philosophic:
“ Today’s sun will set and tonight’s moon will rise on a jungle old as the ages, and wise in
judging and meting out punishment to those who deserve punishment!!”
In Dr. Fredric Wertham’s 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, in which he claimed
to prove that comics were a major cause of juvenile delinquency, he came down hard on
jungle comics. When it came to Fox titles, particularly the bizarre tale of Tugga, Zubba,
and Zegra (and Simba!), he could have added that comics could also be a source of
great confusion and amusement.
