Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle #1: This is a Different Kind of Jungle

This story takes place shortly after the story of the first volume.  It retains the original antagonist company with a twist.  Of course Sheena is against the company but again there is the twist.

I think it is an interesting storytelling technique to show Sheena not in the jungle in her first appearance.  Since she is surprised she is not in the jungle I can only assume that her “abduction” occurred recently in the time line.  We are even provided a quick flashback explaining what happened.  Afterwards we get into the typical fish out of water experience but thankfully that is a little short.  I do have an issue that the writing included Sheena without clothes. How was her leopard skins removed?  I understand the need to have her dressed in a “civilized” manner when they are out in the open but having her in a hotel bed without clothing is a little disturbing for me.

The uneasy alliance between Sheena and Caldwell Industries is fascinating.  I am happy to see Caldwell run by Ms. Jeffries.  The villain may not be a mustache-twirling madman but a woman in pumps.  Just as women can be protagonists, I am equally excited to see women as antagonists as well.

Jeffries is shown as very manipulative.  She knows that Sheena will not help her find the missing vacationers unless she holds a trump card and the placing of Sheena’s animal friends who were abducted with her in the dome is perfect motivation for Sheena to help Jeffries.  I do believe that there will be a cost to this move in the future.

The art here is terrific and beautiful.  There is a visual distinction of the concrete jungle and the actual jungle.  The two places look different while using the same art style.  That boils down to detail.  The glass in the buildings look real just as the leaves on the trees are equally defined

From the appearance of the giant beast in the end it appears that this story may have a supernatural element to it.  The creature is drawn as huge and glowing red with yellow blazing eyes.  The interesting thing is that Ransome, Sheena’s contact with Caldwell, is very interested in its appearance.  Does Ransome know something that we do not?