Sheena - A Savage Beauty In A Savage Land

I was looking through my comic book collection last night and paused to look over the cover of Jumbo Comics 74 from way back in April of 1945. At first glance you might not think very much about the action taking place here. It was typical for pulp magazines published at the time to feature women dressing in outfits that would have gotten them arrested if they wore out on the town. Also common were scenes of people fighting off savage creatures, in this case it's lion. Stories that took place in exotic locations were popular as well. Most stories took place in Africa, South America or in the Far East.

What really flips the script here is the fact that it is the heroine Sheena (Queen of the Jungle) is the one coming to the rescue of a handsome and muscular male character. Pulp magazine covers at the time almost always featured rugged male characters saving weak females from everything hordes of rats to alien monsters. 

This was a real break from the norm for a magazine printed at a time when most men were overseas fighting in the Second World War and women were back at home working in the jobs that men traditionally performed. I have to wonder if this cover wasn't an attempt by the artist to appeal to women who were beginning to feel empowered  in world that had previously been dominated by their male counterparts? 

We have to also put other things into perspective. It should be noted that Sheena was a very unique character for her time. While our leopard bikini clad hero was running around the jungle saving men from lions the other main female heroine, Wonder Woman, was spending her time serving as the secretary for the male dominated Justice Society. Sheena was stronger, faster and smarter then the endless line of poachers, pirates, claim jumpers, and mad scientists that chose to invade her domain. Unlike the male characters of the day like Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel who always overpowered and disarmed the bad guys before handing them over to the authorities, Sheena dealt out justice with a sharp knife or spear. If you crossed her there was a good chance you could end up dead. 

It's true, Sheena often times killed the bad guy and sometimes rather savagely.

I have to wonder how a magazine like this ever made it past the rather prudish censors of the 1940s? 

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