Sheena, Queen of the Jungle first appeared in the September 1938 issue of Jumbo Comics #1, published by Fiction House and created by Will Eisner. There was a seemingly endless number of nearly identical "jungle women" in the Golden Age of comics, but Sheena somehow has stood the test of time and is notable for being the first female comic character with her own title (debuting in March of 1942, three months before Wonder Woman's solo title). Like most Jungle heroines, Sheena has heightened agility and can communicate with animals. Since her debut she has had multiple comics series, two television shows, and a feature film. She always stood out to me personally because she is often shown riding a zebra, which is a visual I love (and I plan of seeking out an in-scale zebra for this figure). I assume the official name of Sheena is copyrighted in her past multimedia licensing, so this figure is officially going by her lordly title, Queen of the Jungle. Surprisingly, I think this is her first action figure ever.
In 2021, BigBadToyStore and Fresh Monkey Fiction unveiled this exclusive Amazing Heroes Retroverse Series 7 featuring ten female characters. These were the first females figures in this retro "Secret Wars" aesthetic and included some of the oldest female comic characters ever. In fact, for this post I had to create a new tag of "Era - Thirties." Previously my oldest figures were two Fleischer Lois Lane figures based in the 1940s era, so I love the history being represented here. Series 7 was a crowdfunding-type endeavor with a minimum number of BBTS pre-orders required before going into production. Luckily the collector community got on board.
Sheena comes with a knife accessory.
Here are some solicit images of the customizable Blank Slate character. I did not purchase this, but I like including the images so you can see the construction and pieces developed for this exclusive wave.
I love an excuse to make an infographic. I just wanted to stress the time period at play here. Most of these Retroverse characters pre-date Wonder Woman and are clustered around that magical year, 1941. I don't know what societal factors were in play that year, but the sheer amount of new characters was impressive.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are my eight Series 7 figures. From Left to Right: Phantom Lady, Black Cat, Lady Satan, Fantomah, Miss Fury, Bullet Girl, Miss Masque, and Queen of the Jungle. (I did not buy the modern Cassie figure from Hack/Slash nor the customizable Blank Slate).
Cheers!
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