Sunday, March 8, 2015

Guest Review - Jungle Jim #1

   My pal Glen Davis continues his stint in the Guest Review chair (thanks, Glen!) with a review of a character who's been changed drastically. 

   Jungle Jim was a character originally created by Alex Raymond to be the topper to his more famous Flash Gordon Sunday comic strip. 

   This was back in the days when a comic strip could expect an entire quarter page or even more space every Sunday, whereas today, a strip is lucky to get an eighth of a page.

   Originally, Jungle Jim was a safari hunter, based in South East Asia.

   Dynamite Comics, in this re-launch opted to take a radically different approach.

   Set after the events in the King's Watch and Flash Gordon mini-series, this issue takes more of a horror angle. It starts with a squad of Ming the Merciless' soldiers being killed by... something... in the jungles of Arboria. 

Then a troubled young woman asks Prince Barin for help in locating Jungle Jim. She needs the legend's help in rescuing her brother from Ming's prison. Barin reluctantly loans her a pair of beastmen trackers, and the trio tromp through the jungle looking for Jungle Jim.

   When they find him he is radically different than the character we know.

   A solid issue. We'll see exactly who and what Jungle Jim actually is in subsequent issues.


Grade: B+ 

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