Jumbo Comics #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeJumbo Comics #4 is the fourth chapter in one of the most consequential origin serials in Golden Age comics — the four-part debut arc of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, who would become the first female character to headline her own solo title, beating Wonder Woman to that distinction by several months. As part of the oversize black-and-white run (issues #1–8), it belongs to the rarest physical format Fiction House ever published, a direct artifact of the title's unusual transnational origins as a reprint of British tabloid material. The issue also marks Lou Fine's debut in comics, adding a second layer of historical importance beyond its Sheena content. Together with its immediate predecessors, this issue helped establish the 'jungle heroine' archetype that would spawn numerous imitators throughout the Golden Age.
Jumbo Comics #4 is an anthology featuring multiple stories: "Peter Pupp" follows Peter and his companions on the moon as they attempt to escape from Zula and rising water in a subterranean death trap; "The Adventures of Tom Sherrill" (Chapter 13) depicts settlers escaping a fort reduced to ruins by Indians, traversing a tunnel to reach a river where Jim awaits with boats, only to face an attack by Native Americans with arrows; and "Spencer Steel" by Dennis Colebrook shows Spencer investigating a bank robbery, trailing the suspects to a saloon where he encounters a man named Doaks and becomes involved in a case of mistaken identity involving a ten-dollar bill.
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All content in Jumbo Comics #4 — including the Sheena installment — originated as material that Eisner & Iger's studio had produced for the British tabloid Wags, for which they had supplied art and subsequently purchased the printing plates for U.S. reuse. This is why issues #1–8 were printed in an oversized 10.5" × 14.5" black-and-white format rather than the standard American comic size. Fiction House publisher Thurman T. Scott had turned to Eisner & Iger as a packager after deciding to transition his pulp-magazine company into the emerging comic book market. The Sheena strips in this era were signed with the house pseudonym 'W. Morgan Thomas,' used by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger to conceal that their shop was a two-person operation.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published December 1938 by Fiction House under the Real Adventures Publishing Co. imprint, as part of the oversized (10.5" × 14.5"), black-and-white format run that spanned issues #1–8.
- Contains 'The Origin of Sheena: Part 4,' the concluding chapter of the multi-issue origin serial; characters indexed include Sheena (Sheena Rivington), Prof. Van Dyke, the witch doctor, and villain Bat Morgan — who dies in this installment.
- Sheena's surname 'Rivington' derives from her father, explorer Cardwell Rivington, who was accidentally killed by the witch doctor Koba, leaving her to be raised in the jungle — an origin laid out across the first four issues.
- Art on the Sheena strip is by Mort Meskin, signed under the studio pseudonym 'W. Morgan Thomas' — a name Eisner and Iger adopted to obscure the small size of their operation; Meskin drew Sheena through at least issue #5.
- The issue contains what is identified as Lou Fine's first published comic book work, on the Count of Monte Cristo installment (credited as 'Jack Cortez') — Fine would go on to become one of the most admired draftsmen of the Golden Age.
- Will Eisner contributed art to additional strips in the issue, working under various pseudonyms in keeping with the Eisner & Iger shop's standard practice.
- The anthology also features continuing installments of ZX-5: Spies in Action, Spencer Steel, The Diary of Dr. Hayward (featuring Stuart Taylor), Inspector Dayton, and Peter Pupp (by Bob Kane).
- Sheena appeared in every one of the title's 167 issues through April 1953, and later earned her own 18-issue spin-off (Spring 1942–Winter 1952), which was the first comic book to title-star a female character — preceding Wonder Woman #1 by several months.
Cast · 2 characters
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Wags [UK] #28 (1937), Wags [UK] #32 (1937), Wags [UK] #36 (1937), Wags [UK] #38 (1937), Wags [UK] #62 (1938), Wags [UK] #64 (1938), Wags [UK] #72 (1938), Wags [UK] #81 (1938), Wags [UK] #82 (1938), Wags [UK] #83 (1938), Wags [UK] #31, Wags [UK] #63, Wags [UK] #69, Wags [UK] #71, Wags [UK] #76
Reprinted in Jumbo Comics #20 (1940), Jumbo Comics #21 (1940), The Art of Will Eisner #[nn] (1982)
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