This is not an island paradise.
Creative Staff:
Story: Frank Cho, Doug Murray
Art: Jack Jadson
What They Say:
The beginning of the End! Creatures from the hovering flying saucer (you’d better check out issue #1 to see where this started!) begin to break up the God Mountain. If they free the dreaming creature inside, the world will be destroyed! Jana and her friends have to fight their way through the Dirt People and past one of their hated and feared Dream Walkers to get to the caverns that holds a piece of an ancient weapon-one that might be able to stop the Aliens from achieving their goal. There’s only one problem-to get the item they need, Jana will have to fight giant blood worms, Gigantopithicenes, and the Dream Walker himself!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having jumped into the third “season” of Jungle Girl here without any prior knowledge, the first installment was a pretty chaotic piece with oh so much going on. Thankfully, with a handy summary of what’s gone before at the start, it was easy to get the basics – and it’s helpful that it’s included with each issue with some minor updates for what’s happening so far. With the nature of the book in how it plays to the big serialized shows of the past while taking it up a few notches, keeping track of it all would be a job unto itself. But in the end, the real driver of things here continues to be Jana herself and though her role is sidelined a bit here, she’s still in control of the overall narrative.
This issue doesn’t bring in much in the way of new until the final couple of pages, but what it does deal with is fallout and the mess that’s presented itself here. With her father talking about all that’s going on, we get her trying to deal with the dirt people and the way they’re making a big play to gain territory amid the larger attack, which makes sense even if it will mostly cause them more trouble in the long run. That has Jana intent on protecting her people as one would expect, and the result is great as she basically gets a batch of the dinosaurs and uses them to attack. It provides for some great action amid the dark skies and the way it plays out is something that while it reads quick, makes for a great second read to delve into the detail of the artwork.
What this installment of the series also covers is what the mysterious creatures from the sky are after. Though we still haven’t seen them leave their classic silver ship yet, it ties back to the earlier events of the previous season when Jana was taken to the large eye underground as a sacrifice. Making the connection that it was a long lost alien whose brethren are now coming to retrieve it, their ire and potential for destruction is certainly understandable. What it also does is serve to push Jana and Togg on their new mission, which is to get pieces of a weapon together that can save the day. Of course, problems abound there that will spill into the next issue, but what we get here is a solid mix of action, exposition and setup for what’s to come.
In Summary:
As much fun as I’m having with the series, Jungle Girl still feels a bit too superficial for me in a way. It’s moving right along and has covered a decent bit of ground, but it feels too much like the old serials in that there’s not enough meat to it. But mostly this season looks to be about the action and it’s serving it up well as Jack Jadson knows how to make some pages look great with the layouts and overall presentation. The only thing that takes it down some is that the coloring is so dark and oppressive at times that it feels like a lot of his artwork is being lost to it instead of accented by it. Still, there’s a lot to like and Jana certainly makes for some very fun scenes.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 20th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99