The past and present are far too similar.
Creative Staff:
Story: Corinna Bechko
Art: Roberto Castro
Colors:
What They Say:
Tarzan has long been the protector of his jungle stronghold, but this time the fight has to be taken to his enemy’s territory, deep in the heart of London. Half a world away and nearly a century later, Sheena is battling foes of her own when she is mysteriously swept through time and space to 1930’s Africa, leaving her own land unprotected. Will these two Lords of the Jungle find enough common ground to join forces? Or will the resulting culture clash lead to mutual destruction?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I read some Tarzan and Sheena material what feels like decades ago in my youth, these are not characters that I find myself drawn to – though I like the concepts themselves. Similar to a lot of properties from the time they were created in, they’re difficult ones to bring to life in the present day for a variety of reasons. I love that Dynamite looks for ways to do so because these audiences exist and should be served. This incarnation brings together the two characters under the guiding hand of Corinna Bechko, fresh off her Aliens/Vampirella series, and artist Roberto Castro. Both of them click well together here and there’s definitely a solid enough presentation to it that should appeal to those that are fans of these characters.
Though titled Lords of the Jungle, the opening installment is all about Sheena. We’re introduced to her here in the modern day as she’s deep in the Amazon fighting against developers looking to destroy an area with a village and more. With her having used subtle warnings prior to the book starting to try and warn them off, she’s now going all out in pushing back against them in her traditional garb and associates, making for some great visual pieces. Some of it may just feel a little wonky – and it’s weird saying that after devouring lots of superhero books – but with the panther and the parrot as companions, it’s old school in a way that even feels a little old for me. The book essentially is all action here as she works to protect this place of ancient power and it works well in establishing her ability and how far she’ll go. So when it shifts gears to the ancient power exposing itself briefly, killing one soldier before she gets sucked into the vortex, it opens the book up to an interesting take.
Bringing us back to 1936 in Tarzan’s location where she’s finding herself facing the exact same kind of problem with developers, though unaware of her time trip, it presents that conundrum of how things stay the same and seemingly nothing is accomplished. It’s a delicate balance to walk and they’re not really trying to do that here as they’re instead just driving right back into the action side here. Sheena’s story really dominates here but we do get a little Tarzan in the mix in the last two pages, but this is more about setup for the next issue as he’s actually in London at this time and about to do some real damage to some business types. There’s enough context given there but it’s not exactly meant to really get you connected to it. It’s designed to make sure that there’s enough of a hook to draw you back in for more. Which, if you came here for Tarzan, really means it all depends on a single splash page of the character.
In Summary:
Bechko’s tale here is a solid enough introduction to Sheena, though more about her capabilities and intent rather than background. With her thrown into the past it makes for a fun way to connect with Tarzan, which will likely happen next issue if not then the third issue. Tarzan is naturally underserved here and that left me a little frustrated as I kind of wanted to hit the ground running with both of them. The book is very, very, action heavy and Castro executes that solidly throughout with some excellent flow to events and great placement of the camera combined with really nice layouts. The final page is the big one for me as I’m looking forward to seeing how Tarzan is brought to life here as it looks like there’s a real sense of power and primal that’s often lacking in interpretations. I’m definitely curious to see where this goes and whether they can reignite my interest in characters that are very difficult to work with when it comes to today’s audiences.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 16th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
