Frank Cho's Jungle Girl: The Complete Omnibus - A Comic Book Review

COVER PAGE 👆

Frank Cho's Jungle Girl: The Complete Omnibus

Dynamite proudly presents Frank Cho's Jungle Girl! Overseen by co-writer and artist Frank Cho and infused with everything Cho fans want to see ― beautiful women, thrilling adventures, and, of course, dinosaurs ― Jungle Girl also features Co-writer Doug Murray (Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes, The 'Nam) who's along for the ride, as is series artist Adriano Batista (New Battlestar Galactica: Zarek, Red Sonja) as they bring the Jungle Girl to life!

This Complete Omnibus features all three "Seasons" of the Jungle Girl series, collected for the first time in one book!

Jana the Jungle Girl lives in a strange land - a land filled with dinosaurs, prehistoric men, and much, much more! When a group of intruders find themselves in need, Jana races to save them, kicking off a chain of events that, with each new chapter, reveals more clues about the nature of Jana, and of the island itself!

This book was reviewed based on its Kindle edition available in Amazon -

US - https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Chos-Jungle-Girl-Complete/dp/1524115444

India - https://www.amazon.in/Frank-Chos-Jungle-Girl-Complete/dp/1524115444

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

This is a book reminiscent of the pulp books of an earlier era and the art lines of this book gels well with Frank Cho's history of figure drawing, precise lines, and depiction of well-endowed women that has been seen in numerous similar books like in the Shanna the She Devil.

This kind of takes one into unwarranted territory, in todays ultra-sensitive world where this kind of over the board celebration or parody of the female form very much like what we would end up seeing if Tarzan or Conan was a female and the art of the comic would celebrate their forms very like we see in other comic lines like Red Sonja and Vampirella; is demonized and attempted for interpretations.

This book and its storylines have so much of details in the art.

Some of the art featured in these stories are gory but clear and there are fantastical animals and chimeras in the story which makes the story line predate its existence. This is a lost world that neither Crichton nor AC Doyle could have created. There is so much more than science in this book that one can take this graphic novel into the realms of SF and Fantasy. 

Frank has to be commended about the art. This book was released way back in 2015 some seven years back and captures art from the period from 2007- 2015 and the art still seems fantastic. 

For me the best part of the book was in the entity that seems to loom over the planet, deep within it and reminds one of Cthulhu. But what worked for me was the art of the eye (already put in a reminder about spoilers so you can see a snap of that page later in this review). The sheer malevolence that seems to permeate the soul when you look at the art, dripping in gallons and the pages devoted to that eye was the highpoint. The art prior and post that is equally great but malevolence captured is way out and I have perused graphic art about the Cthulhu in various books and illustrations. That art for me takes this novel into a different league and this is after going through the book a second time after a gap of nearly 50 days.

The books starts off with a bang and in the very first story, we have the hunting of a Mosasaur by Jana our Jungle girl. The Mosasaur can be seen in full glory and that is not the best part as aided by the beautiful art we see Jana taking hold of a carapace isopod which itself is walking over the Mosasaur carcass in search of the best place to draw first blood and consuming it raw.

The raw savage trapping and kill is probably the best part of the book with the dinosaurian in full fury, a gigantic killer trapped and killed like a common herd based mammal.

Jungle Girl Omnibus, Volume 1 starts with rapid acceleration and then slowly develops with a mish mash of stories many of which seem inspired from the Tarzan lore, Pellucidar and the Jurassic park stories.

The effects of having writers from the Red Sonja books also show their impact with the curvaceous Jana executing death defying gymnastics and conquering all.

There are varieties of dinosaurs, we have ancient tribes, rituals and we have Jana who has the act of a tribal background but understands and accepts technology (no spoilers here - everything revealed in book).

We can view Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus, Mammoths, Sabre toothed animals, ancient tribes and many more in the course of the adventure.

The adventures take us through the land when we have an airplane crashing into the area and Jana trying to reach the area which is the area of a fierce tribe and her antagonists. Some of the sequences are quite graphic and the animal attacks even between themselves are sketched in great detail.

We also get to see the characters deep in blood and gore following attacks by gigantic insectoids, Snakes and animals that seem more in sync with Pellucidar. 

Jana leads the rescue of the survivors through the jungles with a forest fire threatening to engulf the jungle and forcing this group to go the other way through a treacherous forest. 

The survivor with Jana in the lead finally reach the shores and into a submarine that has been stranded there. While they try to restart the dead in the water boat a Kraken attacks them along with fierce Aqua-men. The giant squid takes Jana away into the water and while Todd contemplates a rescue the Squid attacks again before being repelled by a new species of aqua-women. Todd then leads the rest into a rescue after Jana.

The kidnapped Jana is taken underground into a city like Atlantis where she is chained ready for a sacrifice. 

The underwater catacombs look enticing and sufficiently intimidating. We find out that the Aqua-men like creatures are preparing a sacrifice to welcome the coming of a giant. 

The very planet is threatened with another creature making its way out of a fissure that could be a portal to another realm. 

Jana battles this brute 👆

The giant with the eye mesmerizes and Jana with the help of Todd ruptures the eye hoping to kill the giant. 

The adventure continues back on dry land with animals stampeding the area due to Armageddon like events with flying spaceships, undying tribes and the future of this world depends on a crystal to stop the course of events. 

An ultimate sacrifice delays the inevitable. 

In these books Jana is a strong character and is shown as very decisive and action oriented. Not afraid or overawed by any situation, she has her own fan base with Todd who is her friend and back up.

Despite seeming like a pulp book the story lines and situations are well managed in an old fashioned way with the offending tribes threatening sacrifice for offending their god.

Jana overwhelms every situation and comes out triumphant without a scratch or niggle which is ok for a comic but every time gets kind of tiresome.

The storyline progresses well and every part gets progressively more gigantic than the last one, adventure after adventure losing every person except her core team.

The last part reminded me of Atlantean stories, Aquaman, The Little Mermaid and more recently Grieg Beck's Center of the earth trilogy with the gigantic badass villain..

All in all this is a fabulous ride and if you don't get tired of the continuous run-ins you are going to love it and the art is fabulous.

Go ahead enjoy....

I recommend this book as a good adventure read.

If you like this one then please read, like and share my other reviews here @ Blogger and also @Goodreads -

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/134366167-sanjib-dash?order=d&sort=review&view=reviews

Please do not forget to post your comments. I am an equal opportunity person so would love to hear your love or your hate. Please write what you did not like or whether the book was an absolute disaster for you and why.

You can also follow/like my review at Goodreads here - 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4705521266