FICTION HOUSE COMICS
Page 5: The Decline of Fiction House |
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| It is interesting to note that as
the popularity of Fiction House comics began to drop away the
cover layout went full circle. The first nine issues of
Jumbo were montages of small images and Sheena was just one
of many characters represented. From issue No. 161 in
July 1951 Sheena's rule was toppled and she again became just
another small panel around the margin, the way she had been
in the late-1930s. |
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| I suspect that Jerry Iger had
begun to worry that the property was becoming stale and he attempted
to reinvigorate the title by using lurid, horror-style images
as the main focus of the cover. These were beautifully
rendered by Maurice Whitman and were suggestive of the
kinds of low-budget exploitation films popular at drive-in theatres
of the 1950s. |
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| The frequency of publication also
changed from monthly to quarterly to bimonthly to try to keep
costs down and still keep loyal fans interested. In an
attempt to cash-in on the 3D craze that was sweeping the nation
a 3D Sheena Jungle Queen comic, complete with 3D glasses
with red and blue cellophane lenses, was produced. Whitman,
as usual, produced a superb cover. Iger was hoping this
would launch a new 3D Sheena series but the public was looking
elsewhere for it's entertainment, and only one issue was ever
published, in mid-1953. |
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| The last Jumbo Comics cover
had appeared a couple of months earlier, in March 1953 (left).
Issue No. 167, which featured a wonderful Maurice Whitman
image of a long-fanged, green-eyed female were-beast urging
leopards to attack a big-cat tamer in a circus cage, was the
end of an era. In the top left corner, not much bigger
than a postage stamp, was an image of Sheena battling a giant
snake that was wrapped around her waist. She was flailing
away savagely with a stone axe, almost as if it was her last
hoorah! She would not be seen again (officially) for three
decades until the Tanya Roberts
film of 1984 reawakened interest in her. |
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| COMIC COVER GALLERIES |
| Click on the image below to view a complete set
of Jumbo and Jungle Comics covers, and examples of other Fiction House titles: |
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MAGES
• The Maurice Whitman cover of Jumbo Comics No. 167 is from a CD-Rom
of comic covers in my private collection
• The montage of Fiction House covers below was also created from the
CD-ROM of comic covers |
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SHEENA
© is the property of Sony Pictures Corporation
This independent, fan-based analysis of the Sheena material is copyright
© 2006 Paul Wickham
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