Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Women Wednesday: Rima The Jungle Girl

Rima the Jungle Girl #1 (Apr/May 1974) featured a gorgeous cover by Joe Kubert. Nestor Redondo did the interior pencils and inks but the writer and colorist remains unknown. She is the fictional character from W. H. Hudson's 1904 novel Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest (spoiler alert: she is burned as a witch by the South American Indians). In the book, she is known as Rima the Bird Girl that is only seventeen, stands at 5'4" and has black hair. Classics Illustrated first adapted the book in 1951 with her being a blonde.

As you can tell, Rima's appearance in DC Comics differs greatly from the book and bares the same white hair as Marvel's Storm. While her comic book series only lasted for seven issues in 1974 to 1975, Rima appeared in several episodes of The All-New Superfriends Hour between 1977 and 1980. She was brought back for First Wave in 2010 with piercings and tattoos. Her amazing power-like skills include the ability to talk with and summon animals along with empathy for the forest people that she protects.
Cover of Rima the Jungle Girl #1 from DC Comics
Two page spread from Rima the Jungle Girl #1 from DC Comics
Panel from Rima the Jungle Girl #1 from DC Comics
Audrey Hepburn plays a vastly different version of Rima in the 1959 movie Green Mansions, where she is simply a mysterious girl who lived on her parents' plantation. A statue of Rima the Bird Girl stands in Pennsylvania Kensington Gardens in London.

A science fiction backup feature titled "Space Voyagers In Four Tombs" also appears in Rima the Jungle Girl #1.

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