NEAR MYTHS: "THE DEVIL OF THE CONGO," (JUMBO COMICS #28, 1941)

{Note: the story-title "The Devil of the Congo" appears only on the cover of the magazine.)

I continue to visit Fiction House's SHEENA stories every once in a while because, as pedestrian as many of them are, every once in a while I've spotted strong myth-material, though no full-fledged mythcomics yet. 

I don't recall whether or not "Devil" is the first Sheena story to display a well-dressed, implicitly Westernized Black man in contrast to the tribesmen with whom Sheena interacts. But his position in the splash panel, looking upon the bound figures of Sheena and her mate Bob, clearly denotes him as the villain, and from the first page he's clearly going to be held responsible for the assault upon the peaceful Wasuri tribe. (Like most of the tribes in this and other jungle comics, the tribe will never appear again.)

After a short encounter with a couple of the missing Wasuri, Sheena and Bob are told that the other tribespeople have gone to Elephant River in response to a "white man's curse." Then two more warriors show up and capture the heroes, and the warriors' cowled commander says something about taking them to see a "Great Black Father." The warriors, who are also identified as Wasuri, take their prisoners to the hitherto deserted village, and it happens that the Great Black Father himself has just arrived there as well. I guess he came from that Elephant River place, which is maybe his HQ, but the point is never elucidated. 

Even kid-readers in 1941 probably would have recognized the play on words in the villain's name. The name "Great White Father" was used by American colonials as a high-flown title for whatever authority they reported to-- be it the English king or the American president-- when speaking to various Native American tribes, And the same kid-readers would probably know that the name carried paternalistic associations, even if they might not have really cared that much about conning some Indians. So even just a few pages into the story, it's obvious that this "Great Black Father" is supposed to seem like a numinous presence that can impress simple minded natives the way "Great White Father" was used to impress Indian tribesmen. Unlike the representative of White superiority, though, the villain of the story is a liminal presence. Though he uses the implements associated with White culture-- a gun, a cigar, a megaphone-- and is dressed in suit-clothes, he also wears a stereotypical African headdress. 

At any rate, Sheena and Bob somehow break free and escape the Wasuri village. Their main concern seems to be to find the missing Commissioner Fletcher, but Sheena's attacked by a leopard and must kill it. This delays the duo long enough for the Wasuri to overtake them and drag the heroes back to the village, where, mirable dictu, it turns out that the corrupted tribesmen are torturing Fletcher. Fortunately, the one thing Sheena manages to do during her brief freedom is to send her pet chimpanzee for help, and the chimp manages to stampede a herd of zebras into the village. So this time the heroes escape with Fletcher in tow, and he provides the big reveal: that the Great Black Father is the tool of fascists seeking to "exploit" the natives. (This trope is identical to the one in the 1946 WONDER WOMAN story "Invisible Terrors," though the Sheena tale was published a little before the summer of 1941, about six months before America declared war on the Axis Powers.)

Sheena leaves the injured commissioner with Bob and goes looking for help. She encounters a group of colonial soldiers, several Blacks led by one White guy, but they're actually the fascists who have empowered the Great Black Father. (One may presume the real authorities were Brits, since Kenya is mentioned as a neighboring country and Great Britain controlled Kenya from 1901 to 1960). Sheena gets away and encounters yet another expedition, but this one is headed by Fletcher's wife, and all the colonial soldiers with her are also Black Africans. Sheena has Mrs. Fletcher send the soldiers ahead to the Wasuri village, and the rather dim villain assumes they've come to join him, resulting in his capture. Then the real fascists are shot down and everyone in the Wasuri celebrates because they're impressed with the show of force. 

Though the tribe conveniently forgets the "white man's curse" narrative when it's convenient for the unknown writer of the tale, it's interesting that an escapist story like "Devil" even alluded to native discontent with colonial rule, which topic was almost entirely off limits during the heyday of the jungle-adventure genre.

"Devil" also provides a minor turning point in terms of the depiction of Sheena's skill set. A lot of early stories show the heroine fighting only with such weapons as spear, knife, and bow-and-arrow. "Spoilers of the Wild" may be the first story to show her using a judo throw, but the artwork for "Devil," attributed to one Robert Webb, shows her punching and kicking full-grown men around, which is generally the way Sheena is depicted for the remainder of her comics career.