NYOKA THE JUNGLE GIRL Volume 1

Nyoka often gets short shrift in collector's eyes -- Unlike the other barely clad jungle queens, she wore a dress and was clearly an all-ages title. And even the later art was pretty bland. However...these first four issues are outstanding, with far more Good Girl art and they are drawn by the brilliant Harry Anderson, who later did iconic work at Atlas in the pre-code titles. This is not your ordinary Nyoka...these are fun! And each issue is a full-length, four chapter adventure, very unusual during the Golden Age. Published by Fawcett, who had the quality staff, good writers and deep pockets to put out superior comics, these early issues are evidence. Bert Whitman, a legendary name over at DC for his fine work, also is represented here. High-stakes adventure, daring rescues, and action-packed tales. Follow Nyoka, the fearless jungle heroine, as she confronts wild beasts, treacherous villains, and ancient mysteries with bravery and ingenuity. Includes the complete comics, with ads, text stories and all. The first issue of Nyoka was a one-shot, called just Jungle Girl and published in 1942. It had a small photo of actress Kay Aldridge on the cover, who played Nyoka in a then-current serial, Perils of Nyoka. This was a full 64-page issue. It was also the first comic to devote the entire contents to a movie serial adaptation. In winter of 1945, Fawcett decided to give Nyoka her own title. So they counted the 1942 one-shot as issue #1 and began with issue #2. Issue #4 features a bondage cover. Here's more on Harry Anderson from the online comics website, Lambiek: "He illustrated Ace Periodicals features like 'Dr. Nemesis', 'The Flag', 'Sky Smith' and 'Typhoon Tyson', as well as 'Sniffles and Mary Jane' for Dell, 'Black Owl' for Feature Comics and many crime and western features for Hillman Periodicals. "He was an artist on Fawcett's 'Bulletman', 'Captain Midnight', 'Lance O'Casey' and 'Nyoka', among others. In the first half of the 1950s, he worked on many mystery, romance and action titles for Atlas, Orbit and Quality. He also illustrated Quality's 'T-Man'. He then retired from comics. Anderson has also illustrated political brochures and pulps, as well as promotional comics like 'Adventures into the Past' for General Electric and 'March to Market' for Swift. "Bert Whitman was an editorial cartoonist for the Stockton Record. In 1944 he briefly drew the 'Scorchy Smith' comic  but his main work was 'Debbie Dean'. This comic was distributed from 1944 by New York Post Syndicate. 'Debbie Dean' was about a young female reporter, involved in mysteries concerning corruption in the sports world and a gang of Nazis. Alternating sentimental stories with adventurous ones, one of his assistants on the comic strip was Mort Drucker. Whitman drew 'Debbie Dean' until 1949. That year, the censorship board forbid the comic because Whitman used the word "dope" in one of his stories."