SHEENA: QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (VOL. 2) #5, from Dynamite Comics on April 13th, 2022, concludes the arc with the Battle for the Biodome as Sheena and her friends confront Hunters and Soldiers.
The Details
- Written By: Stephen Mooney
- Art By: Jethro Morales
- Colors By: Dinei Ribeiro
- Letters By: Taylor Esposito
- Cover Art By: Lucio Parrillo
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: April 13, 2022
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Was It Good?
SHEENA: QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (VOL. 2) #5 wraps up the strong return of the modern pulp character with an equally strong conclusion filled with action, plot twists, and a new direction of the Jungle Heroine.
The strength of this latest volume is its consistency in delivering a pleasing story that mixes the admittedly dated premise of the character set in a modern world. How do you take a heor built for jungle life away from the trappings of modern society and use that character to solve modern problems with modern solutions? As Mooney successfully shows here, you make the character powerful in physical prowess and adaptability to any situation. It’s Sheena’s cunningness to use technology when needed. Her jungle skills only add to her capabilities instead of holding back her potential.
The plot of this concluding issue is generally very good. We get a full reveal of all the villains (there are multiple) and their motivations. What makes the conflict a little more interesting is that the villains do not have aligned goals, and toward the end, they start actively working against each other.
Watching the villains bump heads while collectively going after Sheena makes for interesting drama, but it was sometimes confusing. You could easily lose track of who was doing what and why, especially when a lot of the information about the villainous intentions is dumped toward the end with heavy exposition dialog. So much of this arc started as a mystery about the beast, not as much time was left at the end of the arc to address the real threat, and it came across as “Oh, by the way…” exposition was dropped at the last minute to wrap up the arc.
Morales’s art is great in this issue (we’re happy to see Morales will continue into the next arc), and Ribeiro’s colors are excellent. We noted previously how Morales found the right mix of portraying a natural beauty who moves with the grace and skill necessary for a hero. Not too much cheesecake. Not too much worn and battered beast.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Before the villains put all their cards on the table, refresh yourself on where we left off in our SHEENA: QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (VOL. 2) #4 review.
We begin with Sheena and Beatrice infiltrating the Biodome’s command facility. As they make their way down halls and encounter resistance, Sheena and Beatrice are constantly at odds over Beatrice’s instinctive reaction to kill every guard rather than incapacitate them.
Soon, Sheena accesses the communication systems and connects with Ransome. Ransome spills the beans about the entire operation, including Jeffries’s attempt to expedite the tour’s timeline to hide the breaking of environmental and zoning laws, to convince Sheena to rescue his daughter who was part of the VIP tour group. Reluctantly, Sheena agrees to find the innocent girl.
Meanwhile, Jeffries finds Zorn, and the two argue over their competing interests and methods. With too much to lose, Jeffries agrees to Zorn’s new plan of attack. We conclude the issue with old skills versus new weapons, a little help from furry friends, and a family reunion that ends badly.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
SHEENA: QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (VOL. 2) #5 is a great ending to a very strong arc for the Jungle Queen. The main conflict with resolved in a satisfying fashion, and the art looks fantastic. That said, there were a few too many surprise reveals dropped through exposition that made the conclusion feel as if it had to rush to tie up loose ends.
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