| Slot: |
Rima, the Jungle Girl 1 |
| Item: |
Rima, the Jungle Girl 1 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3724318001
|
Owner Comments
This is a tough cover for me. I love the lack of words, and I love the use of color to create depth of image, but I just can't get behind the way Rima was shown on the cover. She's stiff and unnatural looking - which is a hard thing to say, because she does have very realistic body proportions and I love how she's blending into the big cat. On the other hand, her arms look weird - like gangly, her eyes too close together, and the sharp shadow line down her face is really districting with the light source (the moon or setting sun) behind her. Very off-putting. But, the interiors (that wonderful part I can't look at any longer) are awesome. I'm not going to bore you with those, there's plenty available online for you to peruse. Much better written than its immediate competition, Shanna the She Devil, Rima had a lot going for it. But it was also a crowded time on the spinner rack. And this cover, at least, didn't help. Sorry Joe. Not your best work.
Overall? I kinda think I would have taken this home for 20 cents. As I said, just the layering of the colors on the cover is really intriguing. And if that had been enough for me to crack open the book and look at the splash page - well, sold.
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| Slot: |
Rima, the Jungle Girl 3 |
| Item: |
Rima, the Jungle Girl 3 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1314152022
|
Owner Comments
My sole Alex Nino autograph. Joe K - yeah, so if you have followed any of my other registered sets, you know I've got a thing for Joe Kubert art, generally anyway. There's kind of a lot of bodies on this cover - and while I like the 'white people out of their place' look to it - there is something awkward about the body positioning. I'll get back to that. Anyway, have you ever walked in the jungle? This is Venezuela - and I've walked in the Amazon basin in Peru (close enough) - and I have to say, the clearing looks really contrived, and the greens are far too bright and cheery. It's dark down under the canopy. Deep greens with very little sunlight filtered through. The tribal dudes lack any individuality - and that bothers me too - they're reduced from people to 'obstacles' at least for the cover, and that's uncool.
Rima, our hero, our protagonist, is assisting some dude that has overestimated his abilities in one of the deadliest jungles in the world. She's the ultimate in skilled and strong, while lithe - but Joe's gone and drawn her trailing leg & foot like some sort of Liefeld afterthought. It just makes her look less competent to me, less strong.
Overall - the cover colors are strong enough to engage me as a buyer, there's a satisfying lack of word balloons and text boxes (so the editor didn't screw it up), it's mostly well-drafted, but I'm just not completely sold on the cover. I give this a limited chance of separating my young self from my hard earned 20 cents based on the cover.
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| Slot: |
Rima, the Jungle Girl 6 |
| Item: |
Rima, the Jungle Girl 6 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
1029743011
|
Owner Comments
Now - that's a cover! Let's ignore the word balloon, which is totally redundant with the cover image and probably added after the fact by some over-reaching editor. Instead, shall we focus on Rima? Look at the strong diagonal drawn with her body - from her extended toe to the last curl of her hair, creating the idea of motion. Notice how her toe, her hand, and her hair all come very close to the edge of the image without touching - creating tension. The big cat - her tail leaves the edge of the page - showing she's cramped, backed into a corner yet sacrificing herself so that the kittens have enough room. The remainder of the image? yeah, not important. And Joe did a great job of showing that by making them poorly defined, not drafted with super detail, and mostly hidden behind a fallen log. They're needed, but not intended to be the focus of the image in any way.
Overall - the word balloon sucks like an entire satchel of Richards, and Rima's left shoulder has to be dislocated for her torso to be turned like that but with her left arm where it is (just imagine in your minds eye that her hair doesn't cover the shoulder joint and see if you can figure it out), but really Joe nailed the rest of it so well that the total package sells the book. Yeah, there's a reasonably good chance that this cover would separate me from my quarter.
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