Shanna the She-Devil

Infobox superhero


caption = Promotional art for "Shanna, the She-Devil" #1 (April 2005), by Frank Cho
character_name = Shanna the She-Devil
publisher = Marvel Comics
debut = "Shanna the She-Devil" #1 (Dec. 1972)
creators = Carole Seuling
Steve Gerber
George Tuska
alter_ego =
full_name = Shanna O'Hara Plunder
species = Human
homeworld = Earth
alliances =
partners = Ka-Zar
aliases = Lady Plunder
supports=
powers =

Shanna the She-Devil is a fictional jungle adventuress in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writers Carole Seuling and Steve Gerber and penciler George Tuska, she made her first appearance in "Shanna the She-Devil" #1 (Dec. 1972).

Publication history

"Shanna the She-Devil" was introduced in one of a trio of Marvel Comics aimed at a female audience, alongside "Night Nurse" and "Claws of the Cat". Marvel writer-editor Roy Thomas recalled in 2007 that editor-in-chief Stan Lee

This initial series ran five issues (Dec. 1972 - Aug. 1973), with Jim Steranko drawing the covers of #1-2.

Shanna then starred in a solo feature in the black-and-white adventure-comics magazine "Savage Tales" #9-10 (March & May 1975), in stories by writers Gerry Conway and Carla Conway, with art by the collective pseudonym The Tribe for the first story, and by the former series' team of Andru & Colletta for the second. She also appeared in a backup story in "The Rampaging Hulk" by Steve Gerber that introduced her psychologist. It was the lead-in to a story that went unpublished and partially uncompleted until the penultimate four issues of "Marvel Fanfare" in the early 1990s.

Marvel has also published alternate-universe versions of Shanna, unrelated except for the name.

Fictional character biography

.

After completing college, Shanna began to work for the Central Park Municipal Zoo in New York City as a zoologist. While working at the zoo, Shanna raised many animals, including a female leopard named Julani. During this period another shock to her system came when Julani was shot and killed by a zoo guard. This terrible incident led Shanna to quit the zoo and to take Julani's cubs, Ina and Biri, to the Dahomey Reserve in Africa.

While in Africa, Shanna becomes more attuned to nature, patrolling the jungle and living freely in the wild lands. She begins to wear nothing else but Julani's fur pelt, as a bikini, to help with the raising of the cubs. In the jungle, Shanna becomes more and more at home with herself and her new native element, all the while protecting the reserve from poachers as Shanna the She-Devil.

During her stay in Africa, her father is kidnapped by the Mandrill. Shanna searches for him until the wizard Malgato kidnaps her to Antarctica's Savage Land, a prehistoric jungle. She escapes with the help of Lord Kevin Plunder, a.k.a. the jungle lord Ka-Zar. Shanna returns to Africa to look for her father, and learns he was killed by the Mandrill. Seeking revenge, she goes to America to aid Daredevil and Black Widow in stopping the Mandrill and Nekra's plan to overthrow the American government.

After this, Shanna travels between San Francisco and the Savage Land, finally returning to Africa. Only to find Ina and Biri have been killed by a religious cult leader, Raga-Shah. After a short grieving period in America, Shanna tracks and kills Raga-Shah. Around this time, she begins therapy with psychologist Dr. Dorothy Betz.

Later she moves to the Savage Land, where she and Ka-Zar fall in love, marry, and have a son, Matthew. Shanna and her husband fight to protect the quality of life of all natural habitats from the encroachments of the modern world.

Powers and abilities

Shanna is gifted with Olympic-class athleticism along with extraordinary agility. She is a well-trained veterinarian, with the capability of being close to wild animals. Shanna is adept at hunting and gathering, healing and tracking. She is an experienced fighter, familiar with knives, spears, bows and arrows and other primitive forms of weapons. She has Olympic athlete-level strength: naturally excelling at swimming, diving, climbing, leaping, and running with great speed and determination.

Other versions

A blond, alternate-universe version of the character starred in the seven-issue miniseries "Shanna, the She-Devil" vol. 2 (April-Oct. 2005), writer-artist Frank Cho. This Shanna is the result of a genetic experiment and she also has superhuman strength and agility. One member of a scientific expedition that encountered her named her Shanna after the "comic book character".

The series was originally scheduled for release under Marvel's "mature readers" MAX imprint,Fact|date=November 2007 but was reworked, with Cho eliminating the nudity before publication. It ran with a "PSR+" rating through issue #4, and a "Parental Advisory" rating afterward.

A four-issue sequel miniseries, "Shanna The She-Devil: Survival of the Fittest" (Oct. 2007 - Jan. 2008) by writers Justin Gray and James Palmiotti and penciler Khari Evans, featured this same alternate version of Shanna.

Ultimate Shanna

Shanna appears in Ultimate Marvel form in issue #3 with Ultimate Ka-Zar on the last page of Ultimates 3.

Bibliography

* "Shanna The She-Devil" #1-5
* "Daredevil" Vol. 1 #109-113 & 117
* "Savage Tales" #8-10
* "The Rampaging Hulk" #9
* "Marvel Fanfare" #56-59 (story printed after years of shelving)
* "Ka-Zar" Vol. 2 #1-2
* "Ka-Zar" Vol. 3 #1-34
* "Ka-Zar" Vol. 4 #1-20
* "Uncanny X-Men" #250, 274-275
* "Uncanny X-Men Annual" #7 & 12
* "Marvel Comics Presents #68-77
* "Namor" #16-19, 21
* "Tales of the Marvel Universe"
* "Sensational Spider-Man #13-15
* "Captain America" Vol. 3 #31
* "X-Men Unlimited" vol. 1, #1Alternate Universe:
*"Shanna, the She-Devil" (miniseries) #1-7 (April-Oct. 2005)
*"Shanna, the She-Devil: Survival of the Fittest" (miniseries) #1-4 (2007)

Other Media

Television

* Shanna the She-Devil appeared in the "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" episode "7 Little Superheroes", voiced by Janet Waldo. She was summoned to Wolf Island by Chameleon alongside other heroes Spider-Man, Iceman, Firestar, Captain America, Namor, and Doctor Strange.

* Shanna the She-Devil appears in the "X-Men" TV series. She is seen as Ka-Zar's wife and was first seen being chased by and later hypnotized by Sauron, and later on as one of the prisoners of Mister Sinister.

Video Games

Shanna the She-Devil appeared in "" voiced by Masasa Moyo.

ee also

* Jann of the Jungle, an earlier jungle girl appearing in the 1950s published by Atlas Comics, the predecessor to Marvel Comics

References

External links

* [http://www.marvel.com/universe/Shanna Shanna the She-Devil] at Marvel.com