Dynamite Entertainment 2017
Written b Marguerite Bennett & Christina Trujillo
Illustrated by Moritat & Dimi Macheras
Coloured by Moritat & Casey Silver
Lettered by Thomas Napolitano
Deep in the heart of the Amazon, Sheena acts as guardian and protector, defending her home from any threats that might dare present themselves. Without warning, the delicate balance of Sheena’s world is shattered forever by the arrival of an outside force greedy to get its hands on the ancient secrets the forest holds. Now Sheena must protect her home from a menace unlike anything she’s ever faced before—one threatening to tear the jungle apart from the outside…
There’s so much to be enjoying about this book. Forget the fact that you’ve got to amazing women at the helm writing it and one stellarly talented artist. This is great because it’s a modern interpretation of a classic character as it fits into today’s world. There’s no need to rework her origin or tweak things it’s straight up Sheena and it works on every possible level there is. The story has a great premise and blends the mythology of her people with the modern world in a fresh new and sometimes infuriating way.
I’ve had some time to digest this issue and honestly I kind of needed it. The characterisation here is so good, strong and harsh at times that I kind of felt like there was this unnecessary trope in play but the upon being able to think about it I got that it’s just the mindset of the characters, what they do for a living and whom they work for. But leave no doubt I wanted to both smack the heck out of them and the girls for making them come across this way. Then again I’m somewhat old fashioned and I’d never be around who acted or believed in what they do and it is actually very, unfortunately, representative of today’s societal beliefs.
Ah Moritat I love his work and I’ve said in the past that my favourite stuff was his Jonah Hex and his rendition of Sheena my just rival that for me. She’s feminine, strong, and a powerful woman while still maintaining that sexuality that she was created with. His use of angles and perspective throughout is a stunning display of his storytelling ability. Also the way he uses backgrounds both with the attention to detail or making them black as night highlight what we need to see beautifully.
The whole idea here is that a corporation wants to survey the land because they want what’s underneath it’s surface. They are a powerful, ruthless and determined to acquire what they wan through any means necessary. This doesn’t bode well for Sheena’s tribe as they are in the area the company is looking at and their surveyor has gone missing. With this tribe the only living people in the area they are accused of killing him which of course is ridiculous and negotiations are non-existent with the people they sent. This, and the opening, tie into the zero issue that came out nicely. While nothing is really furthered from that we do get a greater sense of foreboding from these events.
I love the way this book is structured, the flow of information from different points of view all tying together is extremely well done. There really is a good strong aspect to the writing and it’s hard characterisation, by hard I don’t mean physically I mean in a psychological way and that they can do that so effectively here shouldn’t surprise anyone but completely does. It does because in all honesty you don’t expect it. There’s a harshness to the way we see the Cowodi represented here and in return how the Cowodi see Sheena as well and it’s a great two sides same coin kind of moment when you realise that.
Strong-willed with plenty of her own secrets and the outside world trying to muscle it’s way into her world upsetting their way of life this is going to redefine Sheena. I’m serious about that as we see the mythology of the jungle in the form of the abandoned spooky temple site and the missing people there to this corporation and their hired thugs we’re going to see Sheena have to juggle everything plus the boy with his flying turtles. How this all will happen is anyone’s guess but I gotta tell ya with everything already thrown into the mix I’ve never been this excited for her adventures.