Bob Powell’s Complete Cave Girl HC

A lost masterpiece by cult artist Bob Powell! This deluxe hardcover collects early fifties Thun’Da and Cave Girl stories, featuring campy and sexy “jungle girl” genre material at its leopard-skinned finest! Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales) provides an introduction. Includes an essay by Eisner-winning author James Vance (Kings in Disguise) and John Wooley (Fangoria).

In order to truly appreciate the massive amount of comics that we enjoy today, sometimes you need to go back to their roots.  Many of us, myself included, don’t often have the chance to read titles from an era well before we were even born.  This week I had the opportunity to check out the Complete Cave Girl collection.  As one of the many classics that I’ve never seen any of, it was a heck of a jump back in time.

Going all the way back to the fifties, Cave Girl reigned at a time when comics were much simpler.  She ruled the jungles of her Dawn World, an icon of feminine strength and the object of many a young man’s affection.  This collection presents all of her adventures in and out of her home, fighting off foes that range from greedy hunters to evil ape men. 

The art of comic books of course were also much simpler.  There was really no super flashy, hyper realistic illustration or coloring back then, largely in part due to printing and technology limitations.   This doesn’t mean the art is bad, it’s just more basic.  It was clean and gave us the visual presentation needed to get the story across.  It’s just not what we’re used to seeing with books today, but did its job well.

Admittedly, as fun as this time travel in comics was, it wasn’t really a favorite of mine.  Maybe it was just because of the generation of stories I’m used to now.  The many tales of Cave Girl did at times seem repetitive, often being the same premise with different opponents.  Even so, this is a cool way to experience a cult classic and if that’s what you’re looking for, this is a good book for you.

For more on Bob Powell’s Complete Cave Girl or other Dark Horse tiles, check out Dark Horse Comics.

Bob Powell’s Complete Cave Girl HC will be available 11/5

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.