Cave Girl--Story #1

The popularity of Tarzan spawned a lot of imitators, several of whom (such as Ki-Gor) became strong, individual characters in their own right.

A number of the Tarzan clones were women--an obvious route to take, particularly in comic books, where an attractive lady could be made to look pretty Hubba Hubba in a leopard skin outfit.

Cave Girl, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Bob Powell  (both covers and interior art), had a four issue run published by Magazine Enterprises in 1953-54. Her adventures were continued in a comic titled Africa beginning in 1955.

Fox's scripts were clever and fast-paced, with Powell's vivid art bringing each story to life.

It begins in Cave Girl #11 (1953). At first, I assumed that it was #11 because it replaced another title on Magazine Enterprises publishing schedule and kept the same numbering. But I learned from a helpful member of a comic book group on Facebook that, in this case, #11 was chosen to give the impression that the book had been around for awhile and was already popular. I'm not sure how many readers the fake numbering system would have attracted, but in a decade when the comic racks were stuffed with hundreds of issues from dozens of publishers, I guess every little edge you can get would be worth it.

The first story in the issue is "The Pool of Life," which recounts Cave Girl's origins. We start off by learning that its a bad idea to take your young daughter on a safari, especially if that safari is about to be wiped out by angry natives.  Fortunately, young Carol is carried off by a giant eagle before she too is killed.

Since the eagle is planning on eating her, perhaps its not so fortunate. But a wolf manages to kill the eagle and Carol is raised by wolves. (Which makes me think that perhaps Fox and Powell were thinking of Mowgli as much as Tarzan when they created the character).

The eagle has carried her beyond a nigh-unclimable mountain range called the Barriers of the Moon into a remote area called Dawnworld, presumably because it is populated by Neanderthal-like tribes. This is where Cave Girl grows up, becoming a friend of all animals and learning to use spears, knives and bows effectively.

She also grows up to be pretty darn cute, so it's probably inevitably that one of the Beast Men wants to have her as his mate. She objects quite violently to his advances and, using her knife, then her spear, then her bow, soon leaves a trail of Beast Men corpses strewn around the jungle. Eventually, though, she is knocked out and taken captive.

The story veers away here to show us two men making the dangerous climb over the mountains, in search of a literal fountain of youth--the titular Pool of Life. One of these guys in Luke Hardin, who will be a regular in the series. For now, though, he's the guide for Alfred Manderson, who desperately wants to be young again.

This is where I have a small criticism of the story. The addition of the Pool of Life storyline does seem to be abruptly tagged onto Cave Girl's origin tale. Since the book contains three Cave Girl stories, it might have been better to hint at the Fountain's existance in this story, then have it be the main focus of the next story.

In the end, though, the story remains great fun, so my criticism does turn out to be a nitpick.

While Hardin and Manderson make their way into Dawnworld, Cave Girl is calling on her jungle friends for help. A leopard, a lion, a gorilla and an elephant all show up to help, leaving yet another trail of Beast Man corpses strewn around the jungle.

In the meantime, Hardin and Manderson find the Pool of Life. Manderson shows his appreciation by shooting Hardin, then drinking from the Pool. It does make him younger. In fact, it makes him a bit too young, eventually causing him to de-age out of existence.

Cave Girl finds the wounded Hardin, who wants to take her back to civilization. That leads into the next story, which we'll look at in three weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, I think the origin tale and the Pool of Life should have been two different stories, but Powell's lively art still makes Cave Girl's premiere appearance worthwhile reading.

Next week, we'll begin another occasional Wednesday series as we look at Ben Grimm's involvement with a goverment program called Project Pegasus. I will mix up other comic book reviews amongst the Cave Girl and Project Pegasus reviews. Leave a comment if there are any specific issues, series or genres you'd like to see me cover.