Writer’s Commentary: Stephen Mooney On ‘Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle’ #4 From Dynamite

This week’s Writer’s Commentary, courtesy of our good friends at Dynamite, is from Stephen Mooney who discusses Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #4. Take it away, Steve.

Hello once again – let’s jump into my writer’s commentary for the fourth issue of our bombastic new Sheena series!

Pages 1-3

We open with a flashback to Sheena searching for her beloved animal companions; echoing a scene we saw in issue one. This time we witness more of the events that lead to the capture of the creatures, as well as that of Sheena herself. I wanted to establish Ransome as a more legitimate threat in this series than he has perhaps been before. It’s certainly not easy to get the drop on Sheena, but the mercenary manages it here and takes her prisoner without too much exertion. Sheena will remember that one, and there’s more to come on this front.

Pages 4-6

Finally we learn the plight of the animals, as well as finding out a little more of the orchestrator of the strange events in the MegaPark. We learn that there is in fact an underground, ultra-elite hunting club in operation underneath the park and that the members of this group have been placing bets and observing the events unfolding top-side. That’s an awful lot of bad guys…

Pages 7-10

Sheena checks in with Ransome after her gruelling fight with Beatrice/the cat creature in our last issue. More and more, she is suspecting that there is far more at play here than the mercenary is letting on and it’s really beginning to grate. Sheena demands that Ransome tell her the truth about what is unfolding in the park, but Ransome still pleads ignorance. All the while, he is reporting to Laura Jeffries behind Sheena’s back. Ransome seems to have backed himself into something of a corner while trying to play all sides, however, and something is about to give.

He contacts Sheena on a protected line to inform her that she’s in serious, imminent danger and needs to get herself ready.

Pages 11-15

The action ramps up as Sheena and Beatrice are hunted down by some rather more serious players of this game. The women find these assailants much more difficult to counter and are both heavily injured in the ensuing melee. The fact that no automatic weapons are permitted on this hunt goes some way to saving the womens’ lives; but it certainly deosn’t render the encounter anywhere close to easy.

Throughout the fight, the women are carefully observed by one particular red-bearded hunter. Who is he and why do his tactics differ? Tune in next issue..!

Pages 16-17

Back to the hunting club, where the other participants are starting to become more wary about taking on Sheena and this mysterious new woman, whom they surmise must be controlling the cat monster, somehow.

Sensing their hesitation, the shadowed master of the hunt entices them with several lesser, but no less desirable targets: Sheena’s animal friends!

Pages 18-20

We cut back to the women as they dress their wounds and attempt to figure out their next move. Sheena finds an electronic locator/map on one of the bodies and begins to parse the information found therein. All the while, the mysterious red-bearded hunter observes them and takes notes. He’s smart enough to stay downwind and out of sight. Once the women have left to pursue the electronic signal, the red hunter moves to retrieve some much higher-end equipment that completely negates the rules of the competition. All bets are off at this stage – it’s simply about eradicating the targets. It seems that this hunter is taking orders from the Hunt Master, too – whether or not the two mens’ endgames align, remains to be seen.

One thing which is certain – the threat facing Sheena is much greater than it ever has been to this point. 

It’s on.

Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #4 is out now from Dynamite Comics.