Jun-Gal

Origin

 

Having heard rumors of a strange things going on in the jungle, Dr. John Teal suspects that what they are talking about may in fact be a huge deposit of uranium.

About to go on the dangerous search for the element by himself his wife insists on not only going along, but also bring their three year old daughter Joan, insisting it’s too dangerous Dr. Teal’s worry is assuaged when informed that Joan’s old caretaker from Virginia, known as Mammy, will also go.

Before long the Teals find the uranium which is situated in the middle of the village of the fierce Tagomas tribe.

Soon the Teals are dead and things look dire for baby Joan until the chief of the Tagomas, at the intervention of Mammy, spare her and the child who is then adopted by the chief.

At the years go by Joan, who has been renamed Jun-Gal by the tribe, grows to be a young woman, however because of the nearby radium, which is held in a flaming pit known as the Pit of Death, Jun-Gal has develop “extraordinary powers” though in the 5 stories in which she appears what these “powers” are is never really spelt out, though she does seem to be strong, agile and is able to handle without harm large amounts of uranium that kill others.

However when a rival kills the chief of the village in a bid to take it over and insists on killing Jun-Gal and Mammy as a show of the end of the old order, Jun-Gal’s remarkable agility and strength turns the tables as she trounces both the usurper and his cronies, ending by tossing the murderer of the old chief into the blazing Pit of Death.

After that Jun-Gal takes over as the leader, queen/goddess of the Togomas.

Eventually Nazi also searching for the uranium invade the village only to be defeated by Jun-Gal.

This however also leads to the notice of the Allies, which in turns lead to Jun-Gal and Mammy returning to civilization, however shortly after entering her first big city Jun-Gal starts to feel sick.