Cavewoman
Encyclopedia
Cavewoman is an American
comic book
published primarily by Basement Comics
and additionally by Caliber Comics
and Avatar Press
. The story follows superhuman
Meriem Cooper, a voluptuous barefoot
jungle goddess in a snakeskin
bikini
, who battles dinosaur
s. Created by writer-artist Budd Root
and inked by Devon Massey, Cavewoman was inspired by Little Annie Fanny
and William Stout
.
that ran six issues. She reappeared in the eight-issue miniseries Cavewoman: Rain (1996-1997) from Caliber Comics; the one-shot Cavewoman Meets Explorers (1997), jointly from Basement Comics and Explorer Press; the one-shot Jungle Tales of Cavewoman (1998), released in both a standard and a mature-audience edition; Cavewoman: Odyssey #1, the only issue of a planned five-issue miniseries from Caliber Comics; and other titles through at least 2001.
As of 2008, Meriem appears in the ongoing series Cavewoman: Pangean Sea and the semi-regular mature series Prehistoric Pin-ups and Jungle Tales.
.
Meriem Cecilbie Cooper is born in July 1980 to parents Robert Addam Cooper and Gail Nicole Reicher, in the town of Marshville, Oregon. After Robert dies of unknown causes, Gail turns to drugs, which leads her to fall in with an unsavory group of men. Eventually wanting to sever her ties with this group for Meriem's sake, Gail seeks the help of Meriem's scientist-inventor grandfather, Francis Peacock Reicher, affectionately called "Gramp." After first being thwarted, Gramp makes a mysteriously superhuman return, defeating the men easily and taking Meriem away on a hovercycle from the future.
At Gramp's laboratory, Meriem discoveres a time machine
and a body-enhancing device that allows a living being to pass through the time stream. It is here that she first meets Klyde, Gramp's 15-foot-tall lab gorilla
who has been accidentally altered by the body enhancer. Gramp then enhances Meriem as well, and the trio begins an ongoing adventure through time while on the run from dinosaurs and a secret branch of the government.
As events transpire, Gramp is written out of the story when he is killed by a Tyrannosaurus
and Meriem stayed far from the cave that they settled down in. After a fierce fight with local carnivores near the "Quasi-Birds" nests, Meriem ended up naked when her clothes were torn off during the fight. Upon aging into a buxom 19-year-old, Meriem had lived in the local jungles naked (minus her hunting weapons), savage, happy, and free. Dinosaurs were taught to fear her. Meriem reunited with Klyde, who attacked her and broke her weapons. She then returned to the cave where she and Gramps had settled down. Not wanting to be naked and savage anymore, she eventually made a jungle bikini (with dinosaur teeth hanging on the strings) out of a leopard-printed snakeskin blanket. She also avenged her grandfather by slaying the Tyrannosaurus responsible for killing him, but rescued two Tyrannosaurus hatchlings from Velociraptor
s. One that was named Harmony became Meriem's companion while one named Peace became her enemy.
Later, the whole town of Marshville is transported into a prehistoric past.
Meriem is also highly resistant to injury
. A low caliber gunshot to the back and bites from Velociraptors have failed to penetrate her tough skin. She can survive falls from great heights, like when she fell from the cliffs to the beach. Things that have been proven to penetrate her skin or otherwise injure her are attacks that are directed with great strength or force such as a Tyrannosaurus bite, Klyde's blows or armor-piercing ammunition.
Meriem's enhanced molecular structure has a healing effect that slowly heals wounds over time. The effect is hastened when a lot of food is eaten and metabolised. The more food consumed, the more immediate the healing. Meriem always gets hungry after she gets injured. Meriem has healed dinosaur
bites, armor-piercing bullets and even a Yeti
yanking off all of her head hair. The next morning she had grown her hair back. The worst injury Meriem is shown taking is when she battled a berserk Klyde during Cavewoman: Rain. Klyde beat her to the extent where Meriem stopped breathing and appeared dead in a "death state" while her enhanced molecular structure slowly repaired itself without Meriem eating anything to hasten the healing process. The citizens of Marshville buried her while the healing effect repaired the damage after two weeks. After completely physically healing, Meriem was extremely hungry afterward.
Meriem also has above average running speed, described as moving at "30 miles per hour". Once when she ran, Bruce had to ride after her in his motorcycle in order to keep up with her.
She is an extremely powerful swimmer and can hold her breath for long periods when fighting underwater
. She has also proven resistant to the effects of drowning
, being capable of expelling water from her lungs even when unconscious.
Meriem's sense of smell and hearing are also enhanced. In addition, she has psychic
powers, the limits of which have not been revealed. She can see Gramp as some kind of spirit
who appears to her from time to time, offering advice and insight. No one can see or hear Gramp but Meriem. She has a psychic bond with Klyde and Harmony.
She is also an expert knife-thrower, and can decapitate a pterodactyl with a thrown blade.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
published primarily by Basement Comics
Basement Comics
Basement Comics is an independent comic book publisher owned by Budd Root. Basement Comics is best known for publishing the popular good-girl title Cavewoman A division of Amryl Entertainment, Basement Comics is based in Mount Airy, North Carolina, and was founded in 1993.In addition to Root,...
and additionally by Caliber Comics
Caliber Comics
Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, in the next decade Caliber published over 1300 comics and ranked as one of the America's leading independent publishers...
and Avatar Press
Avatar Press
Avatar Press is an independent American publisher of comic books, founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois.Avatar initially published only mini-series; however, they have since begun to branch out...
. The story follows superhuman
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
Meriem Cooper, a voluptuous barefoot
Barefoot
Barefoot is the state of not wearing any footwear. Being barefoot is regarded as a human's natural state, though for functional, fashion and social reasons footwear is worn, at least on some occasions...
jungle goddess in a snakeskin
Snakeskin
Snakeskin may refer to:*Snakeskin, a material that is made from the skin of a snake*Snakeskin , a song by Australian band Gyroscope*Snakeskin , a New Zealand film*Snakeskin , a side project of Tilo Wolff from Lacrimosa*Snakeskin Glacier...
bikini
Bikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
, who battles dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. Created by writer-artist Budd Root
Budd Root
Budd Root is an American cartoonist, and creator of the independent comic book Cavewoman, published by Root's company Basement Comics/Amryl Entertainment. Root is one of the premiere contemporary "good girl" artists, with an art style similar to Art Adams.'- Biography :Root was born in Heidelberg,...
and inked by Devon Massey, Cavewoman was inspired by Little Annie Fanny
Little Annie Fanny
Little Annie Fanny was a comic strip created by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder for Playboy in October 1962. The inspiration for the comic strip was Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie. The comic follows the escapades of Annie Fanny, a tall, blonde, amply breasted, round buttocked, curly-haired young...
and William Stout
William Stout
William Stout is an American fantasy artist and illustrator with a specialization in paleontological art. His paintings have been shown in over seventy exhibitions, including twelve one-man shows. He has worked on over thirty feature films, doing everything from storyboard art to production design...
.
Publication history
Meriem Cooper first appeared in Basement Comics' Cavewoman #1 (Dec. 1993), the first issue of a black-and-white, independent comics miniseriesMiniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
that ran six issues. She reappeared in the eight-issue miniseries Cavewoman: Rain (1996-1997) from Caliber Comics; the one-shot Cavewoman Meets Explorers (1997), jointly from Basement Comics and Explorer Press; the one-shot Jungle Tales of Cavewoman (1998), released in both a standard and a mature-audience edition; Cavewoman: Odyssey #1, the only issue of a planned five-issue miniseries from Caliber Comics; and other titles through at least 2001.
As of 2008, Meriem appears in the ongoing series Cavewoman: Pangean Sea and the semi-regular mature series Prehistoric Pin-ups and Jungle Tales.
Fictional character biography
The story of Cavewoman is rooted deeply in science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
.
Meriem Cecilbie Cooper is born in July 1980 to parents Robert Addam Cooper and Gail Nicole Reicher, in the town of Marshville, Oregon. After Robert dies of unknown causes, Gail turns to drugs, which leads her to fall in with an unsavory group of men. Eventually wanting to sever her ties with this group for Meriem's sake, Gail seeks the help of Meriem's scientist-inventor grandfather, Francis Peacock Reicher, affectionately called "Gramp." After first being thwarted, Gramp makes a mysteriously superhuman return, defeating the men easily and taking Meriem away on a hovercycle from the future.
At Gramp's laboratory, Meriem discoveres a time machine
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
and a body-enhancing device that allows a living being to pass through the time stream. It is here that she first meets Klyde, Gramp's 15-foot-tall lab gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
who has been accidentally altered by the body enhancer. Gramp then enhances Meriem as well, and the trio begins an ongoing adventure through time while on the run from dinosaurs and a secret branch of the government.
As events transpire, Gramp is written out of the story when he is killed by a Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
and Meriem stayed far from the cave that they settled down in. After a fierce fight with local carnivores near the "Quasi-Birds" nests, Meriem ended up naked when her clothes were torn off during the fight. Upon aging into a buxom 19-year-old, Meriem had lived in the local jungles naked (minus her hunting weapons), savage, happy, and free. Dinosaurs were taught to fear her. Meriem reunited with Klyde, who attacked her and broke her weapons. She then returned to the cave where she and Gramps had settled down. Not wanting to be naked and savage anymore, she eventually made a jungle bikini (with dinosaur teeth hanging on the strings) out of a leopard-printed snakeskin blanket. She also avenged her grandfather by slaying the Tyrannosaurus responsible for killing him, but rescued two Tyrannosaurus hatchlings from Velociraptor
Velociraptor
Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis; fossils...
s. One that was named Harmony became Meriem's companion while one named Peace became her enemy.
Later, the whole town of Marshville is transported into a prehistoric past.
Powers and abilities
Meriem's various superhuman powers come from her enhanced molecular structure. It was altered and enhanced by Gramp, so she can survive the rigors of time travel. If he hadn't altered her with the process, the time travel effect would have turned her body into "hamburger". Meriem stands at 5'8", weighs 350 lbs, and possesses extraordinary strength and stamina. She is strong enough to rip a Velociraptor's arm out of its socket. She's also picked up a downed street lamp. Meriem's strength also allows her to leap lengthy distances, such as between buildings in New York City, or leaping onto the top of a truck's trailer from street level. She is strong enough to leap through the forest with a full grown man on her back.Meriem is also highly resistant to injury
Injury
-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
. A low caliber gunshot to the back and bites from Velociraptors have failed to penetrate her tough skin. She can survive falls from great heights, like when she fell from the cliffs to the beach. Things that have been proven to penetrate her skin or otherwise injure her are attacks that are directed with great strength or force such as a Tyrannosaurus bite, Klyde's blows or armor-piercing ammunition.
Meriem's enhanced molecular structure has a healing effect that slowly heals wounds over time. The effect is hastened when a lot of food is eaten and metabolised. The more food consumed, the more immediate the healing. Meriem always gets hungry after she gets injured. Meriem has healed dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
bites, armor-piercing bullets and even a Yeti
Yeti
The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
yanking off all of her head hair. The next morning she had grown her hair back. The worst injury Meriem is shown taking is when she battled a berserk Klyde during Cavewoman: Rain. Klyde beat her to the extent where Meriem stopped breathing and appeared dead in a "death state" while her enhanced molecular structure slowly repaired itself without Meriem eating anything to hasten the healing process. The citizens of Marshville buried her while the healing effect repaired the damage after two weeks. After completely physically healing, Meriem was extremely hungry afterward.
Meriem also has above average running speed, described as moving at "30 miles per hour". Once when she ran, Bruce had to ride after her in his motorcycle in order to keep up with her.
She is an extremely powerful swimmer and can hold her breath for long periods when fighting underwater
Underwater
Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water...
. She has also proven resistant to the effects of drowning
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
, being capable of expelling water from her lungs even when unconscious.
Meriem's sense of smell and hearing are also enhanced. In addition, she has psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
powers, the limits of which have not been revealed. She can see Gramp as some kind of spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
who appears to her from time to time, offering advice and insight. No one can see or hear Gramp but Meriem. She has a psychic bond with Klyde and Harmony.
She is also an expert knife-thrower, and can decapitate a pterodactyl with a thrown blade.