Jungle Tales was an American

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...

 title published by Atlas Comics

Atlas Comics

Atlas Comics may refer to* Atlas Comics , one of the two comic publishing companies that would be the forerunner of Marvel Comics* Seaboard Periodicals, founded by Timely/Atlas /Marvel founder, a short-lived comic publisher that published under the Atlas Comics name and referred to as...

, the 1950s predecessor to Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

. It was an anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 title of stories set in an African jungle

Jungle

A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...

.

Publication history

Jungle Tales ran seven issues, cover-dated September 1954 to September 1955. The numbering then continued under a new title, Jann of the Jungle

Jann of the Jungle

Jann of the Jungle is a fictional comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Jay Scott Pike in the anthology title Jungle Tales #1 , published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics....

, starring the titular jungle girl character.

Marvel's first series star of color

One regular feature in Jungle Tales, "Waku, Prince of the Bantu", starred an African chieftain in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, with no regularly featured Caucasian

Caucasian race

The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

 characters. The series' art was by Ogden Whitney

Ogden Whitney

Ogden Whitney was an American comic-book artist and sometime writer active from the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comics through the 1960s Silver Age. He is best known as co-creator of the aviator hero the Skyman and of the superpowered novelty character Herbie Popnecker and his alter ego, the satiric...

, succeeded by John Romita Sr.

Waku, who predated mainstream comics' first black superhero, Marvel's Black Panther

Black Panther (comics)

The Black Panther is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciller-co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four #52...

, by nearly a dozen years, headlined one of four regular features in each issue. It would take a decade for the first African-American series star, the Western

Western comics

Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...

 character Lobo

Lobo (Dell Comics)

Lobo is a fictional Western comic book hero who is the medium's first African-American character to headline his own series.-Publication history:...

, to appear, and nearly two decades before the likes of the Black Panther, Luke Cage

Luke Cage

Luke Cage is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1...

, and the Falcon

Falcon (comics)

The Falcon is a fictional comic book superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics.Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan, and introduced in Captain America #117 , the character is mainstream comics' first African-American superhero...

would star in solo series.