Nick Peron

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Lorna the Jungle Girl #9

Devil Bird!

While travelling through the jungle Lorna the Jungle Girl notices that the animals in the area have suddenly become frightened of something and are fleeing the nearby area. Finding one of the local natives she learns that they are all scared of something they are calling the Devil Bird. Climbing to the tree tops, Lorna sees the creature in question -- a massive helicopter fashioned to appear like a giant bat. Lorna sees through the ploy and when the Devil Bird tries to grab her in it's mechanical claws she manages to dodge out of the way and the Devil Bird flees the scene. Aboard the ship are two Communist agents who have been using the device to try and scare off all the jungle beasts and natives so that their operatives can set up in the area. One of the men, Barlov tells his comrade Gregor not to worry as he has devised a way to prevent Lorna from interfering in their plans.

Later that day, Lorna arrives at a camp set up by Greg Knight who is out on an expedition with his latest employer Mr. Barlov who unknown to Lorna is one of the Communist spies who piloted the Devil Bird. When Lorna tries to warn Greg about the Devil Bird he dismisses it as local superstition and once again starts scolding Lorna about how the jungle is no place for a woman. Barlov takes this opportunity to try to shoot both of them in the back, but Lorna is warned by Mikki of the danger and she shoves Greg out of the way. However when Lorna tries to accuse Barlov of trying to kill them he convinces Greg that it was an "accident".

As they press forward through the jungle, they suddenly spot the Devil Bird in the sky and Greg aims to shoot it. Before he can, Barlov reveals his true allegiance and is about to shoot Greg in the back when Mikki attacks him, distracting the spy long enough for Lorna to jump him. As she beats the man, the Devil Bird swoops down and grabs her and Barlov in one of it's mechanical hands. While Gregor tries to shoot her, Lorna pulls free and as the hand is on a pulley system that lowers it, she uses her acrobatic skill to swing it up over the propeller of the Devil Bat and sends it slamming into Gregor, knocking both he and Barlov out. Lorna then lands the Devil Bird on the ground so that she and Greg can turn the spies over to the authorities.

Recurring Characters

  • Lorna the Jungle Girl

  • Greg Knight

  • Mikki

Battle of the Giants!

When a giant ape attacks one of the villages in the jungle the natives believe that Agu the Giant has gone mad and began attacking the people who live there. Arriving on the scene are Greg Knight, Lorna the Jungle Girl and doctor Wendell Bryant. Hearing the news, Lorna refuses to believe that Agu could have gone mad, while the Bryant dismisses the attack as nothing more than the product of a fast tropical storm. However Greg believes the natives and begins gathering a hunting party to track down and kill Agu.

Not wishing to see this happen, Lorna slips away to look for the giant ape. Lorna finds Agu at his home and sees that there is nothing wrong. She then leads the giant ape back to the village to show them that Agu means them no harm. Satisfying this, Lorna follows after Greg and the other hunters who have been following the tracks left by the real attacker. The trail leads them to the home of Wendell Bryant and they are suddenly attacked by another giant ape. Before the ape can attack them Lorna and Agu arrive and Agu begins fighting the other ape which Lorna identifies as Agu's brother.

Suddenly Wendell Bryant appears and shows that he has hypnotic control over Agu's sibling and orders the massive ape to kill them all. Lorna swings over to him on a vine and pulls him into the middle of the battle between the two giant apes where he is trampled to death under their feet. With Bryant dead, Agu's brother comes out of his trance and the battle is quickly ended, Agu then takes his brother back into the jungle leaving Lorna to explain to Greg that Bryant was manipulating Agu's brother in order to cause carnage so he could bill the government for treating those who were injured by the giant ape's rampage.

Recurring Characters

  • Lorna the Jungle Girl

  • Greg Knight

  • Agu the Giant

The Trail of Sudden Death

Greg Knight is surprised when he is approached by a meek looking man who seeks to hire him to go into the jungle to search for a rare breed of butterfly and act as his protection from wild animals. Knight finds the prospect silly but decides to take it on anyway when the man offers to double his usual fee.

Knight takes the man into the jungle where he defends him from a large snake. Once they reach the location where the man says the rare butterfly is located he tells Greg to stay put while he goes to observe them. However as his employer walks away, Greg notices that the man is pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket and decides to follow after him. Sure enough the man gets into trouble when a lion tries to attack him but Greg shoots the big cat dead.

Greg soon learns the real reason the man has hired him: to locate a hidden stash of stolen diamonds. The man suddenly takes Greg's rife and holds him at gun point. However the tides are still turned when the lion's mate attacks him from behind, despite Greg's warnings. Greg comes to the man's rescue, wrestling the lion off of him and break it's neck with his bare hands. With the jungle in an uproar the man realizes that he cannot get out of the jungle alive without Greg to defend him and agrees to surrender and allow Greg to return the diamonds to their rightful owners in exchange for being led out of the jungle safely.

Once out of danger the man apologizes for his greed, telling Greg that he found something more valuable than diamonds while in the jungle: his life.

Recurring Characters

  • Greg Knight

The White Death!

Lorna the Jungle Girl and Greg Knight are trying to stop an elephant on a rampage. Unable to bring the giant beast down with his gun, Greg is pulled onto the elephant's back by Lorna and they jump to safety. When Greg wonders why the elephant is on a rampage, Lorna points out that it is suffering from the "white death" a madness that strikes elephants when they are about to die and they charge off to a secret ivory graveyard to die. Greg realizes that the location of an elephant graveyard filled with ivory could make him rich and he decides to go and find it despite Lorna's warning that elephant graveyards are sacred and none will tolerate intruders. Greg dismisses this and once more tells Lorna that the jungle is no place for a woman and goes off in search for the elephant grave yard.

Lorna secretly follows after him to keep an eye on Greg, protecting him from the many unseen dangers lurking in the jungle. Greg eventually makes his way to the elephant graveyard but the elephants gathered there to witness their own die detect his presence and charge after him. With Greg about to be trampled, Lorna yells out a wild bull elephant cry causing the elephants to ignore Greg and attack the tree where the call is coming from. As the elephants ram into the tree, Lorna leaps onto the head of the lead elephant and forces it to lead the others on a charge off a cliff sending them all falling to their deaths.

Later, when Greg returns to camp, Lorna approaches him and asks him how his hunt went. Greg tells her that he realized that elephant graveyards are sacred places and he decided not to take the ivory from it.

Recurring Characters

  • Lorna the Jungle Girl

  • Greg Knight