Zenescope - Omnibusted #42: Jungle Book - Fall Of the Wild

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. The Omnibuster.

In the short time since I finished writing yesterday's review/retrospective on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, I learned the new, non-deprecated way to export my entire blog to a new platform. I will probably be doing that sometime in March (when I have less new content planned), so look forward to that, and fingers crossed I don't screw it up (why did I say that‽).

With that said, it's time for the final book of Zenescope's gender-swapped Jungle Book Trilogy, subtitled Fall Of the Wild (a pun that would make me expect some Jack London references, if I had any knowledge of his books beyond their titles and a movie I barely remember watching as a kid). As The Jungle Book is pretty much a self-contained story with no impact on events in the larger Grimm Universe, I'm not worried about the fact that this third miniseries was originally published three years after the first. But it does present some interesting things to talk about as both a later publication and a trilogy finale. First, there's the clean, banner-ized look of the cover (again taken from the first issue, this is by David Finch with Ivan Nunes on colors), the "Story So Far" page (a kind of superfluous Volume-padder that can be found in part on the first issue's credits page and I feel gets a few minor details wrong for the sake of painting a selfish, emotional, anti-authoritarian brat like Mowgli as a heroic linchpin in the war on hunger even though her actions have gotten her friends and family killed twice and she hasn't learned from it),

and the Table Of Contents (the background for which is taken from the fourth issue, and suggests—along with the revelation of The God Of Fear And Fire in the previous Volume—that the titular Fall Of the Wild may be at the hands of Man; more specifically, the returning pirate crew). The clean lines and solid colors are a sign of the new presentation style, but as a finale collection, it promises the "Art Of the Jungle Book" as this Volume's bonus material (which is just line art of select pages from the Fall Of the Wild issues).

The last thing I'd like to talk about before getting into the story itself is these two pages (as a grammar pedant, I hate several things about this sentence, but I'm trying to grow as a person and not correct things that aren't of great importance, so let's ignore the numerical and verb disagreements, and move on, shall we?).

They feature the series' recognizable black-on-brown tiger striping as a background, as well as 2015's banner-ized look. On the left, we see that The Jungle Book is now being cemented as a trilogy, of which Fall Of the Wild is the final entry. The image here is taken out of context and sepiatoned from the first issue, appearing reminiscent of Neverland's chasing imagery (though Mowgli and Bagheera are actually running almost side-by-side in the real panel).

On the right is the cast page (which a lot of comics from different publishers were doing at the time). Character portraits are taken from covers and panels throughout the series, with the big-bad God Of Fear And Fire getting a drunken driver's license photo for some reason, and it's more superfluous production padding that can also be found on the first issue's credits page, but it serves its purpose of making The Jungle Book's final Volume feel a bit more special.

The Jungle Book Volume Three

Fall Of the Wild

So...I'm confused here because the Launch tag is back. I know it's been over a decade since I read the first Jungle Book miniseries for the first and only other time, so it stands to reason that my memory of something so minor would be wrong, but the first issue of The Jungle Book had the Launch tag and the other four did not, nor did any of the Last Of the Species issues, so it's easy to assume that either it wasn't used past 2012, sequels aren't considered Launch titles, or both. Now here we are with a sequel from 2015 that bears the Launch tag on its first issue covers. What happened? I mean, besides time and my forty-something brain?

Speaking of "what happened?," the first issue opens on ants.

And then Mowgli and Bagheera are just lazing about, watching the Shere "battle" the Payari like it's just an inconvenient but entertaining aspect of life on Kipling Isle. They immediately lose cool points from me because of this, and as for the Shere, they have a lot of nerve exiling Bomani and

for being failures because this is the third time they've tried to conquer and wipe out the elephants in the course of two Volumes, and before that, they failed to wipe out the wolves twice. Yeah, I think everyone sucks now. And so do the characters in The Jungle Book!

And speaking of Jungle Book characters who suck now, Baloo (who literally buried his past as a fascist youth indoctrinator and allowed his people to twist into a bloodthirsty, self-destructive, Man-worshipping cult because responsible leadership is hard) is down in the caves (called Kipling's Root here), fighting his zealous tribe to the death on a more-than-daily basis (which he would not have to do if he had buried himself with the Bada Dar and taken the time to do right by them instead.

Setting up other arcs for this miniseries, we also have the impending eruption of Kipling's Reach (the island's mountain peak) that sends Mowgli and Bagheera in search of Tribe Gyaani (a hermit council of Jedi sloths, so expect some predictable, Zootopia DMV humor that predated that film by a year), the exiled Bomani and Kahn living among the scavengers of Kipling's End, King Bandar Louis being smitten with Akili because she "slayed" Kaa (he's going to be doubly disappointed when he finds out that not only is Kaa still alive, but that Akili vine-swings for Team Mowgli, if you know what I mean), and the God Of Fear And Fire is searching for that missing human cargo from a decade ago.

While the hippie sloths (slowly) tell Mowgli to be a hero and unite the tribes against a greater threat...before burning to death in lava from the eruption, Rikki-Tikki attempts to quell tension among Tribe Tavi by telling another issue-padding, tikka-tic-riddled tale (because yes, even my favorite red-eyed, serpent-slaying speedster is an annoying, sucky, useless asshat in this version). It's kind of an awesome little lore nugget (Kaa got so huge because he was born hungry and ate every snake on the island, including his egg-siblings and his own mother), but there's actual plot that could have been given more page time instead. Plots like Dewan kidnapping Akili for that wedding to the Bandar King, and the continuing Shere/Payari battle-slaughter where we learn that enough time has passed for Hathi to have grown up and become my favorite character, ragdolling and goring a tiger before delivering a cold one-liner. But that's about it. Bomani and Kahn are also there, but they go wasted because no attempt is made to explore their family dynamic in this new exile context. Instead they're played off like background elements waiting for their moment to be relevant again.

I should just keep my cynical mouth shut sometimes because the first page of the third issue immediately remedies the criticism I just had and answers a question that has been lingering in my mind since the first miniseries. The origin of Bomani's claw gauntlets, the real reason the Shere call him "failed tiger," and Kahn's new perspective on revenge all hit too close to the heart to spoil here, so I strongly recommend reading the entire Trilogy for context (it's a fairly quick catch-up) and experiencing this Moment for yourselves.

And despite it being undercut on the next page by King Louie making Pepe Le Pew noises at Akili as unwanted foreplay for a bondage wedding,

this issue absolutely rocks. Mowgli finally takes a few literal pages from the source material (some from the "Tiger, Tiger" chapters and some from "Kaa's Hunting") to use a herd of gazelles (the "Grass Dancers," as they're called here, serve as the comic book equivalent to the original Mowgli's cattle whom he used to box in and inadvertently trample Shere Kahn in the book) to storm Bandar Log with the help of Bagheera and Tobaqui (in the book, it was two wolves from Mowgli's old pack who herded the cattle for him) so she could rescue Akili. Kaa interrupts both the wedding and the rescue and starts swallowing monkeys whole (including Louis and Akili). Dewan guts Kaa Sharknado-style to free everyone. Akili cuts the wedding bond and ousts Louis, declaring herself Queen Of the Tavi Bandar. Bomani and Kahn work together to save Mowgli from being trampled (including another intimate moment—no capital, but the save is a Moment—between Mowgli and a wild man who has tried to kill her). And finally, the God Of Fear And Fire manages to capture Mowgli and set a course for a nearby pirate vessel called the Courageous.

The timing of this is stupid-convenient and only gets explained (I use that term loosely) in the fourth issue by the God Of Fear And Fire just...rowing out to sea and hoping he gets spotted. 

Lucky bastard.

He later explains to the captain (yeah, I praised the Moment between Bomani and his tiger-dad earlier, but this miniseries has a lot of "tell what wasn't shown before" to it because the creative crew knew they had squeezed this particular financial bloodstone as much as they could and were trying to wrap things up as hastily but cleanly as possible; anyway, as he was a grown man when he went overboard, he still speaks the language of Man rather than the Jungle Tongue) that he was unable to learn animal speech and has no influence on the Bada Dar or bats other than what safety the torches provided him. He has no idea that the Bada Dar think of him as a god, and his only motivation is to recapture the man-cubs and use them (especially Mowgli for some reason that makes her bounty higher than the rest) to get rich. That dopey cast picture makes more sense now, and I hate it that he's just some guy defined entirely by greed.

Moving back to the interesting side of the cast, I think it's time to talk about those characters from the original Jungle Book that I didn't get to in yesterday's review, starting with an easy one: Mang the Bat. We now know (because Ginger Man-Bear-Pig doesn't speak the language) that his portrayal here as a warning system and liaison between the Bada Dar and their "god" was a big misdirection, like an upside-down, inside-out Wizard Of Oz, so he's pretty much just there to be there so readers can do Peter Lorre impressions in their heads whether they know that's what they're doing or not. In the book, he gets one mention in the first couplet of the opening poem as the one who "sets free...the night," and a few passing mentions later as a messenger who flies from one end of the Jungle to the other and back again, but has no importance to the story besides the reader learning that Mowgli was taught to speak bat. Tobaqui is a much different character in the book than the comics, and the book is the only reason I have referred to him as a jackal in these reviews (the comics mostly have him referred to as a "wild dog"). Rather than having a pathological, nauseating obsession with Akili (not to be confused with the aged Seeone pack leader from the book, Akila), book Tobaqui is a mangy scavenger and Jungle gossip with closer ties to Shere Kahn than anyone else.

With that out of the way and getting back into Fall Of the Wild, Akili, Tobaqui, Bagheera, Shere Kahn, and Dewan work together to unite the tribes of Kipling (in vain, because prejudice and past misdeeds run deep, even as the island continues to erupt around them) and mount a rescue effort to intercept the Courageous. Cool swashbuckling antics ensue, resulting in the apparent death of Bomani (whom Mowgli was just starting to get sweet on), and the pirates of the Courageous set course for Kipling to hunt down their payday.

This hyper-realism cover by Cris De Lara is beautiful, but attention should also go to the A Cover by Ted Hammond where Mowgli is wearing Bomani's claw like it's the Infinity Gauntlet because of the reference and plot relevance.

After a Moment of a speech where Mowgli is acknowledged as Shere Seeone, she at last unites the tribes of Kipling Isle against the invading force of Man, driving them back with the help of Bandar Louis (who discovered fire last issue) using the shipwreck's cannons against the Courageous. It's an amazing fight, but not the last, because the Bada Dar soon show up, and Baloo's only recourse is to give his life in a mock challenge against Mowgli (using the pre-established veneer of ceremonial combat in the story's favor) so she can use her authority to stop their rampant culling of the island. It's clear that this peace by force is entirely temporary and that by the end, The Jungle Book was more a story of growth into heroism (mostly through tragic loss) rather than of heroism itself, in a world bigger than knowledge can know, where life goes on in a flat circle regardless of those who live it. The potential was definitely there for more to tell in the world of Kipling Isle (more territory to explore, King Louie's dynamic with the Bada Dar as the new God Of Fear And Fire, increasing threats from Man's World, etc.), but for an uncollected Christmas special that I will cover as bonus material in my Trilogy compilation in March, three Volumes was all we would ever get, and as a complete, self-contained story, it mostly works. There are times when the pacing could have been tighter and characterization could have been more consistent or fleshed out (backloading exposition doesn't count!), but I generally enjoyed myself.

Next week, I'll be finishing up the month and another story with a review of Neverland: Hook, so Stay Tuned and please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read because it's still a jungle out there, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.

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Omnibuster,

Out Of the Jungle.