The Story So Far
Meriem, the titular Cavewoman, has volunteered herself to be an experiment of Dr. Lansing, who wants to draw a sample of her blood to create a serum to vaccinate the town of Marshville from Jurassic pathogens and other prehistoric dangers. Dr. Lansing’s daughter, Mona, who has no confidence in snagging a boyfriend and has low self-esteem of her body, decides to steal the serum and inject herself with it. The serum turns her into a muscular bombshell like Meriem. Mona dons a superhero garb and performs good deeds around Marshville, while attracting the attention of the male populace. Dr. Lansing discovers that some of the serum is missing and secures what is left in a bank vault. Needing to continually consume the formula, Mona breaks into the bank and finds Meriem waiting for her. The two jungle girls begin to battle it out.
Plot
Laying on the ground, Meriem looks defeated at the hands of Mona. A rustling in the bushes by Bruce searching for the two ladies distracts Mona, giving time for Meriem, who was playing dead, to clock her in the chin and make off the satchel containing the serum. Mona gives chase, with Meriem leading her out of Marshville and away from the populace. Meriem plays cat and mouse with Mona in the jungle, stalling until the morning when the serum will wear off. The two ladies eventually go at each other, with Mona throwing a rock at Meriem’s head and Meriem retaliating by putting Mona in a headlock with her legs.
Mona passes out and then reawakens; the serum having worn off. She apologies for her actions, with Meriem saying it was not her fault, that a side effect of the serum was it would make folks injected with it crazy. Meriem offers to take Mona out for ice cream and even let her sit next to Bruce.
Commentary
“Natural Selection” issue two was published in September of 2012 and concludes the “Natural Selection” miniseries. The writing and artwork was done by Devon Massey. The story is a pursuit tale, with the majority of pages devoted to chase sequences of Mona trying to get the satchel of serum from Meriem. The issue is action heavy, not only with running sequences, but quite a few bouts of jungle girl on jungle girl fighting action: pinning bodies, cheap shots, grapples and throws, wrestling on the ground, and leg locks. The standard cover of “Natural Selection” #2 succinctly sums up the issue visually.
The action centric-ness of this issue, with a huge emphasis on near naked bodies fighting each other, puts “Natural Selection” #2 in sword and sandal adjacent territory, except instead of a strongman Hercules/Maciste/Ursus/Samson/etc. strongman, there is a strongwoman. So far, in this Cavewoman retrospective, the focus of Meriem’s body has been in the cheesecake/pinup nature. While “Natural Selection” #2 does not shy away going for sexploitation panels, (there are many, many with either lady’s posterior in the air), the issue fully embraces the body as an extension of strength component that is critical to the peplum genre. The strongman’s body is a tool, and the only tool that can solve the problem at hand, be it erecting statues, turning a millstone, pulling a plow, or overthrowing a corrupt dictator (for more information on this concept of the strongman, see Michael G. Cornelius’ intro in Of Muscles and Men).
In “Natural Selection” #2, Meriem’s body is the tool that solves the problem at hand. Only her speed, agility, and strength are capable to lure Mona out of Marshville so she does not harm the town’s citizens. She is able to keep Mona distracted by playing cat and mouse in the jungle trees so the serum can wear off. Only then can Meriem non-lethally subdue Mona and return the young scientist and the town back to normality. Meriem is not a peplum character, as she has no direct line to antiquity/mythology (but perhaps a bit of Amazon can be extrapolated in her character), but the way she is depicted and the way she uses her body is akin to a sword and sandal strongman character, thus she can be viewed under such a lens. To do so gives the Cavewoman series an extra dimension to it.
While the action sequences are great, the story proper of “Natural Selection” #2 drops the ball on the final page. Massey’s intent looks to wrap the two-issue miniseries in an extremely happy, no loose ends ending. Massey does this by absolving Mona of any transgressions by making it the serum’s fault for her acting in a hostile manner. The explanation is handwavy and maybe a little lazy. However, it could have been salvaged through an editorial decision: move the explanation from the end of the issue to the beginning. This creates stakes and risk for what is about to unfold. Have a flashback panel of Dr. Lansing near the issue’s beginning, briefing Meriem that Mona needs to be stopped, the serum is having adverse effects, and she can potentially hurt someone in the town. This establishes the motive and why Meriem is doing what she is doing through the issue. The current read of the issue is simply “stop Mona and get the serum back” but stating the risk up front “stop Mona and get the serum back because it is making her crazy and she could hurt someone” adds the much-needed danger component that would underscore the action in the issue. Having it at the end robs the issue of this potential.
Conclusion
“Natural Selection” #2 is a fun, action-centric conclusion to the mini story arc. The issue is full of double jungle girl action sequences, oftentimes diving into a peplum-adjacent realm. The issues maintains the series’ love for sexploitation by depicting both Meriem and Mona is a variety of suggestive poses, though it should be stated that issue one concluded with promises of nudity in this issue, which did not happen. The only fault of this issue is its ending, which in its effort to wrap everything up in a nice package, comes across as cheesy. With a bit of editorial action, the ending could have been reshaped into a story strengthening element. It is only a small downer in an otherwise fun jungle girl/superheroine-esque story in the Cavewoman series.
For more information on Cavewoman “Natural Selection” #2 check out the official product page at Amryl Entertainment:
For more reviews of Budd Root’s Cavewoman series I’ve penned, check these out (chronological order of issue publish date):