It’s Trivia Tuesday! Which of these characters did Stan Lee have a hand in co-creating?
A. Junior Juniper
B. Jann of the Jungle
C. Jarella
D. Jack Frost
And the answers are…
A. Junior Juniper and D. Jack Frost!
As for B. and C…
Jann of the Jungle first swung into the pages of Jungle Tales #1 back in September 1954, the product of writer Don Rico and artist Arthur Peddy. Apparently, she was popular enough to merit the renaming of Jungle Tales to Jann of the Jungle in November 1955. Jann of the Jungle ran through issue #17, ending in June 1957.
Jarella was co-created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Herb Trimpe, first appearing in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #140 back in June 1971. Interestingly, famed author Harlan Ellison, who penned short stories, essays, screenplays, comic scripts and much more, is credited as a co-creator for the character, as he was a guest writer on this particular Hulk issue.
Now, onto Stan’s contributions to comicbook lore!
Junior Juniper
Jonathan “Junior” Juniper charged into action in the pages of Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos vol. 1 #1 in May 1963 under the creative auspices of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Unfortunately, Junior, who was the youngest member of the Howling Commandos, was killed in action in only the fourth issue of the series. That creative decision made Junior one of the first major characters to perish in a Marvel Comic, which startled some readers back in 1963, who weren’t as used to that kind of eternal end for a hero as MCU audiences are now in 2019. (His death did, however, infuse a sense of reality to the war title.)
Jack Frost
No, we’re not talking about that odd 1998 movie starring Michael Keaton. We’re talking about one of Stan Lee’s earliest co-creations, going all the way back to August 1941 in U.S.A. Comics #1! Stan scripted the character of Jack Frost alongside Charles Nicholas, which is actually a ‘house’ name that was used by more than one artist to ensure that not only did the publisher, in this case Timely Comics, own the art but the ‘name’ of the artist, too! At least, that was according to famed comic creator Will Eisner. In this case, Jack Kirby, Charles Cuidera and Charles Wojtkoski all utilized the name Charles Nicholas, but according to the internet, it looks like Wojtkoski was the one who co-created Jack Frost with Stan.