Sheena

Created in 1937 by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger, Sheena is the first comic-book heroine to give her name to an entire series. Wild, blonde, and free, she inaugurated a whole lineage of female figures inspired by Tarzan, which critic Francis Laccassin would describe as “tarzanides.” Joey Ramone, a great comic-book enthusiast, wrote one of the most popular songs in the band’s repertoire, “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” featured on their third album, Rocket to Russia (1977). For the first time, the word “punk” appeared in their lyrics, and the song propelled this jungle girl into modern civilization, joyfully celebrating—amid noise and fury—a new icon: rebellious and independent.