Jungle Jim

An African pastiche, intertextual, vernacular bricolage.

B-grade, low-brow, old-skool, pulp, low budget, DIY publishing to a tee.

Originally published as a bi-monthly, Jungle Jim was an independent South African magazine focused on genre-based fiction from across the continent, telling “stories that explore the collision between the visceral daring of pulp and the reality of living in Africa”.

Founded in 2011 by writer and filmmaker, Jenna Bass, and illustrator and graphic designer, Hannes Bernard, Jungle Jim was a labour of love: an attempt to craft a local creative heritage, negating any ambitions to directly clone Eurocentric or American design and literary forms. Jungle Jim found its inspiration in the local vernacular, with words and images that spoke in an African pastiche mother tongue. From old ‘fotoboekies’ (photo albums) and tattered vintage comics to Bitterkomix and cheap flyers, where B-grade sci-fi meets spaza shop facades, all attempting to revive a seemingly bygone subversive cultural period.

In pushing the boundaries of what could be considered a cultural mashup, an element of nostalgia exists, remixing corner café lucky packets and old Chappies wrappers. The quasi-kitsch nature of the risograph printing on discoloured newsprint, with the ‘cheap’ illustration style commissioned from various established local illustrators, such as Shaun Hill (Batt Butt) and Hanno van Zyl, to name a few, further emphasises golden era thinking deconstructed. This is resourceful DIY publishing at its best.

A cultural mashup mixed with an element of nostalgia hailing back to the pop-hubris of '70s and '80s South African consumerism.

Jungle Jim no.1 (not in collection)

Year: N/A
Pages: N/A
Print run: N/A
Size: A5
Contributors: Jenna Bass, Hannes Bernard.
Other details: Map folded and staple-bound, printed on newsprint, risograph printing, rare.