The short story that led to the creation of Nyoka was "The Land of Hidden Men" by Edgar Rice Burroughs in the May 1931 issue of Blue Book.

[1] The short story was later expanded into the lost world novel Jungle Girl, published in 1932.

The novel is set in Cambodia, and the main character is an Asian princess called Fou-tan.

The Jungle Girl serial is officially based on the Burroughs story "Jungle Girl", although there is no character named Nyoka and no Nyoka-like character in the original story.

According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, "Nyoka fights a variety of criminals including gorillas with human brains and Vulture, the queen of a band of Arabian outlaws, whose bodyguard is a giant gorilla named Satan".