By various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-808-9
Dark Horse Comics have held the comics producing section of the Indiana Jones franchise since 1993, generating thousands of pages of material, much of it excellent and some not quite. But, and it might be construed as heretical to say it, dedicated fans aren’t all that quality conscious when it comes to their particular fascination, whether it’s games about finding Atlantis or the latest watered-down kids interpretation or whatever.
So the company’s Omnibus line is a wonderfully economical way to keep the older material in print for such fans by bundling old publications into classy, full-colour digests (they’re slightly smaller than US comic-books but larger than the standard manga volume, running about 400 pages per book). This initial volume (of three) chronologically re-presents the first dozen Marvel interpretations which followed the film Raiders of the Lost Ark as well as including the three-issue miniseries adaptation that preceded the landmark film. I’m being this specific because the comic version was also released as a single glossy, enhanced-colour magazine in their Marvel Super Special series (#18: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark if you’re curious).
And just in case you haven’t seen the film: set in the days before World War II, Hitler’s paranormal investigation division was gathering occult artifacts from around the planet and soon crossed swords with a rough and ready archaeology professor from a New York university, when the unconventional Doctor Indiana Jones was maneuvered by the American government into tracking down his old tutor who might have a knowledge of the biblical Ark of the Covenant.
Although Abner Ravenwood had since died his daughter Marion possessed the clues the rough and ready Jones needed – unfortunately she’s also an old flame Indy had abandoned and would rather burn in hell than help him…
However when the Nazis turn up and try to torch her in the Nepalese bar she was dumped in, Marion joins Jones in a breakneck chase across the globe from Cairo to the lost city of Tanis to a secret Nazi submarine base on a tropical island, fighting natives and Nazis every step of the way until the ancient artifact separates the just from the wicked in a spectacular and terrifying display of Old Testament style Wrath…
The movie’s format – baffling search for a legendary object, utterly irredeemable antagonists, exotic locales, non-stop chase action, outrageous fights and just a hint of eldritch overtones – became the staple for the comic book series that followed, opening in impressive manner with ‘The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones’ a two-part yarn from Jack-of-all-genres John Byrne, assisted by Terry Austin and with veteran scripter Denny O’Neil pitching in for the concluding ’22-Karat Doom!’
When an old student is murdered before his eyes Indy swears to complete the lad’s research, subsequently trekking through Africa in search of a tribe who could turn men to gold, never more than one step ahead of a maniac millionaire with no love of mysteries or antiquities but a possessed of a deep and abiding love of profit…
That adventure ended with our hero plunging out of a doomed plane and into issue #3’s American set adventure ‘The Devil’s Cradle’ (O’Neil, Gene Day, Richard Howell, Mel Candido & Danny Bulanadi) wherein he fell into a hillbilly wilderness where a rogue US Army Colonel and a band of witch-burning yokels are separately hunting a 400 year-old alchemist with all the secrets of the ages at his fingertips…
‘Gateway to Infinity!’ by David Michelinie, Ron Frenz & Bulanadi saw the archeological adventurer en route to Stonehenge, courtesy of the US government, when a ring of Nazi spies once again failed to kill him. Hitler’s spies and parapsychologists were still hunting preternatural artifacts and the crystal cylinder uncovered at the ancient monument definitely qualified. English professor Karen Mays dated it to the Triassic period, millions of years before Man evolved and the murderous Aryans would stop at nothing to make it theirs…
Luckily for Jones and Mays – but not the Third Reich – the spies were eventually successful. However to their eternal regret their vile machinations unleashed ‘The Harbingers’ and only Indy’s swift reactions prevented a horror beyond time from escaping into our world.
Jazz Age mastermind Howard Chaykin joined Austin to illustrate the wonderfully classy ‘Club Nightmare’ (plotted by Archie Goodwin and scripted by Michelinie) as Marion opened a swanky Manhattan night-spot only to run afoul of mobsters and worse even before it opened. With Indy on hand to save the day the situation swiftly went from calamitous to disastrous…
Michelinie, Gammill & Sam de La Rosa soon had the hero globe-trotting again in ‘Africa Screams’ as a tussle in Tuscany with tomb-robber Ian McIver led to a solid clue to an even deeper mystery. Following an old map Indy and Marion are soon on their way to the Dark Continent in search of the legendary Shintay – a tribe of pale giants outcast from and last survivors of fabled Atlantis…
Unfortunately McIver and those ever-eager Nazi hunters were also on the trail and in ‘Crystal Death’ the vast power of the Shintay nearly wiped out half of Africa…
Issues #9 and 10 found the artifact hunter the target of a sinister plot by German spies and Aztec wannabees in ‘The Gold Goddess: Xomec’s Raiders’ (Goodwin, Michelinie, Dan Reed & Bulanadi), leading to a series of death-defying battles in the lofty heights of the Big Apple and the depths of the Brazilian jungle
This first volume concludes in fine style with a breathtaking global duel and a brand new villain as Indy is seduced by nefarious antiquities collector Ben Ali Ayoob into hunting down a persistent Biblical myth: ‘The Fourth Nail’. In ‘Blood and Sand’ Dr. Jones travels from the Australian Outback to Barcelona trying to find the unused final spike that should have ended Christ’s suffering on the Cross, but his quest is dogged by bad luck, Arabic ninjas, guardian gypsies, immense insane bandits and irascible bulls looking for a handy matador to mangle… The perilous pilgrimage reaches an inevitable conclusion in ‘Swords and Spikes’ (with additional art from Luke McDonnell and Mel Candido), a cavalcade of carnage, helter-skelter action and supernatural retribution.
With a covers gallery from such able and diverse hands as James T. Sherman, Walt Simonson, Terry Austin, John Byrne, Rich Howell & Armando Gil, Ron Frenz, Mike Gustovich, Howard Chaykin, Kerry Gammill, Bob Wiacek and Bob McLeod this is a splendid chunk of simple escapist fun: the type of buried treasure any fan of any age would be delighted to unearth.
™ &© 1981, 1983, 2009 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.