FW PRESENTS – The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones
Rob welcomes Fire and Water Network pal Dr. Anj to discuss the first two issues of Marvel’s THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF INDIANA JONES series by John Byrne and Terry Austin!
- INDIANA JONES IMAGE GALLERY – http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/FWindianajonesGALLERY
- E-MAIL – firewaterpodcast@comcast.net
- DR. ANJ – http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com
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This episode brought to you by InStockTrades. This week’s selections:
- UNCLE SCROOGE: THE SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD: https://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Fantagraphics/WALT-DISNEY-UNCLE-SCROOGE-HC-VOL-02-SEVEN-CITIES-G/JUL141222
- THE ROCKETEER COMPLETE COLLECTION: https://www.instocktrades.com/TP/IDW/ROCKETEER-COMPLETE-COLLECTION-VOL-1-HC/AUG090961
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This episode should’ve been a guest-hosted episode of TEMPLE OF DOOMCAST.
I got a stack of about ten issues from the very end of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. I haven’t had a chance to read them yet so for all I know they’re pretty bad, but glancing at Mike’s Amazing World informs me that Steve Ditko drew some of them.
Man, all this time I thought I was probably the only guy in the world who thought the story from issues 1 & 2 of Marvel’s Indiana Jones should have been turned into a movie. And yes, it’s definitely the second best Indy adventure ever.
I totally agree with both of you that Byrne and Austin (and O’Neil to be fair) completely captured the feel and look of Raiders without resorting to copying all of the actual beats from the movie. And like Rob, I lost interest in the Indy series soon after those first two issues – in fact, I remember getting issue 3 and quitting right there. I was completely uninterested when I saw that Byrne and Austin were gone, and I recall that it didn’t have the feel of those first two issues. That also means I also missed the sixth issue with Chaykin and Austin doing the art. Based on the splash page from your gallery post, and also the Dominic Fortune story from Marvel Premiere #56 with the same creative team, I can imagine that that’s a good story. Just as it’s a pity that Byrne and Austin didn’t stick with the Indy series, it’s also a shame that there wasn’t an extended run with Chaykin and Austin on the art – the swashbuckling adventure set in the 1930s would have been right up Chaykin’s alley.
Great episode, gentlemen. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I also bought those two issues off the stands and loved them. I don’t think I bought any other issues. I’m not sure if I just didn’t see them, or if I flipped through one of the later issues and noticed without Byrne that the Indy alchemy was off.
Those issues are definitely part of my personal Indy canon.
The thing I never quite got about the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is that they seemed to be turning him into a progressive, decent guy. And I kept wondering “What happens in the next 10 years to turn him into the utter bastard we saw in Temple of Doom and, to a lesser extent, Raiders?” Some of the episodes were well-done, but it felt like Greedo shooting first.
I saw a few episodes of the Young Indy show and basically hated it. Like Allen noted, he’s turned into this sort of globe-trotting boy scout, and it also makes you wonder when he had time to actually study archeology, go through grad school and doctoral, and probably post-doc, research and then get his university professorship (if that was explained in the show, apologies, but I was never interested enough to keep watching and see how all turned out). In fact, I really disliked that whole initial sequence in Last Crusade, wherein we learn why Indy wears his distinctive hat and uses a bullwhip – as if those things needed explaining…
This episode could not have come at a better time for me. The day before this downloaded on my phone, I saw Raiders on the big screen for the first time since its initial release. And I got to see it with my father who took me to see it during its initial release. After the film was over I was regretting that I did not have easy access to any books or comics related to the character, and lo and behold, this episode appeared. Indiana Jones was actually one of the first comics I started picking up as a kid, but it was later in the run and ended up also being the first title I stopped picking up. As much as I loved the character, I just did not find the comic that engaging, but Its nice to hear there are some better issues out there that I can track down. In addition to 1, 2 & 6, I may try some other issues too. Although they may be a bit repetitive if I try to sit down and read through a lot at one time, they may work better as occasional random reads whenever I get the urge to revisit Indiana Jones.
I’ve never read any of these, but I do recall the devastating review of #1 in the Comics Journal! Based on your recap, and not your enthusiasm, I don’t like that Indy relies a lot on other things happening, (the explosion that distracts the warriors from the gold pit, the U-Boat firing at the boat Jones is on), to escape his situations.
Which leads me to my idea for Movie #5! I figure its got to be set in the early to mid sixties. Indy, now professor emeritus, has gone to a newly liberated West African nation to return some arts and artifacts (and establish ties with his University). The artifacts are stolen, and Jones is forced to try and help recover them. Adventures in the newly constructed city buildings, the jungle, caves, a river, etc. follow. The bad guys are white colonialists fiercely reluctant to cede power to native Africans. Indy has to rely on his intelligence and his wits. No gun, no whip, no 35-year-old body that can take punishment. MacGyver v. Nazis next to Wakanda.
This was great! Always a treat to hear Dr Anj on the show. Do the patients mind he takes breaks from lifesaving measures to podcast?
And who doesn’t love hearing Rob get excited about something? That frown got turned upside down!
Great episode fellas. I’ve never read these comics, but now I want to. And YES to that special episode of Young Indy! That was very exciting. Well, the Ford parts. The rest of that show was WAYYYY too worried about being “edu-tainment”. What a snooze fest.
Since Disney now controls both Indy’s destiny, and still has the Rocketeer rights (I think), I would love to see Billy Campbell show up as an older Cliff Secord in the next film. Even without the rocket pack, it would be a great nod.
Chris
So glad to hear Uncle Scrooge given some love in the InStockTrades suggestions, and this was indeed a very appropriate place to do so. I’m especially a fan of some of the long adventure stories written by Don Rosa (try some of the books here: https://www.instocktrades.com/search/don%20rosa) for which he’s also been quick to point out Indiana Jones inspiration (Carl Barks to Indiana Jones to Don Rosa, the circle of life!). Guardians of the Lost Library (found in Volume 5 of the hardcover “Don Rosa Library”) is an absolute favorite.
(Yes, I’m biased. Rosa’s wife was my 8th grade Social Studies teacher)
The Marvel comics are an area of Indy lore that I knew about, but never investigated for whatever reason. Sounds like it’s time to remedy that, if only for those gorgeous covers.
For the record, I enjoyed The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles immensely when it aired on ABC (with the Old Indy bookends). When the series made the switch to cable TV movies (which the VHS and DVD series adopted), I didn’t get nearly as much out of it.
Speaking of Old Indy, I’m torn on whether or not I want to see Movie 5 tell how Indy loses his eye. MUCH too gruesome for my tastes, but I’m a sucker for continuity nods (I know a lot of folks hate them. I have no patience for such complaints).
Hiya! Just had to comment, because I’ve never read these comics. But I almost crashed my car when I heard the ‘Ikons of Ikammanen’, because this was the title of the adventure that came with the boxed set of the Indiana Jones Roleplaying Game! (http://indianajones.wikia.com/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Indiana_Jones_(RPG))
(A bit of trivia — there’s an award for excellence in gaming called the Diana Jones award. From Wikipedia: The trophy was created in the UK offices of TSR in the mid 1980s to commemorate the ending of their license to publish The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game. The trophy itself is a perspex pyramid containing the burnt remains of the last unsold copy of the game; all that is legible of the title is “diana Jones”… The trophy also contains a counter that reads “Nazi™” from the game.”)
If you haven’t, check out the Athena Voltaire comics. She’s kind of like a female Indiana Jones who’s also a pilot. A new series just started with Action Lab Comics. It’s fun Nazi smashing action.
A note to Rob and Anj:
IIRC, if you look closely in the Howard Chaykin-drawn issue, there’s a panel which has Nick and Nora Charles of the THIN MAN movies.
I’ve tried Googling a copy of the image but haven’t had any luck.
Found it! In issue #6, bottom of page 10 (I believe) after the chase through Central Park. Indy and Marion are in the center of the panel. On the left side is a pretty close approximation of William Powell. I think I remember someone asking about it in the letters page of a future issue.
Nice episode. Raiders was the first movie I ever saw without parents in a theater, so I guess I didn’t see Further Adventures on the stands at the time or would have gotten into it. I remember it from later, and flipping through an issue and not finding the magic. But I’m still very curious, more so now!