Indiana Jones Vol.1 #2

Nov 1984. Cover price 50p
52 pages. B&W and color.
Marvel Comics, Ltd.

Edited by Sheila Cranna.

Cover by John Byrne & Terry Austin.
r: The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones (Marvel) #02 (Feb 1983).

Contents:

 2 Spidey Watches advertisement for Napier and Son.

 3 Untitled Introduction text by Sheila Cranna? (uncredited). / Contents / Indicia / Subscriptions

 4 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, part two, w: David Michelinie, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, from a story by George Lucas; p: Jackson Guice, i: Ian Akin & Brian Garvey, lettering by John Morelli, colouring by Andy Yanchus.

r: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Marvel) #01 (Sep 1984).

11 Win Your Own Mandala competition to win one of 20 boardgames from Future Games.

12 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, part two, cont.

15 Coming in Issue 85 - The Savage Sword of Conan Merges With The Mighty World of Marvel for Conan 2 (half page) in-house advertisement. / Indiana Jones - Alias Harrison Ford (half page) advertisement for The Harrison Ford Story by Alan McKenzie.

16 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, part two, cont.

21 (Almost) a Cast of Thousands! text feature (uncredited).

22 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, part two, cont.

28 Classifieds

29 22-Karat Doom! w: Denny O'Neil; p: John Byrne, i: Terry Austin, lettering by Janice Chiang, colouring by Bob Sharen.

r: The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones (Marvel) #02 (Feb 1983).

51 Official Star Wars Fan Club advertisement.

52 The Fantastic World of Annuals advertisement for the Perfect Mailing Company.

The "Subscribe Now" image, pulled from the Temple of Doom adaptation, has been used twice now, and is already starting to grate. Recycling elements across multiple issues without alteration is a quick and easy way to look cheap, and the space could have been better used with a humerous comic strip, poking mild fun at the title.

There's a lot to like in the adaptation, which manages to capture the likeness of Harrison Ford well, but it takes twelve pages to really get to an action sequence. The pace isn't precisely languid, but far too much attention is paid to recreating each scene regardless of how different media can be used to enhance areas of the same story in unusual ways - by following the film exactly, the compromises made to the effectiveness of each page is apparent.

Once again, switching between colour and B&W does a disservice to the monochrome pages. There's no rhyme or reason to the selection of which pages to expend the colour on, leaving a persistent sense of disorientation hanging over the title.

Focusing on casting of Temple of Doom, (Almost) a Cast of Thousands! gives each of the main payers a small amount of text. What isn't covered, and is arguably of more interest to most fans of the series, is how the large crowd scenes were managed. This isn't a bad piece, by any means, but is simply can't hope to get anywhere near in-depth enough when limited to a single page.

The back-up strip is far better than in the first issue, with a story which doesn't stop moving. There's a coldness to Jones here, very surprising to note. It makes him more human, revealing sides of him not usually seen in the films, and gives a satisfying melancholy to the conclusion of the story. I doubt it will be a story which will play into future adventures, but has a sense of time and place.

An improvement, however slight, on the first issue.

#01

Indiana Jones Vol.1

#03