Indiana Jones Annual 1990

[1989] Annual. Original price £2.99.
NA pages. Full colour contents.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Edited by Louise Cassell.
Designed by Rebecca Owen.

Photo cover (Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones)

Features by Patrick Mulkern & Louise Cassell

Contents:

 2 UNTITLED endpaper by Luigi Stefanelli / Gina Hart.

 6 Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Story: A Photo Tribute

 9 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - The Story: A Photo Tribute

12 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

13 Gateway to Infinity! w: David Michelinie; p: Ron Frenz i: David Bulanadi, colouring by Bob Sharen.

r: Indiana Jones (Marvel Comics) #04 (Apr 1983)

35 The Making of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

40 The Harbingers w: David Michelinie; p: Ron Frenz i: David Bulanadi, colouring by Bob Sharen.

r: Indiana Jones (Marvel Comics) #05 (May 1983)

After two hardback annuals with beautiful painted covers, this is - at first appearance - something of a letdown.

Recaps of Indy's big-screen adventures are entirely perfunctory, serving as little more than set-up for the cinema release of The Last Crusade. The problem with much of Indiana Jones' comic-book material is the focus on merchandise and (naturally enough) the films, missing a great opportunity to get readers interested in aspects of history which underpin the character, or escapades which he becomes involved in.

Rather more interesting than the synopses is the feature on the making of The Last Crusade, though this too suffers from a lack of elaboration. Split into paragraphs about the main players, there isn't room to delve into the numerous aspects of production which might have been more interesting. Special effects, perhaps - given some elaborate set pieces - might have been a worthwhile addition, or location scouting.

The two-part strip reprinted from Marvel's Indiana Jones series is less detailed and sketchier than the film adaptations, suffering from a poor likeness of Harrison Ford, some awkward compositions, and a story which doesn't reveal anything about the character which would make it essential reading. A strange choice for this annual, and it sits uncomfortably with the previous ones.

1985

Indiana Jones Annual

2009

Indiana Jones Vol.1 #3

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

Edited by Sheila Cranna.

Cover by Rich Howell & Danny Bulandi.
r: The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones (Marvel) #03 (Mar 1983).

Contents:

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

 3 Untitled Introduction text by Sheila Cranna? (uncredited). / Contents / Sock it to Someone This Christmas! (half page) subscription offer.

 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).

25 Great News for All Doctor Who Fans advertisement for Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text by ohn Tulloch and Manuel Alvarado.

26 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom poster.

28 Classifieds

29 The Devil's Cradle w: Denny O'Neil; p: Gene Day & Richard Howell, i: Mel Candido & Danny Buldani, lettering by Janice Chiang, colouring by Bob Sharen.

r: The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones (Marvel) #03 (Mar 1983).

51 Memo: Back Issues advertisement for the Perfect Mailing Company.

52 Initial Time Pieces wristwatch advertisement.

Under an effective and dramatic cover, albeit one let down by awful colouring, the third issue features the first shake-up for the contents page - a full half is given over to a seasonal subscription offer, with some 'jolly' Christmas clip art. It isn't brilliant, but at least there's a sense of the title changing from issue to issue.

The final section of the film adaptation closes out the story in style, though with odd pacing across the last four pages. Marking the end of this strip, the centre-pages are given over to a poster reproduction of the adaptation's cover. Unfortunately this is on the same awful paper as the rest of the issue, rendering its use as an actual poster rather limited.

The lack of a suitable back-up feature is highlighted by the monotony in this issue. By maintaining a title devoted to a single character, available stories limit the number of issues which can be pillaged for the reprint title. There aren't, looking at the US comics, many comics with a suitable air of thirties and forties mystery serials, or with pulp origins, but surely bringing back Night-Raven for another outing would have been wise. Or, with a degree of caution, Dominic Fortune.

Would it be too cruel to compliment adverts for breaking up the Jones-fest?

Only moments ago, Indiana Jones leapt from the doomed aircraft of Edith Dunne into a storm driven afternoon and began jerking and swaying toward the mountain below.

There's proper continuity-building in the back-up, which is something of a surprise. It isn't as involved or as (seemingly) clever as the later television series, but it is a delight to see some logic in the writing of his ongoing adventures. This is far more visually daring than the film adaptation, featuring some stellar artwork, but it is the narrative which is the big deal - nuanced, subtle, and dramatic in all the right places. O'Neil is a very clever writer, well aware of the strengths of this character. If only the style here had been present from the beginning...

#02

Indiana Jones Vol.1

#04

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

Indiana Jones Vol.2 #1

Oct 1991. Cover price £1.00.
36 pages. Colour & B&W contents.
Trident Comics.

Edited by Martin Skidmore.

Painted cover by Dave Dorman.
r: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (Dark Horse) #01 (Mar 1991).

Contents:

2 Indiana Jones credits. / The Story So Far... / Indicia

3 Indiana Jones The Fate of Atlantis w: William Messner-Loebs & Dan Barry (uncredited), based on a story by Hal Barwood, Noah Falstein & Lucasfilm Games; p: Dan Barry, i: Karl Kesel, lettering by Gail Beckett, colouring by Lurene Haines.

r: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (Dark Horse) #01 (Mar 1991).

29 In Space, No-One Can Hear You Scream in-house advertisement for Aliens #09 (Oct 1991).

30 Apocalypse Presents Makabre in-house advertisement.

31 Next Month

32 Terminator T-Shirt Offer in-house advertisement.

33 Trident Comics Mail Order in-house advertisement.

34 Competition with five copies of Indiana Jones Explores Ancient Egypt to win.

35 Toxic! Bite off more than you can chew... in-house advertisement.

36 Terminator - A Gripping Comic in-house advertisement.

While there isn't an introduction to the title, at least there's a text primer for those arriving to the character late. This is primarily a title aimed at fans of the films, of course, so a proper introduction should have appeared inside the front cover - there's plenty of room left over, with the cover image re-used in light blue, the text inexplicably placed directly over Indy's face. Foregoing a free gift is slightly odd, especially as the (stunning) cover being a perfect depiction of the adventurer, and worthy of reproducing in a larger format.

Normally, Indiana Jones is a Professor of Archeology at Barnet College, in New York State. But he's no ordinary archaeologist. He's had extraordinary adventures all over the world. He's recovered the Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets Moses received with the Ten Commandments engraved upon them. He restored some magical eggs, which bestow immortality, to the village which takes care of them. He even recovered the Holy Grail, the chalice from which Jesus Christ drank at the Last Supper.

But there's one place even Indiana Jones doesn't believe in. A place considered legendary by everyone. And now, discoveries made on Indy's first dig a decade ago are coming back to haunt him. and Indy must set out on a quest to discover...

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

Addressing the storytelling issues which plagued the back-ups in Marvel's launch issue, the strip opens in the middle of an adventure. This is how the character should be seen at the opening of a new story, and it is a gloriously mad sequence with the self-proclaimed god Tenochtitlan preparing to throw him to crocodiles. It is, unfortunately, a dream sequence, but it is an important glimpse into his psyche.

The sixth of May, 1939.

One of the things which bothered me about the various Indiana Jones printed material throughout the nineties was the lack of direct inspiration from the films, and the manner in which we are given the date (not to mention the prior text introduction) is how pedestrian and unimaginative it is.

There was a wonderful conceit in his bulging diary, which was never - to the best of my knowledge - picked up on. Had there been a page of the diary, with attached photographs, sketches of artifacts, a fragment of a crumpled rubbing, or other elements which might he might have carried with him, then the immersion could have been so much greater.

Small details, building into something greater with each page revealed.

Samuel Corn, a man of many skills, arrives at the class Dr. Jones is teaching, with an ancient key which he finally identifies as containing similar markings to items discovered during the Jastro expedition in Iceland. Indiana Jones' first dig, a decade earlier, had unearthed an object of similar design - which happens to be the item to which the key belongs. Corn takes the contents from Indy at gunpoint before escaping, though without his ID - which reveals that his real name is Klaus Kerner, and that he is a colonel in the S.S.

Alongside Kerner's ID is a newspaper clipping referencing Sophia Hapgood, another member of the expedition. Indy decides to pay her a visit, and finds her living in New York, promoting ancient Atlantean culture, calling herself Madame Sophia. Sophia isn't pleased at his arrival in her life again, although she permits him to spend the night - which he fills by indexing her collection of irreplaceable relics. Kerner breaks into Sophia's apartment, and while the German gets his hands on the artifacts, Dr. Jones is able to save his friend's life.

An above-average beginning, reprinting a fine story, and with a competition which fits perfectly. There are, perhaps, a few too many adverts (the Terminator one is certainly effective), and a certain reserved caution in presentation - one would have imagined such a high-profile franchise to have been a feather in Trident's cap, yet there isn't any celebratory punch here. This is where introductions are so important, as they can say to the reader that there will be great things forthcoming, or to highlight how much the comic will develop over forthcoming issues with proper support.

Encouraging readers to write in with their opinions on the title is the main reason to include a brief message at the front of a new title. How many people, on picking this up, would have sent in missives regardless? By throwing suggestions on the naming of a letter column (The Snake Pit would have been perfect) readers are challenged to one-up the title's offerings.

It is early days for the title, and despite rough edges it feels promising.