Collecting Indiana Jones Comics

Raiders of the Lost Ark started it all

Jun 15, 2008

Now that the fourth Indiana Jones movie has been released to rave reviews, many Indy fans will be dusting of their old comic collections and checking out what's new.

Before Indy

When Marvel Comics was first approached by Charlie Lippincott of Lucasfilms publicity department about doing a comic book adaptation of Star Wars they were skeptical. It was the mid-'70s and science fiction was not taken very seriously, especially in comic books. However, when Marvel founder Stan Lee heard that Alec Guinness was involved he reluctantly agreed to do the adaptation. His decision turned out to be a wise one for the Star Wars comic run went for 107 issues and with related spin-offs went for ten years.

Starting with Raiders

So, when Stan Lee learned that Lucasfilms wanted to do a comic adaptation of its latest film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, he had no problem agreeing. Writer Walt Simonson, along with artists John Buscema and Klaus Janson were assigned the first Indiana Jones comic. The three part series proved popular enough to warrant a continuation of the Indiana Jones theme and a series of comics under the title of The Further Adventures of Indian Jones was started in 1983. Theses comic were the first original adventures of Indiana Jones and featured many of the familiar characters from Raiders of the Lost Ark such as Sallah, Marian Ravenwood and Marcus Brody. The series ran for 34 issues before ending in 1986. In the meantime, another movie adaptation was released in 1984 with 3 issues for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The series was revived briefly in 1989 when Marvel issued the four part Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Dark Horse Takes Over

The rights to the franchise were passed to Dark Horse Comics in 1990 and a year later Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis came out in four issues based on the computer game of the same name. Next an Indiana Jones serial appeared as one of the stories in Dark Horse Comics #3-6 under the title Indiana Jones and the Shrine of the Sea Devil. Assured of success the series continued under various titles including Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold and Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny until the 4 issue Indiana Jones and the Sargasso Pirates in 1996. Two other titles were in preparation but fan interest was lagging and they were put on hiatus.

Meanwhile, a companion series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, based on the Emmy award winning TV series, was started in 1992. Scripted by Dan Barry the series ran for 12 issues, ending the next year due to poor sales.

What’s New

All was quiet on the Indy comic front for 12 years before whispers began about a fourth Indiana Jones movie. Shortly before it was released to theaters in 2008, a new comic from Dark Horse, titled Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hit the newsstands.

At the same time Dark Horse began reissuing all of its Indiana Jones comics in a 2 volume omnibus and work began on the four issue series, Indiana Jones and The Tomb of the Gods. A new series, in a digest sized graphic novel aimed at a younger audience and entitled Indiana Jones Adventures was released in August 2008.

Bibliography

The copyright of the article Collecting Indiana Jones Comics in Collectibles is owned by William Silvester. Permission to republish Collecting Indiana Jones Comics in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.