The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones - Marvel Comics

Indiana Jones month is rolling to a close like a giant boulder chasing you out of a temple with the Marvel Comics series that gave us more Indy action between the first two movies and just a little beyond.

The series was published between 1982 and 1985 and lasted for 34 issues. The fact that it lasted as long as it did before Temple of Doom came out I think is a testament to just how much people love Indy! Each story usually lasted 2 issues and there was an ongoing continuity where allies and enemies would return.

In order to talk a bit about the series, I went back over the past month and read them all. I wasn't sure I was going to make it in time for this post because halfway through the month I realized the new MCU show was coming out and I wanted to read that source material before the show. I'm still reading Secret Invasion but I got all the way through Indy, just for you guys!

Choose Your Own Indiana Jones Adventure (Find Your Fate)

Maybe role-playing games aren't your thing, maybe you don't like complicated rules, or can't strong arm enough of your friends to sit down to play. Maybe you don't have any friends (it's ok, we've all been there). There was still another way you could go on a globe trotting archeology adventure aside from, you know, actually going outside to play: the Find Your Fate series of books! 

Image from the Indiana Jones Wiki

As a pre-teen, the Choose Your Own Adventure books had a big imapct on me. Over the years I'd try out any CYOA style book series that came along. When you add a pop culture icon to that style of storytelling, you've got an instant buy from me!

Indiana Jones Role Playing Games

In 1984, TSR acquired the license to produce a role playing game based on Indiana Jones. Seems like it would be a sure fire thing, right? In the mid-80s Satanic Panic was in full swing and you couldn't mention RPGs without people immediately going back to D&D. I don't have any supporting evidence that this was responsible in any way for the poor sales but it probably didn't help.

Like all of TSR's RPGs of the day, they released everything you needed to start playing in a boxed set. It included: the rules, dice, world map, a Referee screen, fold-up paper miniature figures, and character sheets for the heroes. A set of metal miniatures was also released for the game.

The rule book has a short adventure to introduce you to the game mechanics as you read each chapter. It was called the Ikons of Ikammanen and the story was actually taken from the first issue of Marvel's The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones from 1983 (more about those in coming weeks!). One of the Adventure Packs, The Fourth Nail, was also based on a couple comic issues.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Arcade Game

 Whew, this is quite possibly the longest post title in the blog's history. All June, we'll be counting down the days until the man in the hat comes back for one more hurrah with posts about everyone's favorite archeologist, Lara Croft. No, of course it's Indiana Jones! You ever notice when the phrase "everyone's favorite" is used it's almost always the only one that comes to mind?

Anyway, set your Dial of Destiny (or WABAC Machine) to 1985!

Video game adaptations of movies usually get a bad rap in the home console arena, but arcade games based on movies are on the opposite end of the spectrum. I was lucky enough to be able to play Temple at my local arcade and would keep coming back for more adventures.

 

Monthly Media Recap - May 2023

No witty remarks, just geting into it!

Streaming Series

Cobrai Kai S5 (Netflix) 

Or as Mrs Dex has started calling it, Karate Soap Opera...and she's not wrong. I really enjoyed it when it started out but it's just getting a bit silly with all the drama now. How has no one called the police? Hopefully the series will go out on a high note.

Slasher S2 (Netflix)

The story this season revolves around an incident that happened at a summer camp five years prior. The way it unfolds between modern day and flashbacks is really well done and keeps you guessing. The kills are on par with some some of the best movies and they don't shy away from showing the violence.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+)

I'm an easy mark for anything involving 50s/60s culture but even I was thinking "Do we really need a Grease prequel series?" The answer is yes, yes we do! There's a couple of fun callbacks to the movie as well as the requisite teen high school drama and musical numbers. My minor complaint is that some of the songs sound like modern pop which feels odd in the time period. Not that the songs aren't good, just kicks me out of the setting a little.

Star Wars Visions S2 (Disney+)

I really got into this run of episodes. There were some I didn't like as much as others but there was always something good about each one. This is a great concept and I hope they keep doing new things like this to expand and freshen up the Star Wars brand.