Re: Indy novels .....

Posted by Brisco from fwk098144.res-hall.nwu.edu on October 24, 1998 at 12:44:57:

In Reply to: Re: Indy novels ..... posted by Webley on October 22, 1998 at 11:48:50:

: Hi fellow Indyfans
: I have a collection of 22 Indy novels (the complete collection) including the trilogy movies and I have to say that The novels of Max McCoy are the best. But is there someone here who has read the novels of Wolfgang Hohlbein? They are not bad but they have no connections to the movies and that's the only thing that I don't like about them.
: What do you think of the Indy comic books? I haven't read them all but they are pretty good.
: -Webley-

I've also got to agree that Max McCoy's novels are the best, as I've said before many times. (Dinosaur Eggs, though, is unfortunatly the worst title ever associated with Indy, even if it's a good read.) My favorite has to be Philosopher's Stone. I think that's the most in the spirit of the movies of any of the Indy novels. I also loved Hollow Earth and can't wait for Secret of the Sphinx, if that ever happens. I emailed Max last spring and he assured me it was still going to be printed, eventually; he'd just hit some snags with Lucasfilm about one aspect of the story which he would have to change. I hope that's still the case, but I'm starting to wonder... When Bantam lost the SW rights to Del Rey, they Indy rights went with them. I hope that Del Ray has plans to publish some further Indy novels.
Anyway, I think McCoy's are great because they do tie in with the movies. I love the appearances by Belloq, Sallah, Lao Che and other familiar faces. If Secret of the Sphinx does, indeed, take the reader to the doorstep of TOD, then presumably we'll witness Indy meeting Short Round for the first time there. Caiden's books were awful. They were slow and they were not Indy. I breezed through McCoy's and most of MacGregor's books, but Sky Pirates took me weeks to slog through, which is really sad for a quickie paperback. It was just so slow. And whoever said they weren't Indy stories was right. They certainly weren't. And they contradicted the movies at every turn. (Not that MacGregor's didn't, but...) For instance, if Indy learned how to fly in 1930, as he does in Sky Pirates, then why has he forgotten by the time he finds himself in the cockpit of Lao Che's pilotless plane in 1935, and by 1938 only learned to "fly, yes, land, no"? Many problems...
As for the comic books, personally I really didn't like most of the Marvel ones because I don't feel they were in the right spirit of Indy. The artifacts were cheesy magic things (or Buffalo Bill's pistols!!! Who cares?) and not religious artifacts as they should have been. (For the most part. The fourth nail was an exception.) Dark Horse's comics were really good, though, I thought. My favorites were Thunder In the Orient, Shrine of the Sea Devil and Arms of Gold. Sargasso Pirates was a really fun read because it was done like an old 1940s comic strip, an homage not unlike George Lucas' tributes to movie serial of the same era. Dan Barry, Garry Gianni, and Eduardo Barretto provided the best Indy artwork, IMHO.
Brisco

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: : Hi fellow Indyfans
: : I have a collection of 22 Indy novels (the complete collection) including the trilogy movies and I have to say that The novels of Max McCoy are the best.  But is there someone here who has read the novels of Wolfgang Hohlbein?  They are not bad but they have no connections to the movies and that's the only thing that I don't like about them.
: : What do you think of the Indy comic books?  I haven't read them all but they are pretty good.
: : -Webley-

: I've also got to agree that Max McCoy's novels are the best, as I've said before many times.  (Dinosaur Eggs, though, is unfortunatly the worst title ever associated with Indy, even if it's a good read.)  My favorite has to be Philosopher's Stone.  I think that's the most in the spirit of the movies of any of the Indy novels.  I also loved Hollow Earth and can't wait for Secret of the Sphinx, if that ever happens.  I emailed Max last spring and he assured me it was still going to be printed, eventually; he'd just hit some snags with Lucasfilm about one aspect of the story which he would have to change.  I hope that's still the case, but I'm starting to wonder...  When Bantam lost the SW rights to Del Rey, they Indy rights went with them.  I hope that Del Ray has plans to publish some further Indy novels.  
: Anyway, I think McCoy's are great because they do tie in with the movies.  I love the appearances by Belloq, Sallah, Lao Che and other familiar faces.  If Secret of the Sphinx does, indeed, take the reader to the doorstep of TOD, then presumably we'll witness Indy meeting Short Round for the first time there.  Caiden's books were awful.  They were slow and they were not Indy.  I breezed through McCoy's and most of MacGregor's books, but Sky Pirates took me weeks to slog through, which is really sad for a quickie paperback.  It was just so slow.  And whoever said they weren't Indy stories was right.  They certainly weren't.  And they contradicted the movies at every turn.  (Not that MacGregor's didn't, but...)  For instance, if Indy learned how to fly in 1930, as he does in Sky Pirates, then why has he forgotten by the time he finds himself in the cockpit of Lao Che's pilotless plane in 1935, and by 1938 only learned to "fly, yes, land, no"?  Many problems...
: As for the comic books, personally I really didn't like most of the Marvel ones because I don't feel they were in the right spirit of Indy.  The artifacts were cheesy magic things (or Buffalo Bill's pistols!!! Who cares?) and not religious artifacts as they should have been.  (For the most part.  The fourth nail was an exception.)  Dark Horse's comics were really good, though, I thought.  My favorites were Thunder In the Orient, Shrine of the Sea Devil and Arms of Gold.  Sargasso Pirates was a really fun read because it was done like an old 1940s comic strip, an homage not unlike George Lucas' tributes to movie serial of the same era.  Dan Barry, Garry Gianni, and Eduardo Barretto provided the best Indy artwork, IMHO.  
: Brisco

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