Posted by Brisco from 136.244.202.135 on December 18, 1998 at 16:29:54:
In Reply to: Re: IN DEFENSE OF THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF INDIANA JONES. posted by Rik Duel on December 16, 1998 at 12:41:52:
: Absolutely.
: I've always maintained that a lot of the Marvel stuff, my personal favourite being The Fourth Nail, is better than some of the junk that Dark Horse put out. The same could be said for Marvel's Star Wars books, and they probably get a worse rap than TFAOIJ from the fans.
: A pretty painted cover does not make a comic a great read.
: Don't get me wrong. Dark Horse put out some good ones, too. But IMHO they have about the same hit and miss rate to me, as Marvel did.
OK, I agree with Hannibal that there were some good stories in the Marvel run, but I can't agree with you about Dark Horse. While I really enjoyed the Stonehenge story in TFAOID, and several others, I still contend that every issue of Indy Dark Horse published is superior to any Marvel did. The art was not always top notch in either series (never cared for Leo Duranona's DH art, or the atrocious colors on Golden Fleece), but the writing at DH was always quality, which unfortunately can't be said for Marvel. Yes, as I said, there were really good stories. Stonehenge (although the alien being thing was really out of place for Indy), the one with El Dorado, and the one that started in San Francisco and continued on a cruise ship and ended up at an Aztek pyramid or something for a sacrifice were all really good. But then you had UTTER CRAP like the story about Buffalo BIll's revolvers (is that really an artifact worthy of INdy, on par with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, or even the Shankara Stones?), or what I contend to be the absolute WORST Indy story ever put to print, the one about the "Elizabethan madman" brewing his own fountain of youth elixer in the US, which pitted Indy against well-meaning troops of the US Army. Ug. DH never sank that low. Their worst story was probably "Sargasso Pirates," and that was still very enjoyable because of top notch artwork and it's style, imitating a 1940s newspaper strip. To me, DH succeeded where Marvel didn't because they got the FEEL of Indy down right. I could believe that DH's Indiana Jones was the same we knew from the movies. I never felt like Marvel's Indiana Jones existed in the same world as his big screen adventures. The artifacts in the DH series were at least based in religion or myth (Buddhism, Chritianity, Greek gods), whereas many of the Marvel artifacts were made up from no historical or mythological basis, like the gold "Ikons" or the Stonehenge cylindar. Genuine archeological objects, like the Calandar Stone, or religious ones, like the Fourth Nail, were at the heart of the best Marvel stories. Finally, I think both series had a lot of good cover art. I really liked the ones that Howard Chaykin did for Marvel.
Brisco
: Later,
: Rik.
: : Hey,
: : how are you all doing?
: : Remember a time back in the early eighties? You know that time when you had just gotten over the shock of realising that Star Wars was a great film . . . but not the greatest. A time when you wished that there was as much Indiana Jones stuff in the shops as there was Star Wars stuff. Over here in the UK there was a dearth of stuff . . . I wasn't even aware that any Indy action figures had been released until I visited Florida in 1993 and saw a Toht in a comic shop.
: : Then, Marvel Comics came to the rescue with a Comic book based on the continuing adventures of Indiana Jones. Unfortunately . . . this feeling of elation had vanished by issue three. However, I still maintain that if you looked through the manure you would occasionally find a little gem!
: : There were a number of interesting stories. The Ikons of Ikkammanen, the Gateway to Infinity, the one about the lost African colony of Atlantis, the Fourth Nail, the sequel to the Golden goddess was good in parts. I fully admit that some of the stories were of the worse possible standard and cannot be defended. That pile of horseshit about the Japanese dragon, most of issues 20 - 34.
: : However, at least they were brave enought to include some non Nazi villains. Ben Ali Ayoob was a great creation . . . a villain who is wealthy enough to find artefacts for himself, without having to work for the Nazi's. Again the writing wasn't great but when I was fourteen and starved of Indy it was a damned sight better than nothing.
: : Like all of Marvels movie tie ins, the quality ranged from abysmal to quite good. Kerry Gammils artwork was great and even though the likenesses of the characters faces wasn't bang on it retained an adventurous feel. However, some artwork and colouring was awful.
: : What I'm saying is that these comics were like any ongoing comic books, and I still have my full collection. Is anyone else convinced enough to defend them, or parts of them. Or does everyone hate them all with a vengeance? Come on, back me up or shoot me down, I'm genuinely interested.
: : Seeya
: : Hannibal.