***THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE NERD BLITZ PATREON***
Alright gang, I have some pretty big plans!
In celebration of Free Comic Book Day, I’m going to attempt to post 3 reviews of old FCBD Comics over the next 3 weeks.
Will it work out as I hope?
No clue, but I thought it might be fun and give you all something extra special to look forward to.
So first out the gate, we have a 6 pages Indiana Jones story from 2009.
In the same style as the digests I reviewed last year (read those HERE & HERE) and packaged with a shit ton of other stories, can this possibly pull off a decent story in such a limited amount of space?
Let’s all dive in and find out together!
As always, this is your requisite ***SPOILER ALERT***
Art by Ethen Beavers: Same as the digests that came before, Beavers’s work is impeccable.
Simplified without losing any understanding of what makes Indy easily identifiable.
It’s dynamic, fluid, eye catching, and detailed.
I love it just as much in this as I did in the digests.
Great work that I wish there was more of.
Story by Mark Evanier: In his research, Indy found a 14th century King’s temple and the way in.
He’d planned to investigate next year, but unfortunately an intern named Clifford spyed on the files so Indy decided to move up his trek to avoid Clifford snaking in.
Indy and his new guide Bhakdi try to get there before Clifford can beat them to the punch.
The race against time aspect of this story helps make up for the truncated page count, adding a deserved sense of urgency.
The new kid sidekick that Indy ropes into guiding him feels a bit like Short Round, but less exuberant and more precocious, not that Shorty wasn’t without his maturities.
I wish we had gotten to see a wee bit more of their dynamic.
It’s sad that we didn’t get more stories in this style, because I have read a lot of Indiana Jones comics and I can say without a doubt that these are my favorites.
This is a great quick hit preview of just what the digests give you, a fun, action packed Indy adventure in the vein of Last Crusade.
None of the other comics come this close to the peaks of Indy perfection.
But this also highlights just how inept Disney is because they still haven’t done shit with Indy in prose novels or comics.
It seems like they’re content to just leave money on the table when it comes to ol Jonesy.
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Until next time, stay safe out there, gang.
