Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 1 is the first in a series of digest-sized comics from Dark Horse Comics. It was released on June 25, 2008.
Publisher's summary[]
In the deep winter of Northern Europe, Dr. Henry Jones Jr. is about to undergo one of the most harrowing archeological digs of his career! Amidst a deadly blizzard, he must find an ancient monument and unlock its secrets before someone with much darker intentions gets there first! Yet there are trials awaiting any who would lay claim to the artifacts of mysterious warriors from long ago.
Plot summary[]
In the winter of 1930, Indiana Jones and Marcus Brody were in Uppsala, Sweden, searching for the Temple of Old Uppsala, in competition with Forrestal and an archaeology team from the British Museum. Unable to procure guides during a blizzard, Jones set out alone on foot, and reached the ruins of a church. Discovering a nearby cave entrance, he found one of his competitors - British archaeologist Theresa Lawrence trapped in a pit leading down to the temple. Climbing down to her, Indy found that his reputation for grave-robbery had preceded him. Lawrence proposed to wait for a full team to properly document the find, while Jones simply started down into the temple, ready to claim any artifacts. Discussing Norse cosmology as they descend through the rooms, the pair are startled by a skeleton dressed as an Alfar marionette. In a lower room representing the fire giants, Lawrence accidentally triggered a trap which blocks their progress. Realizing that the Alfar room needed an operator's space, Jones found an upstairs area which led them to a storage room filled with scrolls. Jones found a map scroll to the Chamber of Baldur, and the pair follow it.
Inside the chamber, Lawrence discovered a ring on the statue of Baldur, and reached for it. Fearing a booby-trap, Jones dove to the ground, but nothing happened, and Lawrence took the ring and departed, sealing Jones in the chamber. Outside, Lawrence was approached by a gun-toting figure. Inside, Jones eventually discovered a secret way out of the chamber, and returned to the hotel in Uppsala. Not willing to return to the US empty-handed, he proposed to Brody to steal the ring back from the British Museum since the ring's value would be able to fund more expeditions, a difficult task during the Depression. The two traveled to London.
After hiding in the British Museum until after closing, Jones broke into Lawrence's office. Lawrence discovered him stealing the ring, and claimed it back, mentioning that the real prize from Uppsala wasn't the ring, but a scroll instead - a scroll sought by Rene Belloq. Meanwhile, Brody realized that Jones' scroll is far more valuable than Jones had thought - and was robbed by Belloq and his thugs. Returning to the apartment, Jones and Lawrence found Brody with a black eye and realized that Belloq probably was working for the Nazis. After explaining the growing menace of the Nazis to Lawrence, Jones and Brody stepped aside to discuss how they could get the scroll back. With Brody sure that the museum would be unable to continue funding, Jones approached Lawrence for help.
Veidt's transformation.
In Marrakesh, Jones dressed as a local to tail Belloq to his meeting. Belloq met with Krause and some of his troops. Krause was interested in the ancient knowledge in the scrool, including a section on making "Odin's men" - beserkers in battle. Before purchasing the scroll, he demanded proof that the powers of the scroll worked. Belloq was prepared for this and brought out a sample of the beserker formula. A young Nazi soldier volunteered to take the solution - and transformed into a muscular raging beserker. His rampage was stopped by a bullet from Krause, who agreed to purchase the scroll. At that moment, Jones slipped in and stole the scroll from Belloq's hands, and escaped into the streets.
Knocking over some belly dancers, Jones eluded his pursuers. However, the dancers pointed his path out to the Nazi soldiers on his tail. Jones hopped onto a horse to get past the soldiers yet again, but accidentally rode into an alley with low beams, and got knocked off his steed. Trapped in the maze of backstreets, Jones found himself at a dead end when one of the Nazi soldiers showed up. As the two fist fought, Belloq and Krause showed up. Belloq reclaimed the scroll from Jones' satchel and presented it to Krause, then offered Jones a chance to team up with him for work with the Nazis, who could pay. Krause examined the scroll and discovered that it was a copy of the Torah instead - Jones had swapped the Norse scroll with Lawrence in the marketplace, disguised as a belly dancer. Lawrence was already on her way back to London. Roughing up Jones for a final time, Krause and Belloq left the alley, disappointed that the scroll was gone.
A sore Jones arrived back at the British Museum to meet up with Lawrence. Lawrence related that on the flight back to London, she met some Swedes from their national museum, and that she had given the scroll back to them as the rightful owners. Saying farewell, Jones took his leave. Walking with Brody, Jones expressed that the scroll was gone - and not to the Swedish National Museum, as Jones realized. However, the pair did not leave empty-handed, Jones had re-acquired Baldur's ring for the museum, and mentioned to Brody that they should probably leave the country quickly.
Behind the scenes[]
While the story is simply described as beginning in "Winter 1930", it is likely that the story happens in November or December of 1930, and not in January or February of that year as Belloq and Jones both make references to the Nazi party's successes in recent elections, which were held in September, 1930 (previous German elections were held in 1928), where the Nazi party showed their growing clout by gaining 95 seats.
Appearances[]
Full cover art
Characters[]
- Baldur the Beautiful (Mentioned only)
- René Emile Belloq
- Marcus Brody
- Forrestal (Mentioned only)
- Indiana Jones
- Krause
- Theresa Lawrence
- Odin (Mentioned only)
- Veidt
- Virgil (Mentioned only)
- Docent at British Museum
- Marrakesh merchant
Locations[]
- Algeria (On map)
- Bamyan (Mentioned only)
- Belgium (On map)
- Denmark (On map)
- Copenhagen (On map)
- Egypt (Mentioned only)
- Assiut (Mentioned only)
- France (On map)
- Louvre (Mentioned only)
- Germany (On map)
- Berlin (Mentioned only)
- Great Zimbabwe (Mentioned only)
- Imgur-Enlil (Mentioned only)
- India (Mentioned only)
- Italy (On map) (Mentioned only)
- Ireland (On map)
- Jotunheim (Mentioned only)
- Morocco
- Muspelsheim (Mentioned only)
- Netherlands (On map)
- Portugal (On map)
- Spain (On map)
- Madrid (On map)
- Sweden
- Goteburg (On map)
- Sigtuna (Mentioned only)
- Stockholm (On map)
- Swedish National Museum (Mentioned only)
- Temple of Old Uppsala
- Uppsala
- Tunisia (On map)
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- National Museum (Mentioned only)
Artifacts[]
- Baldur's Ring
- Uppsala Scroll
- Buddhas of Bamyan (Mentioned only)
- Eight Shedus
- Bronze Gates of Imgur-Enlil
Miscellanea[]
- Aesirs (Mentioned only)
- Giant (Mentioned only)
- Nazi
- Ragnarok (Mentioned only)
External links[]
| ADVENTURE TIMELINE | ||
|---|---|---|
| previous | next | |
| 1930 | Winter 1930 | 1931 |
| Indiana Jones and the White Witch | Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 1 | Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 2: Curse of the Invincible Ruby |