Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 2: Curse of the Invincible Ruby is the second installment in a series of digest-sized comics from Dark Horse Comics. It was released on September 16, 2009.
Publisher's summary[]
When sixteenth-century stone carvings of animals start to go missing from museums across the globe, authorities think it's a simple case of burglary. But Indiana Jones and Marcus Brody think otherwise. Legend has it that the statues serve as a key to finding a mysterious ruby, which is said to make its bearer invincible. It's up to Indy to find the statues and the ruby before it falls into the wrong hands!
Plot summary[]
In the late spring or early summer of 1931, two masked thieves entered the New York Museum of History and stole a stone carving of a crocodile. With the alarm ringing, the pair fled, but attacked several guards, including security chief Ballantine Gruber. The next day, Marcus Brody brought Gruber to Indiana Jones as he finished his final lecture of the semester at Barnett College. Jones realized that the theft was part of a larger string of thefts of Wohat Statues, and recognized that while the statues were valuable, the real prize might be the mystical Invincible Ruby of Ali Bey. Gruber left, disbelieving in the ruby's powers, but Jones planned to track down the thieves in order to eventually find the ruby, ignoring requests from Helen and her Helen's friend for help. As Jones researched the ruby, Brody learned from a telegram that a sixth Wohat statue, in the shape of a lion, had been stolen from the Barcelona History Museum.
Traveling to Barcelona, Jones broke into the museum to examine the crime scene, and ran into Gruber, also interested in finding the thieves in order to recover his museum's piece. The pair were attacked by a man in a fez and his two henchman. One of the men captured Gruber, who asserted that these were the same thieves from New York, while the other shot after Jones. With Gruber sealed in a mummy's sarcophagus, the henchmen tried to apprehend Jones on the fire escape, but he managed to knock them both off and climb onto the roof, where he was attacked by the man in the fez. Reversing the situation by dangling the man over the edge of the roof, Jones learned that the men had been hired by René Belloq and pulled the man to safety. The man knocked Jones over with a piece of wood and fled. Jones recovered and tailed the man through Barcelona to a hotel, where he saw the man meet with Belloq. Tricking both the hotel operator and a housekeeper, Jones got access to Belloq's room and recovered five of the stolen statues, and examined them in a maintenance closet. He learned that Wohat had hidden a map on the underside of the carvings, leading to southeast Kenya.
Flying to Nairobi via Tripoli, Jones drove out to the Mombasa district, through the grasslands. Upon reaching the jungle, he head out on foot, and climbed a tree to get his bearings. While in the tree, a monkey stole his hat, and Jones had to assert his dominance to get it back. Eventually, he reached Ali Bey's Palace and found a doorway with an inscription about warm-blooded animals needing to be arranged. Placing the five mammal statues in niches in the doorway, he used trial and error and unlocked the door on his sixteenth attempt. His attackers from Barcelona appeared with guns, and their leader thanked Jones on Belloq's behalf for solving the puzzle of the palace door. Jones surmised that his antagonist planned to betray Belloq, and his opponent agreed, introducing himself as Ali Bey-Faisal, descendent of Ali Bey, and explained his plan to use the powers of the ruby to restore the Ottoman Empire. Before he could shoot Jones, Gruber pistol-whipped Bey-Faisal, and the two Americans fled into the palace as tentative partners.
While Bey-Faisal and his men searched the ruins, shooting a hat-wearing skeleton in the process, Jones and Gruber fell through into a lower chamber where they were knocked out. Recovering first, Jones emptied Gruber's pistol, and then found a stone box. With Gruber's help, they pushed off the lid to reveal the ruby. Bey-Faisal's men had located Jones and Bey-Faisal dismissed his men at gunpoint, then silently approached Jones and Gruber. Attempting to seize the ruby for himself, Gruber drew his gun on Jones, who confronted him about the crocodile, which hadn't been stolen by Bey-Faisal, though Gruber had claimed it had been. Believing he had the upper hand, Gruber confessed to the copycat theft and the crocodile's sale on the black market, then pulled the trigger. Jones showed Gruber the pilfered bullets, and Gruber lunged for the ruby.
Bey-Faisal grabbed Gruber, who punched him away and then picked up the giant gemstone. Jones warned Gruber about the dangers of the ruby, but Gruber held the jewel over his head. The ruby began to emit red light, and with a scream, Gruber was turned into a smouldering pile of ash. Bey-Faisal began searching the room for the lost ruby, but Jones warned him both of the ruby's lethal powers, and the impending destruction of the old castle. Obsessed with the ruby, Bey-Faisal was unaware of the large boulder which fell and crushed him. Jones escaped from the collapsing ruin and trekked out into the jungle. Back at the grasslands, he encountered Belloq, and commented on Bey-Faisal's fate.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
- René Belloq
- Ali Bey (Mentioned only)
- Ali Bey-Faisal
- Marcus Brody
- Cheetah
- Ballantine Gruber
- Helen
- Indiana Jones
- Wohat (Mentioned only)
- New York Museum thief
- Helen's friend
- Turban Bey-Faisal Henchman
- Goatee Bey-Faisal Henchman
- Operator in Barcelona hotel
- Housekeeper in Barcelona hotel
Locations[]
- New York
- Barcelona, Spain
- London, United Kingdom (On map)
- Tripoli, Libya (On map)
- Kenya
- Ottoman Empire (Mentioned only)
Artifacts[]
Animals[]
- Crocodile (Statue)
- Giraffe (Statue)
- Lion (Statue)
- Monkey
- Rhinoceros (Statue)
Behind the scenes[]
Curse of the Invincible Ruby takes place in 1931, around the end of the academic semester at Barnett College. While it is not clear whether this is the spring or the fall semester, the outdoor climate and vegetation suggest that this story is more likely to be taking place in May-June 1931 and not December 1931.
The university isn't identified in the text of the comic itself but the appearance of Indiana Jones' office as depicted in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade would suggest Barnett College. However, the classroom of both Barnett and Marshall College from Raiders of the Lost Ark were shot at the same location at Rickmansworth Masonic School in Hertfordshire, England in the film series.
External links[]
| ADVENTURE TIMELINE | ||
|---|---|---|
| previous | next | |
| Winter 1930 | 1931 | 1932 |
| Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 1 | Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 2: Curse of the Invincible Ruby | Indiana Jones und die Gefiederte Schlange |