Indiana Jones Omnibus Vol 1
Indiana Jones is back in this massive volume recounting three of the most important discoveries in the career of the twentieth century’s most adventurous archeologist! Containing the long out-of-print stories, “Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis,” “Thunder in the Orient,” and “Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold,” this substantial tome follows the intrepid Dr. Jones as he travels from Africa to Asia and nearly everywhere in between in a race against the Nazis for the world’s greatest treasures. From lost cities, to ancient temples, to artifacts of legendary power, Indy will stop at nothing to preserve these prizes from the grasp of Adolf Hitler’s evil minions.
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars If Adventure has a name, that’s not it…
Indiana Jones Omnibus Volume 1 is certainly not what you might except…
I just have one word for it: dull. A lot of editing have been made to present these stories to look like one shots, but omissions were made on several pages were the title of the next “episode” is announced ( p. 202, for example, include the title of the next episode, and reprint the exact same splash page in smaller format, ruining the whole flow of the story).
The stories are also very hard to follow. The narrative structure is so poor, one wonders how the writers and artists could make sense of it before publication.
On a positive note, I like the overall presentation very much; the format of the book and the quality of the paper, but the content is nothing compared to some of the Marvel issues that were published in 1983. Since now Dark Horse have the right to the Indiana Jones franchise, I sincerely hope that they’ll reprint the Marvel run instead of these 1990’s mini-series that have nothing to be remembered for…
3 Stars Just Average
This Indiana Jones Omnibus comes from Dark Horse Comics and contains a collection of comics from three different story volumes. The stories were originally published in comic book form in the early 1990s just after the 1989 release of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. The three story arcs are:
“Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis”–this story is a rough adaptation of the Lucasart video game with the same name. Indy travels around the globe with a ravishing redheaded woman named Sophie Hapgood. Sophie is one of the foremost experts about Atlantis and is also a part-time psychic. She and Indy have worked together on a previous expedition in Iceland that uncovered some unusual relics. When some Germans show up at Barnett College to steal Indy’s relics from the excavation and attempt to kill him, it starts Indy on a world-wide odyssey in search of the lost city of Atlantis.
“Indiana Jones and the Thunder in the Orient”–this adventure finds Indy in the middle east teamed up with Sophie Hapgood again and a boy named Khamal in search of the original writings and testaments of Buddah. This is the longest story of the three.
“Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold”–Professor Jones finds himself teamed with an attractive female professor who has been given his “pet” class for the semester to teach. The professor, Francisca Uribe del Arco receives a strange package from her missing brother. The package contains a golden finger. Supposedly, the finger is part of an entire suit of gold that allows the wearer to lift and carve huge blocks of stone. Someone is desperate to get the golden finger and Indy and Francisca set out to South America in search of the rest of the golden arm and Francisca’s missing brother.
I’ve been a fan of Indiana Jones since a kid and with the arrival of the new movie in May 2008, there will be an onslaught of Indy related books and merchandise. However, unless you are the most die hard of fans, you probably will not enjoy reading INDIANA JONES OMNIBUS VOL. 1. The artwork is rather bland and at times doesn’t match from one panel to the next, for instance in the “Thunder in the Orient” story Sophie Hapgood goes from being a ravishing redhead to being a blonde bombshell halfway through the story. The stories themselves aren’t very strong and they skip key portions of the story, for instance once again “Thunder in the Orient” spends a huge amount of time building to the climax and then just ends. As far as comics go, they are average, but as far as Indiana Jones stories go, they are subpar.
4 Stars Indy in comic form
Very beautiful publication with Indy’s early Dark Horse stories. The stories contained in this volume are discribed by the previous reviewers and although they haven’t changed the comic world they are fun to read.
This book is a bit shorter in size, it doesn’t stand as tall as the original issues were, and it doesn’t feature the original cover art from all the issues. The publisher has chosen to randomly pick one for each story and let it run continuously. Although not a mistake in judgment it would be nice to dedicate a couple of pages at the end of each story to demonstrate the covers.
Hope to see the Marvel stories in this format too!
4 Stars Great Collection
Dark Horse Comics has been publishing these fantastic Omnibus volumes the last couple of years. This particular collection contains previously out of print “Indiana Jones” miniseries from 1991-1994. All three tales are pretty solid.
“Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis” is the first story and is an adaptation of the classic Lucasarts computer game of the same name. I felt this was the weakest of the three stories but that might be because I’m comparing it too much to the game. It’d be hard to adapt the game fully because it is so immersive. I do think though that those who have never played the game should enjoy this story because you won’t know what you’re missing.
“Indiana Jones: Thunder in the Orient” is the second story, my favorite of the three. Indy goes on a quest for the original scrolls written by the Buddha and tangles with warlords and a crazed Japanese general. At times, there are shades of Temple of Doom in this story and that’s not a bad thing. The artwork in this story has a 1940s feel that works really well too.
“Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold” is the last story in this volume. The story here involves Indy helping a Spanish professor who is new to his college track down her missing brother, which leads them on a quest for a pair of golden arms. There are a couple of really good twists in this story that I won’t give away. The artwork is good again, although is very different from the style in which the first two stories are done. It’s quite good though and fits the thematic material.
This volume is well worth the money for any die-hard Indiana Jones fan. It’s great that Dark Horse is finally reprinting these stories after all these years. This book will make a fine edition to any Indy fan’s collection.
5 Stars Indy Returns in ALL Media
Fresh on the heels of the release of the new Indiana Jones trailer and May 22nd film debut, Darkhorse Books has reprinted three complete treasure seeking adventures fans can whet their appetites on. The Indy flood not only includes comics, but also books (film adaptatons and series), but also the Young Indy Chronicles and the three previous films.
With an archaeological smorgasborg like that to choose from, you can’t go hungry!
In the early 1990’s, Dark Horse Comics secured the license to create new Indiana Jones adventures.
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