Good afternoon,
Hope everyone's been having a nice, relaxing holiday weekend. It's time for me to talk about the twenty-first issue of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. The cover showed Indy at the edge of a cliff, being attacked by several large birds. The tale was titled "Beyond the Lucifer Chamber!" The issue had a cover date of September 1984.
The story began just above the small town of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, England. Indiana, Marion Ravenwood, and Marcus Brody were there to find Brody's old college classmate Austin Coleridge, a man who might know the location of Indy's old rival Ben Ali Ayoob and possibly assist their friend in clearing his good name.
Their car arrived in town a few minutes later, and its presence was noticed by a stranger who spoke to someone via a microphone. The trio entered the Cat and Fiddle pub and soon learned how not all of its patrons were friendly with Coleridge. At Brody's mere mention of his name, a dart was thrown at his cigar by a one-eyed man behind them.
The patron said that Coleridge's livelihood cost him his lost eye, as well as the coal mine that shut down, which had employed many of the village's residents. A bar broke out soon thereafter. Indy and his friends left the establishment and were surprised to see dozens of hawks, who scared away the townspeople.
After the skirmish, the Americans were introduced to Coleridge's second in command, Tarrant. The birds were his pets, and the visitors were now his prisoners. Marion watched Tarrant's Jeep speed away, but before she could seek out help, she was approached by several participants of the bar fight. They apologized for their actions, now that they knew that they were not involved in Coleridge's activities. One noted that the vehicle was bound for the coal mine and the Lucifer chamber.
Meanwhile, at Cardiff Airport, a stranger was asking a woman at the front counter if she'd seen a visitor and produced a photo of Jones. She remembered the face, adding that she'd rented a car to him and his companions. When asked if her customer was a friend, the man replied that they had some business together.
It didn't take very long for Tarrant's Jeep to reach the mine entrance. He ordered Jones and Brody inside, leading them along the lighted passageway. Coleridge eventually stood before them. He greeted his old classmate, and Marcus brought up Coleridge's prior transgressions, including extortion, theft, and manipulating people for political purposes. Austin remarked that he was in control now and that his guests would only live as long as they entertained him.
He then gestured to a doorway that was rumored to lead to the gateway to Hell. Coleridge had been hired by Ben Ali Ayoob years ago to find the legendary Devil's Heart amulet, a trinket that was rumored to contain the heart of Satan. It was buried inside Lucifer's chamber, an area where they now stood. He then showed a photograph to his visitors of a box that had been discovered there.
Coleridge went on to say that coal had been found in the mine years later, and the chamber was closed off once the mining operation began. Indy tried to finagle Ayoob's current location from Coleridge, but got nowhere in that effort. He then created a diversion that allowed him to escape.
Tarrant whistled to his hawks, who pursued the American, but a rock tossed at the villain's arm prevented Coleridge's assistant from firing at the fleeing Jones. He continued to run until Marion caught up with him. She had several of the villagers with her. They were willing to help.
At the Cat and Fiddle pub, the man from the airport was asking questions about Doctor Jones. The barkeep was told by the one-eyed patron to disclose nothing, but a blade from the stranger's ring might have changed his mind. As Jones and his new companions were descending the stairs to where Marcus was being held, Brody and Coleridge were engaged in a private conversation.
Coleridge was trying to convince his old college classmate about the virtues of his campaign. He then removed the glove from his left hand, which had been turned to solid gold. Coleridge explained that he'd held the philosopher's stone, which was supposed to turn items into gold.
By that time, Tarrant and his subordinates were battling Jones and the townspeople. An alarm alerted Coleridge, and that distraction was enough for Brody to knock his former ally's gun aside. Another shrill note from Tarrant's whistle brought more hawks into the mine. Indiana used an old accordion to draw the birds away, but he still had their master to deal with.
Their fight resumed outdoors. It wasn't until Jones was able to bat Tarrant's whistle around that the professor finally had the upper hand. At the same time, Brody was holding his own against Coleridge. Austin was about to make a swipe at Marcus when the glint of his golden eye attracted one of the hawks, who moved to swoop in on his prey.
The bird pushed Colerige back against a wall. He accidentally pushed aside part of the door that had been weakened earlier, and created an opening. A strange purple mist emanated from the interior chamber and overtook the villain. Soon, the mist was all that was left of Coleridge.
Marcus was fascinated briefly by the apparition, but as soon as it started igniting blasting caps, Brody knew he had to leave immediately. He got out in time and ran to find Marion and the villagers holding Tarrant and his men at gunpoint. Neither of them knew where Indy was at the time.
Jones was kneeling over Tarrant's unconscious form, relieved that their struggle was finally over. As he turned around, he saw a shadow behind him. It was the man from the airport, who now pointed a Luger at the American, saying that his direct leader, the Führer, had ordered him to kill the archaeologist.
This issue was penciled by Steve Ditko, and his artwork was very easy to distinguish. The scenes with the apparition were reminiscent of some of his Doctor Strange stories from the 1960s. Ditko was the primary penciler for Strange Stories and the Amazing Spider-Man until he abruptly left Marvel and worked for companies like DC and Charlton before returning to Marvel in the 1980s as a freelancer. He worked on titles like this one, ROM: Spaceknight, a few Incredible Hulk tales, the Micronauts annuals, Machine Man, and other series. I wasn't a big fan of his work at the time, because it felt kind of dated when compared with other contemporaries, but I grew to appreciate his legacy over time.
That's all I have for you today. Tomorrow, I'll tackle the twenty-second issue of this title. The final part of this storyline will tell us where Ayoob was, who the mystery man from this issue was, and what happened to the real Arnhem ring. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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