Hello again,
I hope everyone's enjoying this nice weekend.
The focus of this article will be the thirteenth issue of Marvel's series The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. The cover, illustrated by Bret Blevins, showed Indy being dragged through a desert while holding onto a metal chain that was attached to an airplane. The tale was titled "Deadly Rock!" The issue had a publication date of January 1984.
The story began in Arizona. Professor Jones took several of his students from Marshall College in Connecticut to the Indian lands on a field trip. One of his pupils was reaching for an arrowhead, not knowing that a scorpion was inches from her fingertips. Jones was admiring one of his students' finds when his pupil, Warren, asked about the relics inside the cave that were supposed to have been the site of a Hopi city.
Indiana agreed with Warren, adding that local officials had blocked off the entrance after deeming the rock strata to be unsafe. Moments later, everyone was alerted to a shrill scream. Professor Jones ran to the source and saw Lucy Giles paralyzed with fear as a scorpion started crawling slowly up her arm.
Indy took out his bullwhip and carefully knocked the scorpion away. Lucy rushed to thank her professor, earning her some consternation and talk of favoritism among her fellow students. She had only transferred to the university two weeks before and already gotten closer to the professor tham most of her classmates had all semester.
Indiana was about to have Lucy brought back to camp when he was alerted to the fact that Warren had gone off on his own and was now in the direct path of a rockslide. Jones put Joel in charge as he drove to rescue Warren. He noticed that his student was stuck with a twisted ankle before realizing that he was driving at an angle that was too steep. Indy was forced to jump for safety, and eventually managed to get Warren and himself beneath the truck moments before the landslide hit.
Indy and Warren freed themselves a short while later. The professor was curious about the slide, but before he could ponder further, the sounds of strangers drew his attention. A pair of men calling themselves Dominic and Oinkster claimed that they were from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and made veiled threats to the professor.
When asked for identification, the lackeys pointed their guns. Instead of risking the lives of himself and his students, Jones opted to head back to camp. Later that night, while his students were enjoying treats at an ice cream parlor, Indiana phoned Marcus Brody. He filled his friend in on what he'd observed. Brody took everything into consideration, including Jones' speculation that the gunmen might be going after ancient Hopi artifacts inside the cave. Marcus told Indy about Marion Ravenwood's ambitious efforts in her position as public relations officer for the National Museum, which got Indiana thinking before the call ended.
Lucy offered her professor a sundae, but Indy politely declined, stating that he had plans that evening before heading out. Once his pupils were sleeping at their desert camp, Indy ventured out, heading toward the same cave they'd explored the exterior of earlier that day. He remembered seeing a circle-shaped stone with a hole in the middle that would be convenient for setting dynamite.
After knocking out another armed guard, Indiana got a closer look at the inner workings. He was surprised to see bulldozers and other equipment for installing electrical lines and plumbing. Before he could question what he saw further, a trio of muscular guards approached Indy. He managed to take them out one by one, but the sight of Lucy being apprehended distracted Jones long enough to be knocked unconscious by a blackjack.
When he awoke, Indiana found Lucy next to him. She explained that she saw him sneaking out and thought that he was going to meet with another one of her female classmates. Indy was then introduced to a man named Busby, who was behind the entire operation. He told the professor about his intentions to create his own hole in the wall safe haven, which was perfect since he'd greased a few palms to ensure that the location would be listed as unsafe and therefore less likely to be investigated by outsiders.
Indiana threatened to expose the criminal hideout until Busby countered by showing the professor a signed confession claiming that Lucy had eloped with a gas station attendant. Giles would remain with them. If Jones ever wanted to see Lucy alive again, he would comply.
Indy had no choice but to agree. However, he wasn't about to go along with everything completely. The next morning, he put Eva and Joel in charge of driving their classmates away from camp. Indiana stayed behind to do a little recon and hopefully rescue Emily.
Jones tossed a bag full of spiders at the next guards he saw, leaving the hole they were guarding exposed and open. Jones climbed down and soon found Lucy. He wasn't expecting her to cry for help, which soon brought her father, Busby, and his soldiers to the scene in seconds.
Busby explained that he had transferred his daughter from Vassar to Marshall College so that Emily could keep an eye on Indiana. He claimed that Jones was the loser who would suffer from another rockslide, when Indy stated that he'd already been to the compound's radio room and made a distress call. Busby didn't believe him until the sounds of sirens reverberated around the cavern walls.
Indy took advantage of the distraction to escape. As he ran, gunmen fired at him. Several bullets hit the drums of gasoline that had been stored inside. It didn't take very long for them to ignite and create a wall of fire that separated Jones from his foes.
Busby was already running toward his plane, with his daughter not far behind. Lucy tried to clumsily fight off her professor, only to fail once more. Indy wasn't able to stop Busby from taking off, but he did manage to toss a hook tied to a chain, which connected with the rear wheel strut.
Indiana held onto the chain for a while until he couldn't bear the pain much longer. He then ran to a nearby bulldozer and drove the heavy machine into the chain, grounding the plane instantly. Some time later, police arrived to arrest the Busbys. Lucy asked her professor if they could reconnect once she was on parole. Indy declined, remarking that he'd prefer tarantulas, because at least you expect them to bite.
Instead of the traditional letters page, a full-page comedic story ran in its place, chronicling assistant editor Eliot R. Brown's attempt to get the issue to traffic manager Virginia Romita. Brown had to pass through the traps in the assistant editors' gauntlet. He was late, of course, and Virginia ordered Mike Carlin to hit him with a pie. This issue was published during the infamous Marvel assistant editors' month, and some issues published during that month are sought after by collectors because of exclusives like this or the offbeat stories that ran instead of the usual storylines.
I liked penciler Ricardo Villamonte's work on this particular issue. He would return to collaborate on other issues throughout the series' run. Busby Giles reminds me a bit of the old school Marvel villain Turner D. Century. Unfortunately, we would not see either Busby or Lucy return to this title before it was cancelled. I always thought it would have been interesting to see what other troubles the father and daughter duo could get into.
That's all I have for you for today. Tomorrow, I'll kick off the day by discussing the fourteenth issue of this series. Indiana returns to school and life as usual, until he catches wind of Marion's promotional efforts, and the couple learns of a new danger that was brought up by someone that they least expected. Until then, have a great weekend and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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