Good afternoon, folks,
Hope everyone's been having a nice, relaxing holiday weekend. I'm closing out the day by recapping the sixth issue of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. The cover, illustrated by the issue's artists, Howard Chaykin and Terry Austin, depicted Indy jumping from one boat driven by a woman to another, and grabbing the hand of the pilot of the other boat, who was firing a pistol wildly with that same appendage. The tale was titled "Club Nightmare!" The issue had a cover date of June 1983.
The story started just outside the Raven's Nest, a new nightclub in New York that was preparing for its grand opening. Its proprietor, Marion Ravenwood, was stepping toward the entrance when she was nearly run over by a car that seemed hellbent on ending the young lady's life. Only Indiana's timely intervention saved his friend from a gruesome fate.
Marion thanked Indy for the rescue and had a good idea of who was behind such an act. The pair was greeted by a local antiquities dealer named Jamal, who had provided some of the decorations in return for Indy's help in settling matters with authorities in regard to a few items in Jamal's shop that were found to be illegal. The two friends let Jamal resume his work before retreating to the manager's office. Both of them settled into more formal attire before returning to the concert area.
Marion was certain that the crime lord Emil Marko was behind her near fatality. He'd expressed interest in partial ownership of the club, which she feared would be used as a front for gambling activities. A short while later, Marion took to the mic to introduce the featured artist of the evening, while several onlookers observed how a tall column was about to fall right on the emcee.
Indy was one of those observers, and he acted quickly by tossing a sandbag attached to a rope around the heavy pillar, so that it would fall away from his friend. As a result, that night's performance was cancelled. Marion offered rain checks and complimentary drinks to patrons when they reopened in a few days. She spied Marko and insinuated that he had a hand in the affair. Marko said nothing to incriminate himself. Although Indy didn't much care for Emil, they had no evidence as of yet linking him to any wrongdoing.
Before Indy and Marion departed for the night, Jones stopped to take a closer look at the pillar that had fallen. He noticed some rather unexpected fragments, one of which he pocketed before calling it a night. A few days later, Jones and Ravenwood enjoyed an inexpensive lunch of hot dogs while riding in the back of a horse-drawn carriage. Marion was still seething about the opening night disaster, but neither of them knew that more trouble lay in store very soon.
A shadowed figure fired a dart, which struck the horse and set the animal off in a frenzy. The carriage seemed to be out of control. Jones used the coach whip to lash onto a nearby tree branch. He pulled himself and Marion up just before the carriage collided with the icy waters a few meters away. Marion was now more convinced than ever that Marko had to be behind the attempts on their lives.
Later that evening, Marion paid a social call to Marko, while Indy leapt over a wall and took care of the guard dogs waiting inside the perimeter. As Jones went to peruse the crime lord's files, Marion admired her rival's collection of rare music. Indy read through a few files before a guard entered the room. He left through a window after trading shots with the guard. The noise of gunfire forced Marion to threaten one of Marko's precious recordings before tossing the record and fleeing on foot.
Ravenwood ran to their boat, and the duo sped off. On the way, both of them compared notes. Marion said that Marko had given up on ownership of the club, stating that it wasn't worth the trouble. Indy added that the files he'd read indicated that Emil had ordered gambling equipment but had cancelled that order several days before.
Their boat came out of a narrow passage and was soon fired upon by the driver of another similar vessel. Indiana fired a few shots before giving Marion the wheel and jumping to their attacker's craft. He tossed his foe overboard and steered carefully to return to Marion and caught her just before their original boat exploded against rocks near the shoreline.
Indy now knew that Marko wasn't behind the violence. He held up a strange-looking knife, which seemed to confirm his suspicions. The friends returned to the club, and Indy spied a box of blasting caps. He rushed to the stage and found Jamal placing explosives. He ordered him to stop and turn around slowly.
Jamal explained that his business had been faltering and that he agreed to take care of some unregistered artifacts. He couldn't accomplish that at his physical store because of the police scrutiny, so he'd had those items shipped in some of the decorations for the club. Jamal knew of the rumors about Marko's interest in the nightclub and used that to his advantage in setting up disruptions. He'd hoped that he could recover the controversial items and destroy all evidence in another incident that Marko would be blamed for.
The angered businessman then struck Indy, still determined to go through with his plan. In the scuffle, a lit candle started a fire. Indy eventually knocked his foe unconscious by striking Jamal with a stick of TNT to the back of his head, and grabbed Marion before everything went up in flames.
Sirens sang loudly, and the fire department would soon be there. Marion lamented the fact that she'd forgotten to take out an insurance policy, to which Indy replied that it was a good thing, as her business partner, that they'd just have to use the policy he took out on the club. He remembered from Nepal what happened to some of her business ventures, and prepared accordingly. Marion thanked him once more, noting that he was quite a guy.
This was a fun single-issue story. I was familiar with Chaykin's art from the first seven issues of the original Star Wars title, and Austin inked his pencil work very well. I enjoyed the humor that was interspersed and the clues that led away from the crimes being committed by the obvious suspect, Marko. This was Marion's first appearance in this series, and she would be featured intermittently throughout the rest of the title's run.
That's all from me for today. Tomorrow, I'll tackle the seventh issue of this series. Kerry Gammill and Sam Dela Rosa take their turn on the art chores for the first of a two-part storyline that sends Indy and Marion to western Africa in search of another artifact for the university museum. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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