Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book publisher which released Indiana Jones comics from 1991 to 2010, with a break between 1995 and 2008. The privately-held company is headquartered in Milwaukie, Oregon, and was founded in 1986.
Dave Land became the editor in charge of the post-2008 Indiana Jones titles after he replaced Jeremy Barlow who had stepped down to pursue his writing career.
History[]
In 1990, Dark Horse Comics acquired the license to produce comics for the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises, both of which had previously been with Marvel Comics. Rather than maintaining an ongoing series as Marvel had done with The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, Dark Horse predominantly opted for a series of miniseries, testing the market with 1991's comic book adaptation of the LucasArts video game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. The company produced several more story arcs through 1995 as well as publishing twelve issues which adapted episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series which were previewed in Dark Horse Insider. The first iteration of the publisher's Indiana Jones books ended with Indiana Jones and the Sargasso Pirates in 1995.
Writer Lee Marrs, author of both Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold and Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix, has stated that Dark Horse was looking to continue the line as Lucasfilm Ltd. was considering a continuation of the film series starring River Phoenix.[1] However, this may be confusion with the actor having been approached earlier for the Young Indiana Jones TV series (which was declined due to his disinterest in a return to television):[2] Arms of Gold and Iron Phoenix were released across 1994-'95,[3][4] by which point the actor had passed away.[2]
After a publishing hiatus of more than a decade, during which Indiana Jones appeared in the 2003 non-canon Star Wars Legends comic story "Into the Great Unknown", Dark Horse began producing more Indiana Jones titles in 2008, coinciding with the development and release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. They also branched out into multiple formats for storytelling, with the digest-sized Indiana Jones Adventures series, and reprinting older material (both their own and Marvel's) in the Omnibus line.
Around this time, Howard Chaykin was tapped for a potential Indiana Jones crossover with Batman between Dark Horse and DC Comics but the project went unrealized. The comic writer has said it was during a period when Lucasfilm was interested in teaming up with other brands which included a possible pairing between Star Wars and Superman that didn't come to pass.[5] For comparison, Star Wars had formed a crossover with the video game franchise Soulcalibur, including the Visions of the Blade comic arc in 2008,[6] and had a lengthy line of licensed Star Wars Transformers toys between 2005-2011.[7][8]
Indiana Jones work[]
- 1991: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (4 issues)
- 1992: Mid-Atlantic, April 1916
- 1992-93: The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (12 issues)
- 1992-93: Indiana Jones and the Shrine of the Sea Devil (initially serialized in four parts, collected into 1 issue in 1994)
- 1993-94: Indiana Jones: Thunder in the Orient (6 issues)
- 1994: Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold (4 issues)
- 1994: Indiana Jones and the Golden Fleece (2 issues)
- 1994-1995: Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix (4 issues)
- 1995: Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny (4 issues)
- 1995: Indiana Jones and the Sargasso Pirates (4 issues)
- 2003: Star Wars Tales 19: "Into the Great Unknown"
- 2008: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2 issues)
- 2008: Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 1 (1 issue, digest format)
- 2008-2009: Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods (4 issues)
- 2009: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Yearning
- 2009: Indiana Jones Adventures: Volume 2: Curse of the Invincible Ruby (1 issue, digest format)
Reprints[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ IndyCast: Episode 330 at IndyCast
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — Casting at TheRaider.net
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold 1 at Dark Horse
- ↑ Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix 1 at Dark Horse
- ↑ IndyCast: You lost today Episode 146, but that doesn't mean you have to like it at IndyCast
- ↑
Star Wars: Visions of the Blade on Wookieepedia
- ↑ Star Wars Transformers at TFWiki.net
- ↑ Transformers: Crossovers at TFWiki.net
External links[]
- Dark Horse Comics web site
Dark Horse Comics on Wikipedia- Indiana Jones comics thread on the Dark Horse message boards
- Search Results for Indiana Jones on the Dark Hose website
