Indiana Jones and the Proof of Concept!

Outside a bar in Naples, Italy, in 1934, Caroline Collette (“played” by an action figure of Cover Girl from the G.I. JOE series) approaches and shouts, “Jones! We have a lead!” The title of this comic strip, “Indiana Jones and the Talaria of Mercury,” is visible at the top of the image.

Inside the bar, and standing atop a pool table, is Professor Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. He brandishes a large sword, and holds a shield to protect himself. “Back off,” he shouts, “or we’ll see how thick that gold skin of yours is!” Two men, whose backs are to us, hold pool cues in a threatening way. One of them, in a hat (and “played” by the G.I. JOE Recondo), yells back, “Calm down, Doc!”

Caroline holds a hand to her face, remarking, “Aww, Jones!” From off-panel, Indy replies, “It’s not what it looks like!”

Looking directly at Caroline, Indy continues, “These boys were just about to offer us their plane!”

“Isn’t that right, booyys - “ Indy tries to say, as his feet are knocked out from under him by the man in the hat. “Shut up, Doc!” he says as he trips Indy.

The other man - the one with the gold skin Indy referred to before (“played” by a Destro action figure) - swings his pool cue at Indy, who’s sprawled on his back on the pool table. He shouts, “You still owe us!” Indy manages to bring his sword up to block the blow.

Caroline, wielding a large wrench, approaches the man in the hat from behind, saying, “I’m sorry we weren’t properly introduced!” “Huh?” the man in the hat replies.

Indy kicks the gold-skinned man across the face, and shouts, “Ow!” as the impact hurts his foot. “You’ll pay for this, Jones!” the gold man vows.

As Caroline smashes her quarry with her wrench, she remarks, “This is my best friend, Stan!” referencing the manufacturer of her tool. “Oof!” yells the man, hit so hard his hat flies off his head.

Indy throws his sword to Caroline, saying, “Here! Meet your new best friend!” When she catches it, Caroline observes, “I think we’ll run off together!”

On the top half of the image, hand-in-hand, Indy and Caroline run out of the bar. “Where’s our ride?” Indy asks. “I thought you said they had a plane!” Caroline replies. On the bottom half of the image are the credits for this comic strip, including the Unsplash users whose photography provided the background for the comic, the use of fonts by Blambot for the lettering, the creation and ownership of the character Indiana Jones, and that the character photography, script, and lettering were all done by me, Phil Wrede.

I didn’t start buying these new Indiana Jones action figures with the intention of making an Indiana Jones toy comic; I bought them because they looked awesome. It was when I was sorting through action figures, and arranging a better storage solution for them, that I happened to put Indy down next to Cover Girl from G.I. JOE, and then noticed a third character nearby (their identity is kind of critical to the full story concept, so I’m keeping it a secret for now). The idea just kind of swam into shape as I posed them next to one another, and this proof-of-concept scene was done in almost no time at all.

It’s going to take quite a while to get the whole story under way, so I hope you enjoy this in the meantime!

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