Indiana Jones – Learning From History – Ryan K Lindsay

PAGE 5 - 5 PANELS

1. Indy stands in front of a packed lecture theatre. He can be small, leave room to the right for the speech bubble.

Indy: While history will no doubt always remember Hulle as the man who annihilated the Moa people, there is a much more fascinating side-tale the more erudite teachers of this fine establishment won't tell you.

2. An angel and a barbarian wrestle. The barbarian, Hulle, is behind the angel with his foot between the angel's shoulder blades and his fists wrapped around the two protruding wings.

Caption-Indy: Hulle was a religious man. Well, he believed in religion.

3. Hulle stands with wings aloft in his hands, bloody stumps dripping. He’s victorious.

Caption-Indy: He saw religion as a challenge, and one he could best.
Caption-Indy: One he did best.

4. Indy describes the current status of the legend

Indy: He used the feathers of Madrox the angel as a weapon, a quill, a decoration, a conversation piece, and even an aphrodisiac.

5. Two girls in the front row squeal.

Girls in unison: Sqeeeee!
SFX : SWOON

 

Indiana Jones – Indiana Jones and the Jar of Olympus - MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

(INDIANA JONES and his partner GEORGE McHALE (MAC) have stolen a plane from the USSR in an attempt to escape Soviet agents and are currently flying over Eastern Europe. However, INDIANA JONES is being forced to fly the plane since MAC was hurt and unable to use both of his arms.)

Panel 1: Close-up on a pair of SOVIET PLANES as they fire their guns.

SFX: CHC-CHC-CHC-CHC-CHC-

Panel 2: Panel of INDY and MAC in the cockpit of their plane. MAC’s arm is in a sling. HIS EYES go wide as INDY takes the plane into a maneuver that no real and sane pilot would ever attempt.

INDY: Hang on!

Panel 3: Outside view of the plane, showing the maneuver INDY’s using to avoid getting the plane shot up.

MAC: $*&%@!

Panel 4: Interior Panel. MAC looks at INDY. He’s white-knuckled as he grips his seat.

MAC: I thought you said you knew how to fly!

INDY: I said I took a couple lessons!

Panel 5: Close-up on INDY’s face as he tries to concentrate on keeping the two alive.

INDY: Mostly I just learned how to land.

(END PAGE)

Indiana Jones - Indiana Jones and the Measures of Austerity - Grant McLaughlin

Ugh, later than I would have liked.  Either way, here's my entry for the week.

Three rows of panels.  The first row is a single panel, the second is three panels, and the third is two.

1 – Outside shot of Marshall College. It is a nice Fall day in the mid-1930s. Students are walking about, enjoying the weather.

INDY (from within the building): What do you mean my claims are outrageous?!

2 – Interior of a college meeting room. Indiana Jones stands opposite three senior looking pedagogues: the Chancellor and two senior school officials. While Indiana Jones is in his classic professor attire, he wears the attitude he usually has on while adventuring. The three older men sit side by side with a table between them and Indy.

CHANCELLOR: We are not here to cast doubt on the authenticity of your – er-hmm – dalliances. What we are doing is questioning the school's need to continue subsidizing them.

3 – Indy moves closer, putting his hands on the table in his frustration. He is rather agitated. The two professors sitting beside the Chancellor are taken aback, but the Chancellor is unphased.

INDY: What the hell are you talking about?

CHANCELLOR (1): Doctor Jones, please control yourself.  This is not a personal attack.

CHANCELLOR (2): Our objections lie with your exorbitant expense claims.

4 – It is now Indy's turn to be taken aback. He is literally and figuratively on the back foot, unable to respond to the Chancellor's words.

INDY: What?

CHANCELLOR: While you have been off gallivanting around the world, you may have missed the fact that our nation is currently undergoing a rather serious depression. And our institution has not remained unaffected.

5 – Close up on the Chancellor.  He is reading off of a long list.  He looks somewhat unimpressed.

CHANCELLOR (1): As nice as it has been to have access to the many ancient baubles you have provided to us, it is presently beyond this school's means to continue to provide you with the funds for such disreputable and unnecessary things as “bribery” or “moat construction”.

CHANCELLOR (2): To name but a few.

INDY (off-panel): Chancellor, I can explain--

6 – A close-up of Indy. All frustration and bravado are gone. In their place is merely a shocked professor.

CHANCELLOR (off-panel): I'm afraid this is well beyond explanations. The board has reached its decision. Your fortune hunting services will no longer be required.

NEXT: Indiana Jones – FIRED?!?

Indiana Jones – Leave No Hat Behind – Rol Hirst

Panel One.

Deep in the Peruvian jungle. Indiana Jones faces a Gestapo officer in a trenchcoat and trilby. Indie looks like he’s been through the wars – his face cut, his shirt torn, his hair dishevelled…

The Gestapo hasn’t got a scratch on him, and his trenchcoat and hat are immaculate. He has got a gun on him though: a Luger, and it’s pointed straight at Indie. Two other, lower ranking Nazi soldiers, stand behind the Gestapo, also with their weapons trained on our hero.

On the ground between them lies Indie’s famous fedora.

Nazi: You know what you are, Doctor Jones? You are a fool.

Nazi: You come all this way to steal the legendary Stone of Sachamama--

Panel Two.

Close on Indie, gritted teeth, a sly grin.

Indie: Didn’t really want it for myself. Just didn’t think you lot should have it.

Panel Three.

Close on the Nazi, smiling. Evil.

Nazi: But, see, this is what I do not get. You succeed in your quest. You outwit the Third Reich itself and somehow manage to escape with your magical little trinket.

Nazi: Your friends are probably halfway to Lima by now… and you could be with them.

Nazi: And yet you return…

Panel Four.

The Nazi crouches down, reaching to pick up Indie’s hat. He’s lowered his gun but the other two soldiers still have Indie in their sights.

Nazi: And for what, exactly…?

Nazi: For this…

Panel Five.

The Nazi has lifted Indie’s hat to reveal a deadly rattlesnake coiled up beneath it. He looks shocked by his discovery, and lets the hat go as he staggers backwards. The snake attacks.

Nazi: …hat!?!

Snake: Hissssssssss!

Panel Six.

Indie has grabbed his hat and is running away, towards us, through the jungle. Behind him, the Gestapo officer has fallen into the other two soldiers in his panicked attempt to escape the rattlesnake. Indie frowns / grimaces as he runs, almost as though he’s justifying his actions to himself, as much as to the Nazis he’s leaving behind.

Indie: I like this hat…

Indie: …and snakes are growing on me too.

Indiana Jones - The Way - Ben Rosenthal

1. We are looking down the edge of a cliff. Dangling over the lip is Indiana Jones sans his trademark hat, panic on his face as he struggles to hold on to a vine. Indy is looking up at a figure whom has his back to us.

INDY

It doesn't have to be this way.

2 The person whom has their back to us is revealed – an adult Short Round. He wear Indy’s hat, and has Indy’s bullwhip thrown over his shoulders in a scarf like fashion, mocking his former mentor. Short round is holding each end of the bullwhip as casually as you may see an old fashioned lawyer holding his suspenders. He is standing casually over the struggling Indy.

SHORT ROUND

Why, what way would that be? The way of dying?

3. Looking back at Indy as Short Round continues to talk. Indy’s panic face has changed to a stubborn look.

SHORT ROUND

You shouldn't have a thing to worry about. Surely a man who has no trouble leaving a young boy at the mercy of murderers and rapists has no soul to fear for.

4. Back to the framing of Panel 2, however this time Short Round is leaning forward mocking Indy. He wants to be nice and close when Indy’s grip slips and he plummets to his death. Short Round wears a smile of vengeance – cocky and cruel.

SHORT ROUND

You died years ago, Doctor Jones.

5. Same as Panel 4, however Short Round’s face has turned to shock and panic as Indy’s hand clutches the bullwhip around Short Round’s neck.

INDY

Yeah?

6. Indy has a gruff, bitter and angry look on his face. He speaks through gritted teeth.

INDY

Then tell me I said ‘Hi’.

7. A long panel, showing the silhouette of Short Round in mid air as he falls to his death. Indy is standing on the cliff face, holding onto the vine with one hand, and his bullwhip with the other. He watches Short Round fall.

Indiana Jones- Indiana Jones and The Obelisk of Axum- Dan Hill

I tried to go for fancy, I tried to make clever allusions to the rise and fall of empires. In the end I stripped it all back and just went for something that hopefully captures the tone of what I love best about the character and the franchise. Admittedly the scene is something of a homage.

For the others taking a crack (no pun intended) at this weeks character I heartily recommend putting that John Williams score on, letting it wash through you and then writing away.

Indiana Jones and the Obelisk of Axum

Page 1- Six Panels

1.1
We OPEN on a CLOSE UP of INDIANA JONES locking lips with PROFESSOR BRUNILDA SPECCHIO.

Brunilda is in her late twenties with long black hair, brown eyes and cheek bones to die for. She’s wearing a khaki shirt, a pair of combat trousers (desert camouflage) and brown leather boots.

Indy’s eyes are wide. He's taken aback by the kiss slightly.

NO COPY

1.2
The pair part with Brunilda breaking out into a gloating smile. Indy smirks, adjusting his hat slightly.

BRUNILDA

I take what I want.

INDY

No kidding.

1.3
WIDE PANEL: We ZOOM OUT to show Indy and Brunilda are atop a truck (http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=1266) as it speeds along a desert road somewhere in Ethiopia.

Climbing up the sides of the truck and out of its rear are a number of Italian soldiers, all with machine guns slung over their backs.

They look like they mean business.

CAPTION

Near Axum, Ethiopia. February, 1937.

INDY

But you're stealing a 78 foot tall obelisk, Brunilda.

(link)

Did you think I wouldn't notice?

BRUNILDA

The spoils of war.

(link)

The New Roman Empire takes what it wants too.

1.4
CLOSE UP again on Brunilda as she pulls Indy towards her by his collar with both hands.

Indy is all smiles.

BRUNILDA

I won’t be denied.

1.5
ZOOM IN on the pair as Brunilda comes in for a farewell kiss.

BRUNILDA

Arrivederci, Indiana Jones.

1.6
WIDE PANEL. Brunilda turns around suddenly looking towards the lead truck in the convoy in the background of the panel. The truck explodes, shooting into the air, flames and debris shooting off in all directions.

Some of the soldiers who have managed to climb onto the top of the moving truck can only look in the direction of the explosion with horror and surprise.

SFX

KTOOOOOOM!

BRUNILDA

Porca vacca!

1.7
INSET PANEL. CLOSE UP on Indy’s face, smirking.

INDY (to himself)

Sallah, I could kiss you.

Why Indiana Jones?

Raiders Of The Lost Ark is easily a contender for my favourite film of all time (I'm not alone in that regard) and a huge influence on me as a writer. The movie is a perfect blend of character, romance, thrills and action and includes some of the best set-pieces put to celluloid. Not only that but Indy inhabits a world rich with mythology, history, great villains and has a supporting cast to die for.



Indy is a guy just trying to make his way in the world. He's a little cynical, sometimes romantic and has fears and insecurities like the rest of us. He knows how to handle himself in a fight, but he's not invincible. He messes up, he dusts himself off and tries again. He's making it up as he goes along.

As Spielberg put it:

"Indiana Jones is not a perfect hero, and his imperfections, I think, make the audience feel that, with a little more exercise and a little more courage, they could be just like him."

However, for a character so beloved and with such a deep well to draw from Indy has had a pretty raw deal when it comes to comics. The Marvel series introduced a few years after the first movie featured the work of such industry stalwarts as Denny O'Neil, John Byrne, David Micheline, Howard Chaykin, Archie Goodwin, David Mazzuchelli and even the legendary Steve Ditko. The series ran for 34 issues and featured some great stories and art.



But Indy didn't receive another outing in comics until the 90's when Dark Horse picked up the license with an adaptation of the PC game Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis. The adaptation isn't something to write home about and the art is serviceable if not great. Dark Horse would continue to publish Indy's adventures throughout the 90's. The scripts are, at best, solid and the quality of the art is mixed. Recently, in 2008, Rob Williams tried his hand with the character in the four issue mini Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods, but since then it's been quiet.

This is where you come in.

With Indy himself and a huge swathe of history, locations and situations to choose from I'm excited to see what the tenured writers and those of you playing at home come up with.