September 30 Is a Major Date for Indiana Jones Fans

While the Indiana Jones movie franchise was launched as a tribute to cinematic action thrillers of yesteryear, its eponymous hero was primed for the comic book medium from the start. Indeed, he would star in his own comic book series that is returning to stores in a new collection that belongs in a museum.

Marvel Comics is releasing a two-volume hardcover set chronicling all the globe-trotting archaeologist's crusades as presented by the publisher, called Indiana Jones: The Further Adventures.

The collection is similar to the name from the original series that first saw one of Harrison Ford's most iconic roles make the transition from the big screen to the pages of Marvel, which published The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones from 1983 to 1986. However, the first volume also includes its adaptation of the 1981 blockbuster that started it all, Raiders of the Lost Ark, as well as that of its sequels, 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade from 1989.

Both volumes of Indiana Jones: The Further Adventures are presented in a leatherette binding and feature debossed cover designs and built-in ribbon bookmarks for readers to keep their place fashionably. A collection like this is already enough of what a fan of the action-packed franchise could ever ask for, but these unique attributes make it an absolute must.

The stories come from writers like Venom and Carnage co-creator David Michelinie and Walt Simonson, who is best known for Marvel's mid-1980s Thor run. John Byrne, co-creator of various X-Men icons like Kitty Pryde and Sabretooth, also contributes to The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, as well as the late legendary artist John Buscema, and many more.

The first four installments of the cinematic Indiana Jones series are among the most notable efforts from director Steven Spielberg, whose career is being reimagined in Titan Comics' new graphic novel, Spielberg. He and executive producer George Lucas would return to produce director James Mangold's 2023 installment, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which, unlike 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, still has yet to receive a graphic novelization.

Indiana Jones Was A Comic Book Star Before Marvel's New Series Reaches Readers

Marvel served as the comic book home for Indiana Jones during the peak of the character's popularity in the mid-1980s. However, fittingly so for a person always on the move, he would later migrate elsewhere.

In 1990, Dark Horse Comics acquired the rights and began its tenure of keeping the archaeologist busy with a four-part adaptation of the computer game, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis​​​​​​, the next year. That was followed by several original miniseries, such as Indiana Jones and the Shrine of the Sea Devil by writer and penciler Gary Gianni from 1992, as well as a series inspired by the television show, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

Dark Horse also reprinted Marvel's adaptations of the original trilogy, as well as The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, in the late 2000s. The company was the first, however, to release a graphic novelization for 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was published the same summer as Indy's fourth cinematic adventure. That same year, Titan Magazines began publishing the UK-exclusive Indiana Jones Comic.

The rights to Indiana Jones in comic book form are back in the hands of Marvel, following The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2017, but the publisher still has yet to put out new stories following the character. The release of the Indiana Jones: The Further Adventures set is at least a great way to start.

Indiana Jones: The Further Adventures Book I and Indiana Jones: The Further Adventures Book II hit the shelves on Sept. 30., with both now available for pre-order.