Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods #3 of 4
Dark Horse Comics
Williams, Scott & Massengill

In the penultimate chapter of this mini series we see very little in terms of plot moving, but that just means the finale will have everything including in it. Instead, we have Jones escaping death and plenty of banter and character moments to set up the finale. It’s a good issue but not the best in this series.

The issue picks up where the cliffhanger left off last issue. Jones and Janice, the bad guy who was turned on by the worse bad guys, are stuck in the middle of the ocean surrounded by sharks while on a capsized boat. The issue spends the first third dealing with this predicament. In some ways it helps to establish a relationship between the two, but it also feels like it drags on twice as long as it needs to. The banter and jokes are there to keep it lively but it feels like it kills the momentum from the previous two issues, which were chuck full of action.

After they are rescued by Marcus, Janice is locked up, she is still a bad guy after all. While they try to pick up the trail of the Nazis they finally decide to trust Janice to help them find the key that the Nazis have. This sequence helps to recap what has happened prior to this issue but it also feels like another slow down in the action from the previous issues and even from the shark scene in this issue.

The issue ends with Jones finding the Nazis and having a battle take place over some sled dogs while in the Arctic Circle. It’s a decent cliffhanger but doesn’t at all involve the prize, but rather just another deathtrap for Jones.

My main problem with this issue is that Jones never gets the upper hand only to have the tables turned on him again for the finale. Instead, he is always playing from behind, which instead of stacking the odds against him, it just makes him seem really, really lucky to find himself in any kind of position to beat the Nazis. Most of the good Indy stories, especially in the comics, have him use his smarts to get in the game only to have the rug pulled out from him at the end with some sort of twist. This issue just treads water around the idea of him getting back into the race with the Nazis. It feels like filler to me.

The art has some bright moments. The characters, Indy and Janice, have chemistry that plays out well in the depictions on paper. As is the problem with a lot of Indy comics, the art has a hard time capturing the action. For example, the dog sled showdown at the end of the issue is difficult to determine which sled Indy jumps on and the ice breaking would seem to lead to problems for more than just Indy but it isn’t shown quite like that in the art. A fun aspect of the art is the costume design for the winter Indiana Jones. It’s a cool look.

I think in a trade this issue won’t sag at all compared to the others. However, after a three month layoff for this issue I was expecting more with regard to the keys and less about the sharks. The first two issues blew me away and this one doesn’t quite keep up with the others. I am very eager to read the finale.

3 out of 5 geek goggles