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Indiana Jones
"The Temple of Yearning"
Dark Horse Comics' Free
Comic Book Day 2009
Story:
Mark Evanier
Art: Ethan Beavers
Colors: Rhonda Pattison
Letters: Michael Heisler
May 2009
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Indy seeks to prevent an amateur colleague
from plundering an ancient temple.
Read the
plot
summary at the Indiana Jones Wiki
Notes from the Indiana Jones chronology
The date of this story is unknown,
but due to taking place in Thailand, must take place between
June 1939 and 1945, or after 1949 or else Indy would be referring to
the nation as "Siam".
Didja Know?
"The Temple of Yearning"
is a 6-page comic book story published in Dark Horse
Comics' Free Comic Book Day 2009.
Notes from
The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones
The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones is a 2008 publication
that
purports to be Indy's journal as seen throughout The
Young Indiana Chronicles
TV series
and the big screen Indiana
Jones movies. The publication is also annotated with notes
from a functionary of the
Federal Security
Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, the successor
agency of the Soviet Union's KGB security agency. The KGB relieved Indy of his
journal in 1957 during the events of Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The notations imply the journal was released to other
governments by the FSB in the early 21st Century. However, some
bookend segments of The
Young Indiana Chronicles
depict Old Indy still in
possession of the journal in 1992. The discrepancy has never
been resolved.
The journal as published does not mention the events of this
issue, going from
entries about the events of
The Fate of Atlantis in
May 1939 to Indy's time working with Colonel George "Mac" McHale
during 1944. A five year gap seemingly left un-journaled.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue
Indiana Jones
Bhakdi
Mangrai (mentioned only, historical figure, deceased)
Clifford
Didja Notice?
The story opens on the southern edge of
Kamphaeng
Phet province in Thailand.
Indy tells his young guide, Bhakdi, that the ancient temple
they have come upon in the jungle was built by the King of
Chiang Mai in the 14th Century. Chiang Mai is the name of a
city and province in northern Thailand. The ruler who
founded Chaing Mai was Mangrai (c. 1238–1311), though it was
in the late 13th Century that he founded the city, not the
14th.
Indy tells Bhakdi he believes that Clifford, an intern at
the college he teaches at, had been spying among his files and
learned about the temple and has now come to pillage it. The
college would be the fictitious Barnett College that Indy works
at the time.
The pair run into Clifford at the site, who has a copy of
the document relating the combination of levers in the temple door to open it safely
which Indy had deciphered back at the college. Bhakdi
manages to run up to Clifford and steal the paper away,
leading Indy to believe it was now safe to leave Clifford
there, unable to enter the temple without triggering
"certain doom" according to the old writings he'd found. In
a lame ending (sorry, Mark!), Clifford turns out to have a
second copy of the combination, but seemingly the doom is
triggered anyway, with Clifford last seen being manhandled
by a giant statue come to life.
Unanswered Questions
Why was the doom triggered if Clifford had the
right door combination? Did Indy translate it incorrectly?
Did he deliberately plant a false translation for Clifford
to find back at the college? If Indy was already suspicious
of the intern at the time, the false translation theory
could work. But would Indy have spent the money to chase
after him and go to the temple, as if to stop him, and then
just let him be caught by the doom anyway? One might suppose
that Indy had intended to warn Clifford about the false
combination and thus save his life, but after Clifford
threatens him and Bhakdi with a gun, he decides to let fate
have its way with the avaricious intern.
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