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Indiana Jones
"The Arms of Gold" Part 1
Indiana Jones and the Arms of
Gold #1
Dark
Horse Comics
Writer: Lee Marrs
Artist: Leo Durañona
Color Artist: Matthew
Hollingsworth
Letterer: Steve Haynie
Cover: Russell Walks
February 1994
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Indy is irritated when his seminar at
Barnett College is taken over by a visiting professor.
Read the
story summary at the Indiana Jones Wiki
Notes from the Indiana Jones chronology
The story takes place in fall 1937, shortly after the
events of The Great Circle.
Didja Know?
Indiana Jones and the Arms of
Gold is a 4-issue
mini-series that was published by Dark Horse Comics in 1994.
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 the end of
Raiders of the Lost Ark
in 1936 to
Indy's recovery of the Cross of Coronado in 1938 in The Last
Crusade.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue
Rajid's wife
Indiana Jones
Rajid
snake charmer
Barnett College students
Lucy
Marcus Brody
Chairman Snedly
Barnett faculty
Francisca Uribe del Arco
Felipe Uribe (mentioned only)
Jorge
Pilar
Carlos
unnamed thug
Winchester
Sigma Phi fraternity brothers
Vasco del Posco (mentioned only, probably deceased)
shipboard thugs
Didja Notice?
The story opens in
New Delhi,
India in 1937.
In the opening pages, Indy is purchasing from Rajid's wife a small gold statue
of what appears to be Shiva, the Hindu god of
destruction and transformation.
Page 4 shows that Indy is now working at Barnett College. It
was established in
The Great Circle that he was
fired from Marshall College in October 1937 when he failed
to return on time for the school's mid-terms from his
expedition to uncover the meaning the of the great circle of
archeological spiritual sites of great significance around
the globe. He previously worked at Barnett in 1931, as
depicted in
The Curse of
the Invincible Ruby.
On the campus grounds, Lucy remarks that there was a squib
about Dr. Jones in the
New York Times
recently concerning him and some rajah. Rajah
is a Sanskrit title for a ruler, mostly in India and
Southeast Asia.
On page 5, a Barnett faculty member at the Annual Fall
Faculty Fling comments to Indy that a primitive savage would
know where to put "these modern flappers".
In the 1920s-30s, "flapper" was a slang term used to
describe young women who dressed and behaved in a manner
that flaunted the societal norms of the time.
Francisca is a professor at Universidad Municipal de Lima.
This is a fictitious institute.
On page 6, Indy, angry that Francisca has been given his
seminar, unkindly refers to her as a lollipop to Chairman
Snedly, not realizing she was nearby to hear it. "Lollipop"
is sometimes used to refer to a slutty female friend.
On page 7, Francisca in Spanish retorts to the insult
delivered by Indy, "Esto es un insulto inaceptable! Mis
calificaciones de Harvard, Yale, y la Sorbona son mas que
suficientes!" This translates to "This is an
unacceptable insult! My qualifications from
Harvard,
Yale,
and the
Sorbonne are more than sufficient!"
On page 8, Francisca refers to Indy's torn pantolones.
This is Spanish for "pants".
Also on page 8, Jorge says, "Sí, Doña," and when he
answers the door to some thugs, "Que quieren ustedes?"
These are Spanish for "Yes, miss," and "What do you want?"
On page 9, one of the thugs sees the package from Felipe and
says, "Allí." This is Spanish for "Over there."
On page 12, one of the attacking thugs shouts, "Carlos!
Son demasiados. Vamonos!" This is Spanish for "Carlos!
There are too many of them. Let's go!" (although "vamonos"
should be spelled "vamanos").
When Indy tries to call the police on the escaped thugs on
page 13, Francisca shouts at him, "Por Dios, no!"
This is Spanish for "For God's sake, no!"
On page 14, Pilar says, "Por favor, Señor Professor."
This is Spanish for "Please, Mr. Professor." And when
Francisca sees what is in the package sent by her brother,
she says, "El dedo de oro!" which is Spanish for
"The golden finger!" Indy identifies the object as coming
from the chimu taya arms of Cuzco, the gold
encasement of Incan mummies which he'd seen in prints of the
Vasco del Posco diary drawings. Although Cuzco is a real
city that was once the capitol of the Incan Empire, Vasco
del Posco is a fictitious figure, and Incan mummies were not
generally covered in gold as described here, though they
were often found with gold jewelry on them and surrounded by
gold objects such as statuettes.
On page 17, Francisca tells Indy the Incan mythology claims
the golden forearms covering the mummy of Pachacuti was said
to have taken on that emperor's power to shape stones.
Pachacuti was the monarch of the Inca Empire in the early to
mid-15th Century. The reference to shaping stones is derived
from modern day pseudo-scientific speculation about how a
"primitive" society could have chiseled the finely-hewn
gigantic stone blocks that made up some of the Incan temples
and citadels such as Machu Picchu, with some saying that
otherworldly beings shaped the stones or provided technology
that allowed the Incans to do it.
When Indy leaves Marcus in charge of his class on page 20,
Marcus says "de facto nil desperandum" to the
class. This is Latin for "In fact, there is nothing to
despair about."
On page 20, Indy and Francisca hop a boat for
Buenos Aires, where Francisca's brother awaits.
On page 22, Francisca says, "Por Dios!" This is
Spanish for "For God's sake!"
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