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Indiana Jones
"The Sea Butchers, Chapter 1:
Island of Peril"
The Further Adventures of
Indiana Jones
#15
Marvel Comics
Plot/Script: David Michelinie
Pencils: Herb Trimpe
Inks: Vince Colletta
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Robbie Carosella
Cover: Herb Trimpe
February 1984
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Indy seeks to prove that ancient Chinese
mariners traveled east towards the Americas earlier than nomads
over the Bering Strait.
Read the
story summary at the Indiana Jones Wiki
Notes from the Indiana Jones chronology
This story takes place in 1936.
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
Indiana Jones
Jock Lindsey
Japanese fighter pilot
Reggie (mentioned only)
Commander Kyoji Hiroto
Lieutenant Nakadai
Marcus Brody
Marion Ravenwood
(mentioned only)
Simon Katanga
Bantu Wind crew
jailer
cellmate
Sallah
(mentioned only)
Panamanian thugs
prostitutes
melon hauler
Hiroto's sailors
Emeralda Vasquez
Vasquez's pirates
Rudolfo
McWerty (dies in this issue)
Jean-Paul
Didja Notice?
The issue opens with Indy and Jock under attack in their
seaplane over the Aleutian Islands. This is an island chain
stretching across the North Pacific Ocean from Alaska, named
for the Aleut people who have historically lived there. The
name "Agunalaksh" mentioned here is the native name for the
second-largest of the islands, more commonly known today as
Unalaska Island.
Jock flies a different seaplane than seen in the past, with
tail number G-CFO. The Japanese plane that intercepts Jock's
seaplane is identified on page 4 as a Kawanishi E7K2, a real
world Japanese fighter plane model in service from
1935-1943.
The flight is for Indy to take reconnaissance photos of an
ancient temple in the islands, but when the Japanese plane
attacks, Jock warns him that if he doesn't hurry, his next
photo may be of St. Peter himself. St. Peter was one of the
Twelve Apostles of Jesus in the Bible and he is, in modern
representations, often depicted as the gatekeeper of Heaven.
When Jock initially balks at making another pass over the island
to confirm the temple's identification, Indy chides him,
"...you're always telling me to show a little backbone!
Where's your spunk?" Jock made the "backbone" remark in
Raiders of the Lost Ark,
and Indy copied it himself to Marion in
"Africa Screams".
Jock laments that Indy didn't allow him to bring along Reggie, his
pet boa constrictor. Reggie's first and only appearance
was in the passenger seat of another of Jock's seaplanes in
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
As Indy's stunt with a sea anchor rips the top wings off the
E7K2, sending it plummeting into the drink, he says, "Sayonara,
suckers!" Sayonara is Japanese for "good bye".
Page 5 identifies the Japanese battleship that observes the
aerial battle as a Takao-class cruiser. This was an
actual class of heavy cruisers for the Imperial Japanese
Navy that served from 1930 to the end of WWII.
On page 6, Indy points out to Marcus a giant statue on one
of his photos of the temple, saying that it looks to him
like Chung Hua, patron god of ancient Chinese mariners,
indicating Chinese seamen came much further east than most
scholars believe. "Chung Hua" appears to be a made-up deity
for the story. The term "Chung Hua" (or
Zhonghua) refers to anything that relates to or is
descended from China. |
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Page 7 finds Indy in
Panama City,
Panama to bail Captain Katanga and his crew of the
Bantu Wind from jail. Katanga and his crew previously
appeared in
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
From the dialog in panel 3 of page 7, it appears Katanga's
crew is playing dice in their cell.
On page 7, atención is Spanish for "attention".
In Panama, the Bantu Wind is found berthed in the
Bay of Pagamo. As far as I can tell, this is a fictitious
body of water.
Katanga tells Indy that their mutual friend Sallah had told
him Indy had escaped the Nazis. This refers to events near
the end of
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
On page 10, the women in a Panama City brothel say
"gringo" and "Sí--mucho dinero!" Gringo
is a term referring to any English-speaking foreigner in a
Spanish language country. "Sí--mucho dinero!" is
Spanish for "Yes--a lot of money!"
On page 11, "Ojo!", as an exclamation in Spanish,
means "Watch out!" (The word ojo by itself means
"eye".)
When Indy's leap from the second story of the brothel lands
him in a horse-drawn wagon full of melons, smashing many of
them, the driver of the wagon shouts, "Puerco! Mis
cantalupos!" This is Spanish for "Pig! My cantaloupes!"
On page 16, Commander Hiroto, suspicious of Indy, relates a
tale that some years ago, a religious cult stole some relics
from a Tokyo museum and, before the Japanese government
could retrieve them, an American made off with them. This
would seem to be an incident from Indy's past, previously
untold.
On page 19, Vasquez uses the words yanqui and
señor and Indy uses señorita. These are
Spanish for "Yankee", "mister", and "miss", respectively.
"Yankee" as a term refers to a person from the United States
in other countries.
On page 20, Vasquez refers to Katanga as capitán.
This is Spanish for "captain".
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