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Indiana Jones
"The Sword of Excalibur"
Indiana Jones Adventure Magazine
Writer:
Unknown
Artist: Unknown
1990
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Indy faces the cult of Morgana Le Fay in
dual pursuit of a legendary Arthurian sword.
Read the
plot
summary at the Indiana Jones Wiki
Notes from the Indiana Jones chronology
This story takes place in London, sometime during the London
Blitz of 1940-41. If we take both this story and
The Legacy of Avalon
as at least semi-canonical, then this story must take place
after The Legacy of
Avalon, as that novel encompasses the opening rounds of
the Blitz, in September 1940 and our current story takes place
in the midst of it, with weeks passing by during the bombings.
It might be argued that after the events of
The Legacy of Avalon, which
also involves the sword Excalibur, Indy chose to take a leave of
absence from his teaching at Barnett College to pursue research
and tracking of the sword (or a related sword; see the last
paragraph of the study below) in London.
Didja Know?
"The Sword of Excalibur"
is an 8-page comic book story published in Indiana Jones Adventure Magazine, a
British fan magazine from 1990.
Excalibur is the name of the sword won and wielded by King
Arthur in legend.
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
newspaper dealer
taxi driver
London government official
cult members
British archeological authorities
Didja Notice?
This narrative states that the sword Excalibur came from the
depths of a lake into the possession of Uther Pendragon,
then into the stone, and from the stone to the hands of
Uther's son Arthur, who became king. Most versions of the
King Arthur legend do not have Uther in possession of the
sword at any time. Also, the sword Excalibur and the Sword
in the Stone are two different swords in most
interpretations.
Indy works at research in the British Museum during the
London Blitz.
The British Museum was
established in 1753 and is one of the most prestigious
museums in the world. The
London Blitz
was a bombing campaign against the UK by Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy during WWII from September 7, 1940 to May 16,
1941.
On page 1 of the story, the Thames is the longest river in
England, running through London.
In the last panel of page 1, the book Indy is reading states
that the power of Excalibur can only be evoked in the cause
of justice, truth, and good. This is not typically cited in
the legends as a prerequisite for use of the sword and its
potentials.
Page 1 also states that Indy is on a long sabbatical from
his academic work (I presume that means his teaching
position at Barnett College) to research Excalibur, said to
be one of the main obsessions of his life.
In
The White Witch, it
was also stated that
Indy had previously searched for the sword for years
through Glastonbury and
Avalon, ancient battlefields, abbeys and cathedrals, the sacred
assemblages at
Stonehenge, and other sacred sites.
The Isle of Avalon is where the sword is often said to have
been forged, though the island is fictitious or its location
lost.
King Arthur's evil
half-sister Morgana is mentioned as the founder of a
devilish cult that is obsessed with obtaining the sword. In
The Legacy of Avalon, Morgana is presented as good,
or at least neutral. Most versions of the legend depict her
as an opponent of the just Arthur and his advisor, the
sorceror Merlin.
Page 6 seems to refer to the cult members as
Morgars.
On page 2 of the story, Indy buys
the day's copy of
The
Times newspaper, with the headline "BOMBS DEVASTATE
LONDON DOCKS - UNDERGOUND RIVER DISCOVERED NEAR ST PAUL'S".
"St. Paul's" refers to the city's famed
St. Paul's
Cathedral. Indy identifies the underground river as the
Wallbrook (a misspelling; it should be "Walbrook"). The
Walbrook was a tributary of the Thames that divided the
original Roman settlement of Londinium. The river was built
over during the growth of the city, now flowing through
culverts and into the city's sewage system.
The last panel of page 2 states that Indy spends weeks
obtaining the necessary permits from various government and
archeological departments to explore the exposed site of the
Walbrook River.
| On page 4 of the
story, the cult members use equipment to dive underwater and
discover the "tomb" of Excalibur, where sits a stone chest
containing the ancient relic. The symbol on the stone slab
lid of the chest is similar to that of the grail cup seen on
a stone etching in The
Last Crusade. |
 |
 |
| Stone slab
etching in this story. |
Grail cup
etching in
The Last Crusade
(from The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones). |
In the last panel of page 6, Indy emerges up from the Pool
of London with Excalibur in hand. The Pool of London is
a stretch of the Thames running from London Bridge to the
Limehouse district.
The story ends with Indy having successfully recovered
Excalibur and handing it over to British custodians (the
British Museum?). However, in
The Legacy of Avalon,
Lancelot has possession of the sword and leaves with Morgana
to await the time it and the Knights of the Round Table are
needed in the Earthly realm again. Possibly, we could
interpret one of these two swords as Excalibur and the other
as Caliburn, though most scholars consider the two names to
refer to the same sword in various versions of the legend.
In
The White Witch,
Indy considered the two names to refer to different swords,
as some in the novel proclaimed; in this novel, Indy and his
cohort Caitlin come upon the sword he considers to be
Caliburn, but the sword is removed from mortal hands again
by the end. So, is the sword in our current story Excalibur,
Caliburn, or a third sword of Arthurian legend? The Sword
in the Stone?
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