"22-Karat Doom!" is the second part of the two-issue story-arc "The Ikons of Ikammanen" that begins Marvel's The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones comic book series. The issue was published on November 2, 1982.
Plot summary[]
Ikammanen Village, 1936[]
As Indiana Jones and former archaeology student Edith Dunne descend towards the pit of molten gold which is to see them join the Ikons of Ikammanen, the African temple in which they are suspended is rocked by explosions outside. The hostile villagers go to investigate and the tremors start to move the chain that Jones and Edith are tied back-to-back to. The archaeologist uses their new-found momentum to swing the pair back and forth which affords just enough time for them to collide with the lever operating the pulley system and dump them safely to the floor.
While Jones undoes their bonds, Edith remarks on her good fortune that her brother, Charlie, was knifed in Jones's office, and the two adventurers exit the temple to find gangster Solomon Black waiting with his armed entourage who have eliminated the villagers. As Jones and Edith are no longer of use to find the Ikons, Black orders their deaths but the arrival of more angry natives convinces the gangster to forestall their executions. The group fends off the attackers when Jones improvises a barricade by toppling one of the settlement's huts which neutralizes their opponents' spears, allowing the gangster's automatic weapons to put down the villagers with little resistance. Afterwards, the archaeologist tricks Black into sparing Edith and himself by saying that an inscription on the Ikons reveals the location of further statues.
Atlantic Ocean[]
Back on board the Czech ship that was their passage to the island and locked in a cabin with an armed guard positioned outside, Jones reveals his deception to Edith and regrets that Black's security has thrown a wrench into his plan to reach the radio room to call for help. Edith proves more resourceful than her former teacher gave her credit for by switching into a gown from her luggage to lure the guard inside with the promise of keeping her company. Jones then lays out the man with a sucker punch and arms Edith with the guard's gun before heading off to find the radio room.
Jones knocks out the radioman and starts broadcasting a signal in Morse code which is cut short by a bullet that destroys the machinery. A minute later, Black's men converge on and disarm Edith. Out of patience, the gangster has his prisoners taken to walk the plank, a decision which turns out to be fortuitous for Jones and Edith: the archaeologist's distress call caught the attention of a passing Nazi U-boat which, with hostilities brewing between Czechoslovakia and Germany, fires on the vessel. Jones notices the approaching torpedo right before it hits, grabs Edith and jumps ship. Everybody else on board is lost in the explosion, including the recovered Ikons of Ikammanen, except for one lone crate carrying a statue that floats to the surface which the surviving adventurers use as a makeshift life raft.
The Nazis fish them out of the water and Jones arranges passage back to the United States of America by convincing the captain of the folly of firing on US citizens.
New York City[]
Back in the US one month later, Indiana Jones joins Edith Dunne and her Ikon at Idlewild Airport. There, Dunne has hired a private plane to take her back home with the statue, eager for the glory that the discovery, hers and hers alone, will bring, caring little for the loss of her brother Charlie in the process. When Jones asks to join her on the journey, Edith accuses him of trying to horn in on the find to which the archaeologist assures her that he simply feels an obligation to Charlie to take care of her.
On the flight out of New York, Jones tells Edith that he knows she had her brother murdered, pointing out that he never told her that Charlie had been killed in his office, and that Solomon Black's entourage only reached the radio shack on board the Czech ship after the radio had been shot out. The archaeologist was simply lucky that Edith had lost her glasses back on the island so she never hit her intended target: him.
What Jones can't figure out is, with Edith Dunne back in Africa, who delivered the killing blow? The plane's pilot, Jerry, answers that by stepping out of the cockpit with a gun pointed at Jones. Although Edith is adamant that Jerry loves and appreciates her, Jones suspects that the golden Ikon of Ikammanen was the real lure. When the pilot offers the choice to Jones of either being shot or falling to his death, the archaeologist offers a third possibility. Having had a few weeks to translate the inscription on the statue, Jones reanimates the golden avenger which, true to its legend, climbs out of its crate to bring justice upon the wicked.
As the statue, immune to gunfire, slowly advances on the murderous couple, Jones directs the autopilot of the aircraft out across the Atlantic Ocean then escapes the plane with a parachute, leaving the Edith and Jerry to their fate.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
Artifacts[]
Behind the scenes[]
According to Kerry Gammill, one of the reasons for which John Byrne ended up leaving The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones was because he wanted to transform either Indiana Jones or another character into a zombie for "The Ikons of Ikammanen" story. As he was denied by Lucasfilm Ltd., Byrne came up with the living statues instead.[1]
Collections[]
Notes and references[]
External links[]
- "22-Karat Doom!" on Marvel Database, the Marvel Comics wiki