Didja Notice?

 

The opening caption on page 1 states that it is the early 1930s. That would mean it takes place well before Raiders of the Lost Ark, yet it must actually take place afterwards, as the story later makes reference to the events of "The Secret of the Deep" (the previous issue, #23), which is after Indy's reunion with Marion in the aforementioned film.

 

The story opens with Indy on a two week leave from the National Museum (what about his teaching job at Marshall College?) in San Francisco.

 

On page 2, Indy's thoughts reveal that the Crown of Rurick (recovered by Indy in "The Secret of the Deep") turned out to be a fake.

 

Indy tells Reeko he has fifty bucks for him if his information is something he can use, but Reeko claims it's worth more, five hundred. Indy retorts, "Five hundred! What do you have, Reeko, Noah's Ark, Atlantis, and the Holy Grail all wrapped up in one?" Although writer Trimpe couldn't have known it at the time, Indy encounters all of these historic legends in later-written stories. Indy (along with a few others) seemingly found Noah's Ark in The Genesis Deluge, will find Atlantis in The Fate of Atlantis, and discovers the Holy Grail with his father in The Last Crusade.

 

After Reeko suddenly keels over with a knife in his back on page 3, the nearby phone booth starts ringing and Indy thinks, I've got a bad feeling about this. This is a recurring line in the Star Wars films. 

 

The taxi Indy takes to the San Francisco docks appears to be a Checker Taxi, one of the dominant taxicab companies in the U.S. at the time. But the vehicle seen here appears to be a 1950's model! In 1936, a Checker Taxi looked more like the photograph below.
Indy's Checker Taxi in this issue	A 1930's Checker Taxi (photo by Greg Gjerdingen from Wikipedia, Creative Commons license)

 

The ship that Klexx attempts to escape on is called the Capricorn Queen.

 

Apparently, Indy has dealt with this issue's antagonist, Sigfried Klexx, in the past, with Indy having believed that Klexx's shrunken head was probably hanging on an Amazon head-hunter chief's hut wall!

 

On page 11, Flaggart claims to have seen Dr. Jones operate and says the man has more lives than a Chinese cat. Superstition about cats says that they have nine lives. As far as I can tell, research indicates that Chinese cats also have just nine lives.

 

Indy reflects that Klexx has busted every rule of the International Treaty for the Protection of Antiquities. This appears to be a fictitious treaty, though there have been numerous similar treaties since the beginning of the 20th Century, not always signed on to by the world's colonial powers or the United States. The treaty was also mentioned by Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

Flaggart tells Klexx that some think of Jones as "the greatest archeologist of our time." Klexx begs to differ, offering that it is he himself who is the greatest because he does not play by the rules.

 

On page 14, Klexx's charter plane pilot says, "Sí, Señor Klexx. Hasta mañana!" This is Spanish for "Yes, Mister Klexx. See you tomorrow!"

 

On page 22, Julia reveals she is a student at Berkeley, studying archeology on a scholarship. She is likely referring to University of California, Berkeley.

 

Klexx is seen badly injured but still alive after the flaming end of the lost temple, but he is not seen again in any further Indiana Jones stories.

 

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