The French Young Indy Novels (Indiana Jones Jr et le...)

So in doing research for the timeline, I came across the Young Indy novels from France. Most are reprints of the original Young Indy stories from America, but seven of them are original adventures:


Indiana Jones Jr et le Météorite Sacrée / Young Indiana Jones and the Sacred Meteorite

Indiana Jones Jr et le Triangle des Bermudes / Young Indiana Jones and the Bermuda Triangle

Indiana Jones Jr et le Fantôme du Klondike / Young Indiana Jones and the Phantom of the Klondike

Indiana Jones Jr et l'Ampoule Radioactive / Young Indiana Jones and the Radioactive Bulb

Indiana Jones Jr et le Violon du Metropolitan / Young Indiana Jones and the Violin of the Metropolitan

Indiana Jones Jr et l'Enfant Lama / Young Indiana Jones and the Child Lama

Indiana Jones Jr et le Spectre de Venise / Young Indiana Jones and the Spectre of Venice



I'm sure many of you have heard of these. However, I stumbled across some other French Young Indy novels on Ebay that might also be original adventures:


Indiana Jones Jr contre le roi Zed / Young Indiana Jones against King Zed

Indiana Jones Jr et le Masque de Fer / Young Indiana Jones and the Iron Mask

Indiana Jones Jr et l’ermite du Colorado / Young Indiana Jones and the Hermit of Colorado


This picture shows that copies of Indiana Jones Jr et le Masque de Fer and Indiana Jones Jr contre le roi Zed DO exist (the two lower left books). I haven't found any pictures of Indiana Jones Jr et l’ermite du Colorado, but have found several references to it on Indy fan pages (mostly the French ones).





Now, my question is: are these in fact original adventures, or just French versions of the existing Young Indy adventures released in America (with slightly changed names):

Young Indiana Jones and the Titanic Adventure
Young Indiana Jones and the Pirates' Loot
Young Indiana Jones and the Lost Gold of Durango
Young Indiana Jones and the Plantation Treasure
Young Indiana Jones and the Tomb of Terror
Young Indiana Jones and the Princess of Peril
Young Indiana Jones and the Ghostly Riders
Young Indiana Jones and the Circle of Death
Young Indiana Jones and the Journey to the Underworld
Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Ruby Cross
Young Indiana Jones and the Gypsy Revenge
Young Indiana Jones and the Secret City
Young Indiana Jones and the Mountain of Fire
Young Indiana Jones and the Face of the Dragon
Young Indiana Jones and the Eye of the Tiger


I'm thinking that Indiana Jones Jr et l’ermite du Colorado / Young Indiana Jones and the Hermit of Colorado could just be a retitled version of Young Indiana Jones and the Lost Gold of Durango. I'm also thinking that the other two could be retitled versions of two Young Indy books that were planned but never released in the US:


Young Indiana Jones and the Mask of the Madman (??Indiana Jones Jr et le Masque de Fer??)

Young Indiana Jones and the Ring of Power (??Indiana Jones Jr contre le roi Zed??)



Any French Indy fans (or just Indy fans in general who might know the answer) have any ideas about this?

Indiana Jones Jr contre le roi Zed is Young Indiana Jones and the Secret City for sure.
Indiana Jones Jr et le masque de fer should be Young Indiana Jones and the Gypsy Revenge (a blond boy is on both covers and that grey thing might be the "skeleton in knight's armor").
Indiana Jones Jr et l?ermite du Colorado is Young Indiana Jones and the Lost Gold of Durango for sure (look at that old guy with the rifle on the english and the french cover).

Authors are correct too and otherwise the french versions of these three books would be missing.

Rob Dangerous said:

Indiana Jones Jr contre le roi Zed is Young Indiana Jones and the Secret City for sure.
Indiana Jones Jr et le masque de fer should be Young Indiana Jones and the Gypsy Revenge (a blond boy is on both covers and that grey thing might be the "skeleton in knight's armor").
Indiana Jones Jr et l?ermite du Colorado is Young Indiana Jones and the Lost Gold of Durango for sure (look at that old guy with the rifle on the english and the french cover).

Authors are correct too and otherwise the french versions of these three books would be missing.

Click to expand...

Ah, ok. I kind of figured that, but was having trouble matching up the VERY liberal translations.

Thanks for the info, Rob!

The original French Young Indy novels are very hard, if not impossible, to find nowadays (at least in the US...I imagine they're a bit easier to find in France and possibly other parts of Europe).


Indiana Jones Jr et le Météorite Sacrée
Indiana Jones Jr et le Triangle des Bermudes
Indiana Jones Jr et le Fantôme du Klondike
Indiana Jones Jr et l'Ampoule Radioactive
Indiana Jones Jr et le Violon du Metropolitan
Indiana Jones Jr et l'Enfant Lama
Indiana Jones Jr et le Spectre de Venise


I've been planning a trip to Europe for awhile, and I have to be honest...I plan on spending at least one whole day scouring used bookstores around Paris, just on the off-chance I'll stumble across some of these novels, or maybe even the third Bagheera comic Indiana Jones et le Grimoire Maudit.

Save a search on ebay.fr and use the ISBN search on the french wikipedia. That and some patience should work out nicely.
You'll have to visit me in Germany when you fly to Europe

Rob Dangerous said:

Save a search on ebay.fr and use the ISBN search on the french wikipedia. That and some patience should work out nicely.

Click to expand...

Already did the saved search on Ebay.fr and Amazon.fr, but I'll try the ISBN search. Thanks for the suggestion!

You'll have to visit me in Germany when you fly to Europe

Click to expand...

Someday...assuming the economy over here gets better, which I don't expect anytime soon. But I'll take you up on it when it happens sometime in the next few years.

DIrishB said:

The original French Young Indy novels are very hard, if not impossible, to find nowadays (at least in the US...I imagine they're a bit easier to find in France and possibly other parts of Europe).

Click to expand...

You would think so but I've had no luck in my travels. Ex. I've been to Paris 4 times in the past year and found squat!
(Mind you I didn't search that hard but I was looking.) Anyway, thanks for posting the photo because I've never seen
some of the covers before. Also thanks to Rob for the clarifications.

DIrishB said:

I've been planning a trip to Europe for awhile, and I have to be honest...I plan on spending at least one whole day scouring used bookstores around Paris, just on the off-chance I'll stumble across some of these novels, or maybe even the third Bagheera comic Indiana Jones et le Grimoire Maudit.

Click to expand...

On your way to Germany from France to visit Rob Dangerous, you could swing through Switzerland! All 3 of us could meet up,
talk Indy, etc. over GIGANTIC steins of German beer and party like it's 2099.

Stoo said:

You would think so but I've had no luck in my travels. Ex. I've been to Paris 4 times in the past year and found squat!
(Mind you I didn't search that hard but I was looking.) Anyway, thanks for posting the photo because I've never seen
some of the covers before. Also thanks to Rob for the clarifications.

Click to expand...

Well, at least I'll know it won't be an easy search!

On your way to Germany from France to visit Rob Dangerous, you could swing through Switzerland! All 3 of us could meet up,
talk Indy, etc. over GIGANTIC steins of German beer and party like it's 2099.

Click to expand...

Some day!