IAN SOAMES

Real Name: Ian Soames

Identity/Class: Human magic user (British citizen - Scottish);
   1930s;
   possibly reincarnation of Sumerian-era magic user

Occupation: Lighthouse keeper, sorcerer

Group Membership: Seven Sorcerers

Affiliations: (locals he duped into helping him) Douglas, Duncan, Geoffrey, Sinclair, others
   formerly Amanda Knight

Enemies: Crazy Angus, Geoffrey, Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr., Amanda Knight, Sinclair;
   possibly Ea-al, Shamash

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Estray Island, Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom

First Appearance: The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33 (January 1986)

Powers/Abilities: Ian Soames was a sorcerer who stored mystical energy in his tower (lighthouse). He could draw on these to cause buildings to shake or lightning strikes, though from what he said and the circumstances in which he did both of those, this was very dangerous for him and a last resort. Via the amulet known as the Eye of Shamash he could redirect earth energy from leylines to raise the dead in skeleton form and control the wind, summoning gale force gusts capable of ripping houses apart.

Height: 6'1" (by estimation)
Weight: 175 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

History:
(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#32 (fb) - BTS) - According to Sumerian myth, in the old days seven sorcerers dwelling in seven magical towers joined together to work their will on the world. However the sun god Shamash decided to break their power and threw his eye down to earth, where a man named Ea-al made it into an amulet that he used to destroy the sorcerers and their towers. One escaped, vowing to resurrect his brother sorcerers. The legend claimed that death could not claim them so long as one of their number lived, and that each in their tower chanted the world to destruction, and from that chaos would remake it in their image unless in the same hour the sorcerers were all slain and their towers brought to ruin.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#28 - BTS) - There was at least some truth the legend, and some who believed themselves the sorcerers or their heirs. One such was a mage living in Iran in the "Tower of Tears." He may have believed himself a successor rather than one of the original sorcerers reborn, as in 1937 he sought to steal an infant child to raise to continue his work, but his scheme and life were both ended by archaeologist Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr., who had learned the part of the legend that stated there were seven sorcerers in seven towers chanting to destroy the world from the private journal of a deceased colleague.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33 (fb) - BTS) - Another of the seven was Ian Soames, a lighthouse keeper in Estray, one of Scotland's remote Orkney Islands, whose workplace doubled as his disguised tower. 

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34 (fb) - BTS) - He believed himself one of the seven reincarnate, come to wreak vengeance on the world, and that ancient voices spoke to his soul. He had studied magical mysteries and as a result had access to unspecified powers and sorceries (see comments). He also took advantage of the fact that many of the locals were wary of outsiders, especially archaeologists, because they believed that the 10th century Viking pirate Mangus (sic) Redhand had buried his treasure on the island, using this to keep track of and potentially dispose of any nosey visitors to Estray.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#28 - BTS) - At some point later in 1937 Soames learned of the demise of his Iranian "spiritual brother" and Jones' part in that.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#32 (fb) - BTS) - Soames also learned that both the Eye of Shamash amulet and a Sumerian clay tablet inscribed with more details about the legend were on display in the National Museum in Bedford, Connecticutt, the very museum attached to Marshall College were Indiana Jones was a professor. Soames hired professional thief-for-hire Amanda Knight to steal both items.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#32 - BTS) - Knight successfully purloined the amulet but failed to get the tablet thanks to Jones' intervention.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33) - Knight headed to Estray and met with Soames, hid identity hidden by his cloak's dark hood, among some ancient standing stones the locals called the Ring. Soames took possession of his prize, but was angered to learn Knight did not have the tablet, which she falsely claimed she hadn't been able to locate. Unaware that Jones had now translated the tablet back in the States, Soames shouted that if even one man did so and learned of the legend of the Seven Sorcerers then the ruin the sorcerers wished upon the world might be visited on the mages instead. Witnessing this rant, a nervous Knight asked for her money so she could leave, but Soames menacingly told her that he would not be the one to pay for the amulet.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33 - BTS) - Soames took Knight prisoner, tying her up and holding her in tunnels hidden beneath his lighthouse.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34 - BTS) - The amulet allowed Soames to tap into the power of the earth via leylines, allowing him to perform additional feats of magic (see comments).

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33) - A few days later Indiana Jones arrived on Estray, following Knight's trail. Soames chanced to be in the pub when Jones entered, and witnessed the publican, Duncan, react negatively when Jones mentioned his profession. Soames took this opportunity to come to Jones defense and thus befriend him, claiming he had not seen anyone matching Knight's description when Jones asked, and then gifting Jones a bottle of poisoned whiskey that he had on him (see comments). After Jones left the pub with the whiskey the other locals berated Soames for talking to the outsider, but Soames reassured them that they had nothing to fear from Jones, promising he'd spend no more nights on the island. However, Jones failed to drink, ironically interrupted that night as he was about to take a sip by the sight of several locals heading out to the moors with shovels to search for Redhand's treasure. Following them, Jones ran into a local who was not allied with Soames, a psychic sensitive to leylines the other locals dubbed "Crazy" Angus, a brief encounter that ended when Angus fled leaving behind his dowsing rod. The next morning Soames found Jones taking breakfast at the Swanson Boarding house with the rod lying on his table. Inquiring about this curiosity, Soames learned of Jones' encounter with Angus, and informed the archaeologist where Angus lived so that Jones could return his property. After a fruitful day of investigating, during which he found Knight's plane hidden in a cave, Jones returned to his boarding house, and was just again just about to drink from Soames' lethal present when the locals interrupted, this time when three of them burst into his room intent on killing him. While two took hold of Jones' arms, the third, Douglas, downed the drink Jones had just poured for himself, and then smashed the poison whiskey bottle so he could menace Jones with it, unwittingly saving the archaeologist's life from Soames' trap. Before he could stab Jones with the bottle, Douglas keeled over dead, giving Jones the distraction he needed to escape. The two other men, wrongly assuming Jones had somehow slain Douglas with magic, quickly assembled a hunting party of other locals who split up to search for Jones. Two of these men, Geoffrey and another, instead stumbled across Soames as he was wandering around near the standing stones in his cloak (presumably preparing for some magical ritual).

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33 - BTS) - Soames used his magic to kill both men, apparently frightening them to death.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33) - Jones had sought refuge in the lighthouse, and thus discovered and freed Knight. Immediately she fled from him, making for her hidden plane, unwilling to face Soames again, which ironically resulted in the exact opposite result. Knight literally stumbled across the corpses of Geoffrey and his friend, then was confronted by Soames as she rose back to her feet. Soames admitted to slaying them, stating ominously that any who learned of him before the appointed time must die. Before he could murder her too, Jones arrived. Seeing that he was facing Soames, but still unaware of the full extent of his involvement, Jones listed as the villain offered to cut him a deal, demanding to keep Knight to eliminate in exchange for giving Jones the amulet, and to seal the offer he threw Jones a fake of said item. However, Jones rejected the offer, at which point Soames threw back his cloak, revealing the real amulet hanging from his chest, and summoned magical winds. Announcing himself as one of the Seven Sorcerers by denouncing Jones for his actions in Iran, Soames stated that only the Eye of Shamash had power over him, and that threat was ended now he possessed it. As the winds picked up to storm force, Soames informed Jones that he was glad the archaeologist hadn't drunk the poisoned whiskey, as he deserved a more exotic death. And with that he summoned the spirits of the numerous Viking and Pict warriors had had died on Estray centuries past, causing skeletons to erupt from the ground at Jones' feet, their bony hands grasping at the intruder.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34) - As Jones tried to fight off the skeletons, Soames continued to call for the "warriors of ages past" to slay the "defiler of ancient graves." However, as Jones pointed out while kicking the skeletons, old bones only needed one good jolt to turn them to dust. Sure enough, the skeletons smashed very easily, but Soames was unconcerned, admitting that Jones might be able to defeat a couple of skeletons, but not thousands. Held in Soames' grasp, Amanda struggled to get free and seized the amulet hanging round the villain's neck. As she yanked it free, the moonlight reflected off it and into Soames' face, and he recoiled as if burned, screaming in agony. Amanda fled while Soames fell to his knees clutching at his face. Witnessing this while being pulled to the ground by multiple skeletons, Jones tried to throw a dagger he had taken from one of the risen dead at Soames, but Soames looked up in time, revealing that the moonlight had scarred one side of his face, and had the skeletons disarm Jones. Informing the scholar that recapturing Amanda now took precedence, Soames apologized for not being able to stay to witness Jones' demise, then left in pursuit of his quarry.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34 - BTS) - Shortly after he left Crazy Angus arrived and used his dowsing rod to send the earth power back to the leys and thus the skeletons back to the grave.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34) - Soames' hunted fruitlessly for Knight, shouting in anger that he would find and punish her treachery, unaware that Jones and Angus were covertly watching him. As Soames continued his hunt, the pair slipped away to Angus' hovel on the beach...

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34 - BTS) - where they found Knight hiding. Examining the amulet and recalling what he had seen, Jones deduced the light reflected off the Eye of Shamash was potentially lethal to Soames.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34) - However moments later Soames arrived at the hovel and burst in, summoning winds that began to tear the ramshackle building apart. Angus moved to challenge Soames, intending to use his dowsing rod as a counterweapon. Thinking this was suicide, Jones quickly reflected a lantern's light off the amulet into Soames' face, again burning the sorcerer. Angered, Soames admitted Jones had hurt him, but stated he could wait out the assault since it wouldn't last long, since any light other than sunlight (and moonlight, which is just reflected sunlight) would destroy the Eye. Drawing on more earth power, Soames promised they would never see sunlight again, but Angus used his dowsing rod to drive the stolen energies back into the ground, staggering Soames. While Angus kept Soames busy, Jones and Knight fled back to town, compelled to go by Angus' power. For a brief period Angus forced Soames to his knees, but Soames rallied, drawing on other mystical energies than the ones Angus knew of and could control. Standing back up in front of a now terrified Angus, Soames boasted that he had the knowledge and the power.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34 - BTS) - Soames presumably killed Angus, as Jones and Knight heard his bloodcurdling screan and felt the compulsion to flee that he had imposed vanish. Taking Angus' dowsing rod with him, Soames followed the pair to town.

(The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34) - In town Soames found the two interlopers surrounded by armed locals, who still believed Jones was after viking treasure and refused to listen to his warnings about Soames. Soames demanded the townsfolk hand the pair over to him, claiming the amulet was an heirloom they had stolen from him, but the leader of the group, Sinclair, refused, believing Soames would call the authorities and word would get out about the treasure. Angered at being defied, Soames dropped his pretense and revealed himself to be a sorcerer, summoning winds that destroyed the town. The townsfolk fled, as did Jones and Knight, but Soames pursued the latter as they ran to Soames' lighthouse. The mage again summoned the dead, raising skeleton warriors that besieged the pair as they barricaded themselves inside the lighthouse. Soames waited outside while the skeletons forced their way in and chased the pair all the way to the top, where his two foes redirected the lighthouse's powerful lamp to shine its light directly onto the amulet and then on to Soames down below. Soames felt all his stolen powers draining back into the earth, and found himself rooted to the spot by the light as it killed him. Defiant to the last, Soames screamed that he would outlast the amulet as the light was destroying it too, and that he had other sorceries. He withdrew his remaining energies from the skeletons, causing them to fall to pieces, and shifted to drawing power from the lighthouse, his tower where he stored his other magical energies, trying to drive the interlopers out, but this also damaged the tower. Though no longer exposed to light reflected off the amulet, Soames was on his last breath. He fell to his knees, and made one last ditch effort, summoning lightning to strike the lighthouse in the hope of slaying his foes. Though this devastated the lighthouse, leaving it a ruin, Jones and Knight both survived. Soames was not so lucky, his body reduced to skeletal remains. Waking amid the ruins just after dawn, Jones wondered whether Soames had survived, failing to recognize the late sorcerer's body among all the other skeletons lying around the lighthouse.

Comments: Created by Linda Grant, Steve Ditko and Danny Bulanadi.

   The Orkney Islands are located just off the northern tip of Scotland, and consists of around 70 islands of which 20 are inhabited. There is no Estray Island in the real world, but there is one called Westray.

   It's not clear how close the Sumerian legend is to being a truly accurate historical account. The amulet was real enough, and the two sorcerers, Soames and his unidentified Iranian colleague, were both genuine mages, but they might simply both have been delusional modern day magicians modeling themselves on a fake legend rather than reincarnated Sumerian-era ones. Given that everything that was confirmed matched to the info from the legend, I tend to lean towards it all being true, but we can't say for sure. If it is all true then Soames isn't really dead, since presumably at least one other member of the Seven remained active somewhere around the world.

   Soames already had a bottle of poisoned whiskey on him when Indiana Jones arrived on Estray, ready to hand out. He presumably couldn't have known Jones was coming or when Jones would arrive - unless perhaps Jones had called ahead to book his room at the local boarding house. Was Soames so paranoid that he always carried a poisoned bottle just in case he needed to trick someone into imbibing it? Or did he have it ready and had been carrying it the last few days, ever since Knight showed up, because he suspected someone might follow her? Or had he prepared it for someone else, perhaps Crazy Angus, and Jones just happened to come along and suddenly present a more pressing target?

   The textbox at the start of Further Adventures#34 states that Soames "unleashes its mysterious power"- i.e. the power of the amulet - to raise the dead, which seems to imply that the magic comes from the amulet. From his comments, he did have access to other magical abilities, but it looks like the amulet was what allowed him to control the winds and raise the dead via drawing on the energies of leylines. Indeed, when he begins to lose the power while being killed by light reflected off the amulet, Soames notes that "all my stolen power" is being drained. However, he continues to use the same magical abilities after Amanda takes the amulet from him. It seems that once he got the power, he could continue to access them even without the amulet being in his possession. So did he only need to retain the amulet so it couldn't be used by others against him? I suspect it's more likely that the amulet needed to be kept intact for Soames to keep accessing the leylines, and that those powers would eventually fade if he was separated from the amulet for too long. The evidence for this is that Soames knew that exposing the amulet to light other than sunlight would destroy it. If  it was the one weapon that could harm him, why didn't he just destroy it the moment after it activated his powers? Presumably because he wouldn't retain those powers if it was destroyed. If he needed it intact but not nearby, why not hide it somewhere rather than hang it around his neck where others could (and did) snatch it from him? Perhaps because he did need to keep it near to retain his powers.

   Were there really hundreds of fully intact ancient skeletons buried on Estray so close to the surface that they could easily be drawn up by Soames' magic, and even still possessing their weapons? Probably not. When Crazy Angus drained the first group of skeletons that had been summoned of the earth power, they "melted" back into the earth so it seems likely that the magic not only animated the skeletons, it recreated them - their remains didn't need to still be there intact, they just needed to have died there at some point in the past.

  Several years ago when I wrote the Charlie Dunne entry for the Appendix, I discussed the possibility that Indiana Jones might be part of Earth-616, the mainstream Marvel universe. At the time the jury was out - there was no hard evidence for this being the case, but also no hard evidence preventing it being so. There was also some circumstantial evidence supporting the possibility, in the form of two of the artifacts from the movies also showing up in 616 and looking very similar to the movie versions. However, since then I've learned there is another bit of evidence that Indiana Jones is indeed part of Earth-616. In the Spider-Man novel The Revenge of the Sinister Six, there's this line about one of Spidey's foes: "The Gentleman used the name of a long-deceased operative, who had acquired many valuable treasures for him in the years before the Second World War, only to die when a treasure obtained for another client proved more than he could handle: "I am Mr. Belloque." " Though the spelling is slightly off, that's a clear reference to Belloq, the French archaeologist who worked for the Nazis to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and who did indeed die because it proved more than he could handle. And before anyone says the novels aren't 616 canon, the Gentlemen debuted in the novels, but has since shown up in the comics.

   This profile was completed on 08/07/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Indiana Jones.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ian Soames has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33, p23, pan1 (main image)
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33, p8, pan5 (headshot)
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34, p4, pan5 (scarred face)
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34, p2, pan9 (skeleton)

Appearances:
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#33 (January 1986) - Linda Grant (writer), Steve Ditko (pencils), Danny Bulandi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones#34 (March 1986) - Linda Grant (writer), Steve Ditko (pencils), Danny Bulandi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)

First Posted: 09/18/2026
Last updated: 08/07/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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