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The Gold Goddess

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"The Gold Goddess" is a two-part story presented in issues 9 and 10 of Marvel's Further Adventures of Indiana Jones comic book series.

Chapter one (subtitled "Xomec's Raiders") was published in September 1983 and chapter two ("Amazon Death-Ride!") followed in October. The story acts as a continuation of a number of elements from Raiders of the Lost Ark, in particular the film's opening sequence in South America.

TSR, Inc. released an adaptation of the story, "The Golden Goddess" RPG Solo Adventure Pack, in 1985, which included a map, character figures and an aircraft.

Plot summary

Issue 9: "The Gold Goddess: Xomec's Raiders"

Some weeks after Indiana Jones lost the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol to Belloq in Peru, the archaeologist has picked up the artifact's trail in Marrakesh. Assisted by his friend Sallah, Jones breaks into the storeroom of local antiquities dealer Saad Hassim. When he's lowered down into the building, however, he sees that Hassim has been stabbed to death and realizes that he's been beaten to the idol by a pair of masked thieves in the middle of their heist.

Spooked, the thieves try to flee with artifact but Jones quickly uncoils his bullwhip and brings down a large cat statue on top of them. He tosses the idol up to Sallah then has to rethink his own exit strategy as he discovers that the recovering thieves are armed. Jones kicks down the locked exit door and escapes into the street only to find that the thieves' backup car has arrived.

Jones tries to lose the vehicle by slipping into an alley. Faced with a dead end, however, the archaeologist instead hooks his whip onto a nearby drainpipe to scale the wall. After a momentary scare when the drainpipe can't hold Jones's weight and begins to collapse, Sallah pulls Jones back up to the rooftops just as the car slams into the wall below.

Jones and Sallah flee across the rooftops pursued by the armed thieves and soon run out of buildings to leap between. With no time to climb down to their waiting truck, the pair resign themselves to dropping off the edge of the building and smash through the canopy where their fall is cushioned by a load of camel straw.

The two thieves watch the truck escape into the Moroccan desert then unmask. The man, Xomec, bemoans that the Chachapoyan idol has gotten away from them but his female counterpart reassures him that the event may actually turn out fortuitous for the both of them. Having recognized the archaeologist from photographs, she explains that while Xomec will get the idol, she has the opportunity to get a victory of her own: the death of Indiana Jones.

Three days later, at a busy National Museum fundraiser being held at the Diamond Eye nightclub in a New York City high-rise, Marion Ravenwood complains to Marcus Brody about being stood up by Jones again. The museum curator can only sympathize: Brody had expected that Jones would be back with the idol days prior and is now faced with a room full of reporters that he invited but has nothing to show them.

The journalists all suddenly rush towards the elevator which Brody mistakenly assumes is an attempt to leave when a tuxedoed Jones steps out with the idol in hand. A relieved Brody gratefully receives the artifact from Jones then breaks away from the party to safely secure the idol which is to be showcased inside a replica of the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors. Inside the display room, however, Brody walks in on the body of its security guard lying on the ground and his attempt to go get help for the man is thwarted when a dart suddenly slams the door shut.

In nothing more than a loincloth and wristguards, Xomec, flanked on each side by a blowgun-wielding Hovitos warrior, angrily introduces himself to Brody as a descendant of the Chachapoyans and demands the idol which is sacred to both his and the Hovitos people. Brody begrudgingly hands over the relic but they're interrupted by commotion outside as the impatient reporters are keen to see the idol.

His attempt at a quiet infiltration frustrated, Xomec pulls out his pistol and fires blind at the display room door. Jones and Marion move to outflank the unseen assailants by approaching the display room window from the outside, 23-storeys above the Manhattan streets belows. Jones leaves Marion on the roof while he carefully edges around the building exterior but Xomec and the Hovitos notice him as they make their escape out of the window with the idol.

Jones narrowly avoids a poison dart by ducking back around the corner. Though the move unbalances him, his fall is prevented by the timely arrival of Marion who catches him. Jones flaps his dinner jacket in front of his blind spot around the corner. With no bullets forthcoming, the archaeologist safely assumes that the three men have retreated by going around the far corner of the skyscraper ledge.

Privately relieved that the raiders aren't smart enough to leave someone to guard their escape, Jones realizes his error when he approaches the far corner only to be met by one of the Hovitos stepping back into view. The archaeologist manages to duck a dart then makes up for the absence of his bullwhip by improvising one with his jacket, snapping it into the face of his antagonist. The Hovitos falls, instinctively grabbing at the jacket and pulls Jones over the edge with him. Jones loses his jacket and his glasses but not his life as he manages to keep a hold of the ledge while the Hovitos isn't so fortunate.

The second Hovitos warrior arrives to take advantage of Jones' predicament and kicks at the archaeologist. Jones clings to the ledge with his fingertips only to have them crushed with excruciating pain under the stomps of the warrior.

Issue 10: "The Gold Goddess: Amazon Death-Ride!"

Indiana Jones is saved from his precarious situation by a well-timed bullet that sends the Hovitos warrior plummeting to his death. The archaeologist is surprised but nevertheless grateful that his rescuer is Marion Ravenwood, wielding the gun of the Diamond Eye's unconscious guard. She reminds him that Xomec is getting away and so Jones pursues the Chachapoyan descendant and the fertility idol around the exterior of the high-rise structure.

As he catches up, Jones sees that Xomec is making his escape along a ladder which acts as a bridge between the nightclub and a neighboring skyscraper. As the only way to close the distance between the two men is to jump the gap, Jones risks his life on one big leap across the bridge. Although the archaeologist makes it most of the way, Xomec has already reached the other side and simply upends the ladder, dumping Jones over the edge.

Marion watches horrified as Jones tumbles downward; however, her feelings turn to those of relief as Jones manages to catch onto a flagpole to stop his fall. He then strongly encourages Marion to grab a rope.

Empty-handed, the pair return to the Diamond Eye where they find Marcus Brody on the telephone in the nightclub's office. He discreetly directs Jones to pick up the extension and, on the other end of the line, Xomec's partner from Marrakesh finishes laying out her terms: payment in exchange for the idol's return but only if Jones delivers the payment in person. Alone. She hangs up on Brody as he protests and informs the recently arrived Xomec that Indiana Jones will soon be hers.

Days later, Jones is ferried down the Amazon by riverboat towards the pre-arranged meeting point with the mystery woman well aware that if the situation was simply about money a deal would have been made back in New York. The vessel docks in Manaus, Brazil and Jones heads off into the jungle with a machete. Hours of hacking away at the overgrowth and the archaeologist's trek concludes within sight of a disused 19th century opera house.

Noticing movement in the canopy, Jones senses a trap just as a Hovitos warrior dives down from above. The machete takes care of the assailant but the ambush draws out more spear-wielding Hovitos. The archaeologist manages to fire off a few rounds from his gun before he's overwhelmed and eventually knocked out after a poison-tipped spearhead grazes him during the scuffle. Under Xomec's direction, the Hovitos drag Jones away.

Jones recovers inside the opera house and comes face to with Xomec's counterpart who introduces herself as Ilsa Toht, sister of the Nazi agent Ernst Toht who died during Jones's hunt for the Ark of the Covenant. A servant of the Third Reich herself, Ilsa explains that she was assigned to capture the golden fetility idol and use it to encourage an uprising among the local indigenous tribes to disrupt US interests in the area should the country ever move to interfere with German expansion. That the assignment presents the opportunity for her to wreak vengeance upon the man she blames for her brother's death is a happy coincidence. Regardless, Ilsa leaves Jones's punishment to be meted out by Xomec.

Appearances

Characters

Artifacts

Locations

Vehicles and vessels

  • S.S. Williamson
  • Sedan

Animals

Miscellanea

Behind the scenes

The issue's part one title "Xomec's Raiders" is likely to be a reference to the franchise's first film Raiders of the Lost Ark, which spawned The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones comic book series and featured prominently both the Hovitos tribe and the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol during its opening sequence.

In reference to The Gold Goddess, Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide states that Jones recovered the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol both "years later" after Belloq stole it from him in Raiders and in 1937. However, the original Marvel Comics story takes place during 1936, the same year as the events of Raiders.

"The Gold Goddess" was adapted into an unofficial two-part audio adventure for the IndyCast in 2011.

Cover gallery

ADVENTURE TIMELINE
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1936 1936 1936
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones: "Africa Screams!" The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones: "The Gold Goddess" The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones: "The Fourth Nail"
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