Issue(s): Amazing Spider-Man #268
Published Date: Sep 85
Title: "This gold is mine!"
Credits:
Tom DeFalco - Writer
Ron Frenz - Penciler
Josef Rubinstein - Inker
Keith Williams - Assistant Editor
Christopher Priest - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue follows up on the story in Web Of #6 and shows what's been happening with the gold after it was taken away from the site of the Heroes For Hire building. The gold is being dumped into the "open maw of the seven mile deep trench off the coast of Puerto Rico". Writers looking for a McGuffin for a future story should take note.

The Kingpin would apparently like more than the "several golden typewriters" that he received in payment for his services last issue, so he sends some men, including the Arranger, to hijack one of the government's boats.

A Congressman Jason Black is shown to be on the Kingpin's payroll...

...and that's how the Arranger learns the location of the gold drop. To my knowledge, this is his only appearance, which is kind of cool because it shows that the Kingpin's has lots of corrupt politicians under his thumb and there's no need to focus on any particular one. The Kingpin himself receives the same information through another unknown channel, for example.

A major point of this issue is to show that the entire government isn't beholden to the Kingpin, with Charles Anderson, from the previous part of this story, not going along with the Arranger's attempted takeover. It's also a relief for Spidey to learn that the Kingpin's corruption doesn't go all the way to the top.

Another theme in this issue is the "public's right to know". There's a debate on the floor of the Daily Bugle regarding whether or not they should publish whatever they discover about the cover up at the Heroes For Hire building.

It's an interesting question (assuming you buy the idea that the economy would collapse if news of the gold got out). I'm sure many pundits would have opinions on what the government should have done with the sudden windfall of gold that the Beyonder created.

Peter is still having money troubles...

...but he's got the gold notebook that he took in Web Of #6 .

The issue ends with a couple of panels from "halfway across the galaxy" as Firelord flies towards Earth. Christopher Priest's "View From The Tenth Floor" blurb, after talking about the upcoming Web Of annual #1, says:

What? This book? Oh. Almost forgot.
Next month Firelord comes to Earth to get a pizza.

-Jim Owlsey

P.S.: I'm not kidding.

I should say that the View From The Tenth Floor feature instigated by Priest appears on the lettercol of all Spidey books and is a cool little thing that often provides a little bit of extra insight into the issues. There's always been little blurbs and hype boxes on the lettercol page, but somehow giving it a name and segmenting it into a little box, and ensuring that one appears on every letters page, makes it feel like an official thing, similar to the Bullpen page or Stan's Soapbox in earlier eras.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Begins soon after the events of Web of Spider-Man #6. Spider-Man is still carrying his golden notebook at the beginning of this issue, suggesting that it takes place immediately after he swings away at the end of that issue.

References:

• The events here follow Secret Wars II #2 and Web of Spider-Man #6.
  
• In Amazing Spider-Man #266 Spidey learned that his neighbor Bambi often watches the sunrise on his roof, but luckily she's not there when he returns home this morning.

Cross-over: Secret Wars II

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: N/A

The gold in the Marianas trench DOES show up again in Solo Avengers 17, when Goldbug tries to steal it and is stopped by the Sub-Mariner. I'm not sure if it's shown up in any other stories.

Can't wait to read that. ;-)

I never could figure out why the Kingpin seemed to be first on the government's go-to list. What, there was no super-hero(or heroes)that could have done this?

I'm also not sure why the gold wouldn't have gone straight to Fort Knox, with or without a dumping cover story. The gold would have been permanently out of circulation then and may not have affected gold prices. Of course, the fort may have needed a new wing added...

To be fair, the Avengers were stuck in the Savage Land, the FF had just finished their battle with Psycho-Man and Hate Monger, and the Defenders and the WCA were too far away.

The Avengers were also under suspicion due to the Vision's attempted take-over, and the Baxter Building was gone, making the FF hard to get a hold of and/or known to be staying at Avengers Mansion, which would probably make them guilty by association.

I agree with Mark about the gold though.

Just a little note: the US almost certainly no longer stores its gold at Fort Knox, although they claim it is still there. The gold has been secreted to various locations around the US. the reason: the James Bond film Goldfinger. In that story, goldfinger doesn't try to rob fort knox, he tries to irradiate it, thereby making the gold untouchable. It would make all other gold in the world increase in value.
Government officials realised "shit, somebody could really do that!" and very quietly redistributed the gold (although they obviously didn't advertise it)
Cool, huh?

Did they ever follow up with what Peter did with the Gold Notebook?

Yeah, it'll be resolved in Web of Spider-Man #15. He sells it to pay for Nate Lubenski's hospital bills. I'll be covering it when i get to 1986.

All the gold ever mined in the history of the world would fill 2-4 olympic sized swimming pools, or about 160,000 metric tons. How much does a skyscraper of gold weigh? It seems obvious that it would be many multiples of that, but nothing that would disastrously affect the economy. The price of gold would fall, but no major currency was based on the gold standard by this time, and most gold in the world is used for jewelry, not investments.

Kveto is completely wrong about Fort Knox. The plot of Goldfinger is completely ludicrous, and even if it were radiated, it would have no practical effect. Even back in the day when currencies were on the gold standard, the gold itself rarely moved. Ownership changes were simply noted on ledgers. Since the gold would rarely be converted anyway, the Central Banks of the world would simply keep on doing it since they know perfectly well that the irradiated gold at Fort Knox could remain there until it becomes safe to handle. Since the US does have its gold distributed throughout the US (as Kveto notes, but this is not a secret, and has always been so), it could even continue to convert cash into gold if needed. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York actually had more gold in it than Fort Knox, which is not surprising given New York's status as world financial center.

Of course, none of this ruins the story. It has enough credibility to allow suspension of disbelief as long as writers don't ask too many questions or play it up too much.

yeah, I'm not gonna bother to dispute you, Chris. You seem to get into a lot of arguments on this site with other posters and I see no reason to facilitate that.

I guess I'm "completely" wrong. Prior to 1962 the US kept the majority of its gold in fort knox and nowadays it no longer does. Perhaps the goldfinger film just pointed out how stupid it was to keep most of the gold in one place.

Anyway, Ill probably regret addressing you, as I noticed you were quite the prick in your previous discussions with other posters, and I see no reason to turn this nice website into a place that I regret visiting, but c'est la vie.

Ok people, no flame wars while i'm on vacation.

I have all the gold, and i will irradiate it and shoot it at you from a cannon if you can't be nice to each other.