If you have read articles by me from the past few years with any regularity, you would know that I have a preoccupation, if not an obsession, with pulp fiction. No, not the Tarantino film. Pulp fiction as in the sensationalized, popular fiction published in the early half of the 20th century on cheap paper. Pulp horror in the form of Weird Tales and Unknown Stories has always been my game, but I got into pulp heroes a few years ago. Oddly enough, the pulp magazine that has been regarded as the one liked by people who don’t like pulps was, in fact, one of the pulpiest of the bunch (yes, I'll try to avoid repetition from here on out): The Spider.
To the naked eye, he was merely another clone of The Shadow, a caped creature of the night bearing .45 automatics, dealing death to criminals. I recently described him on my Facebook account as a combination of The Shadow and The Punisher. In a way, he is. He operates similarly to The Shadow, operating under cover of darkness, employing multiple disguises to investigate crime. On the other hand, he is more violent than The Shadow, much like The Punisher who seems born to kill. The Spider is possibly one of the most violent characters in pulp fiction.
By day, The Spider is millionaire WWI veteran Richard Wentworth. Unlike many pulp heroes, he is in a committed relationship with his fiancee Nita Van Sloan. He is best friends with Commissioner Kirkpatrick and is attended by his manservant and brother-in-arms Ram Singh. There isn’t much motivation behind him becoming The Spider unless the world being a cesspool always on the brink of socioeconomic collapse is motivation enough. The Spider’s New York City is always threatened by one major disaster after another. In one instance, plague bats infest the city, in another, there is a massive heroin epidemic. In others there are menaces such as an army of lepers, poisonous gas, or an organization that kidnaps people who surgically disfigure their victims. If there’s not one disaster, there’s another, and a guy like Wentworth is needed to meet the threats head-on.
In most of his stories, The Spider’s disguise consists of a black outfit, hat, cape, and fright make-up complete with fangs. In this sense, I would describe him as a dash of The Shadow, mixed with a dash of Lon Chaney from London After Midnight, peppered with the uncompromising bloodlust of The Punisher. The author of The Spider Returns website, wrote, “If I was pitching The Spider franchise in Hollywood I might say: He’s a superhero. Trapped in a horror film. Directed by John Woo. . . .Batman, with guns, vs. the Army of Darkness kind of gives you the proper visual.” Hated by criminals, and always hunted by police, there isn’t a moment when The Spider can boldly stand on a precipice with heroic fanfare playing in the background (I keep thinking of Tim Burton’s Batman when a thought like that comes to mind). While many people love The Spider for his fight against crime, he is an outcast.
The 118 novel series, mostly by Norvell Page, started in 1933 and ended in 1943. They are certainly crime stories, but it is not wholly accurate to call them mysteries. Pulp historian and current Spider writer, Will Murray, stated, “Spiders are not mystery novels.” Fair enough. There is the element of mystery, plenty of crime, a heaping dose of horror, and occasionally a strong element of science fiction. The covers alone make them appear to be weird menace stories along the lines of Terror Tales or Horror Stories, or Dime Mystery, particularly with titles to the Spider stories such as Slaves of the Crime Master, Hordes of the Red Butcher, Death Reign of the Vampire King, Slaves of the Murder Syndicate, and Rule of the Monster Men. This isn’t surprising considering that The Spider was published by Popular Publications, which also published the other weird menace titles just mentioned.
I don’t believe in absolute perfection in the books I read. The fault with many books is that they fail to entertain, like some literary gems that I don’t feel the need to mention. People are bound to tear anything apart and The Spider is no exception, but what his stories lack in logic, or consistency of plot, they make up for in action and emotional intensity. In a trilogy republished by Age of Aces called The Spider vs. The Empire State, we have the epic in which New York state is taken over by a fascist regime and people are routinely rounded up into internment camps. Bear in mind that these particular stories were published in 1938 and Norvell Page wanted to reflect some of what he was seeing in the world, such as the rise of fascism in Europe, and decided to take a stance on it, depicting it for the evil that it was. By suspending disbelief that a state of the union can fall under circumstances this dire, you can allow yourself to be wrapped up in a compelling story in which The Spider fights for freedom.
A couple of my other favorites include The Black Wings of Death, The Green Globes of Death, Citadel of Hell, and a couple I listed previously. I’ve only read 10 Spider novels so far, but obviously I plan on reading more. He’s pretty widely accessible online, although I would nab copies of The Spider: City of Doom and The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham, both are collections of Spider novels with covers and frontispieces by Jim Steranko.
Bruce Timm, the creator of Batman The Animated Series said, “It’s something I tried to inject into the show from early on, the atmosphere, danger and illicit excitement, and especially that Norvell Page-type feeling of impending doom—the “doomed city” mood.” If you have ever seen Batman the Animated Series, or in fact, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, or The Batman, all which share this element of doom and wide-spread disaster, think of The Spider. For sheer intensity, read his stories.
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
To the naked eye, he was merely another clone of The Shadow, a caped creature of the night bearing .45 automatics, dealing death to criminals. I recently described him on my Facebook account as a combination of The Shadow and The Punisher. In a way, he is. He operates similarly to The Shadow, operating under cover of darkness, employing multiple disguises to investigate crime. On the other hand, he is more violent than The Shadow, much like The Punisher who seems born to kill. The Spider is possibly one of the most violent characters in pulp fiction. By day, The Spider is millionaire WWI veteran Richard Wentworth. Unlike many pulp heroes, he is in a committed relationship with his fiancee Nita Van Sloan. He is best friends with Commissioner Kirkpatrick and is attended by his manservant and brother-in-arms Ram Singh. There isn’t much motivation behind him becoming The Spider unless the world being a cesspool always on the brink of socioeconomic collapse is motivation enough. The Spider’s New York City is always threatened by one major disaster after another. In one instance, plague bats infest the city, in another, there is a massive heroin epidemic. In others there are menaces such as an army of lepers, poisonous gas, or an organization that kidnaps people who surgically disfigure their victims. If there’s not one disaster, there’s another, and a guy like Wentworth is needed to meet the threats head-on.
In most of his stories, The Spider’s disguise consists of a black outfit, hat, cape, and fright make-up complete with fangs. In this sense, I would describe him as a dash of The Shadow, mixed with a dash of Lon Chaney from London After Midnight, peppered with the uncompromising bloodlust of The Punisher. The author of The Spider Returns website, wrote, “If I was pitching The Spider franchise in Hollywood I might say: He’s a superhero. Trapped in a horror film. Directed by John Woo. . . .Batman, with guns, vs. the Army of Darkness kind of gives you the proper visual.” Hated by criminals, and always hunted by police, there isn’t a moment when The Spider can boldly stand on a precipice with heroic fanfare playing in the background (I keep thinking of Tim Burton’s Batman when a thought like that comes to mind). While many people love The Spider for his fight against crime, he is an outcast.
The 118 novel series, mostly by Norvell Page, started in 1933 and ended in 1943. They are certainly crime stories, but it is not wholly accurate to call them mysteries. Pulp historian and current Spider writer, Will Murray, stated, “Spiders are not mystery novels.” Fair enough. There is the element of mystery, plenty of crime, a heaping dose of horror, and occasionally a strong element of science fiction. The covers alone make them appear to be weird menace stories along the lines of Terror Tales or Horror Stories, or Dime Mystery, particularly with titles to the Spider stories such as Slaves of the Crime Master, Hordes of the Red Butcher, Death Reign of the Vampire King, Slaves of the Murder Syndicate, and Rule of the Monster Men. This isn’t surprising considering that The Spider was published by Popular Publications, which also published the other weird menace titles just mentioned.
I don’t believe in absolute perfection in the books I read. The fault with many books is that they fail to entertain, like some literary gems that I don’t feel the need to mention. People are bound to tear anything apart and The Spider is no exception, but what his stories lack in logic, or consistency of plot, they make up for in action and emotional intensity. In a trilogy republished by Age of Aces called The Spider vs. The Empire State, we have the epic in which New York state is taken over by a fascist regime and people are routinely rounded up into internment camps. Bear in mind that these particular stories were published in 1938 and Norvell Page wanted to reflect some of what he was seeing in the world, such as the rise of fascism in Europe, and decided to take a stance on it, depicting it for the evil that it was. By suspending disbelief that a state of the union can fall under circumstances this dire, you can allow yourself to be wrapped up in a compelling story in which The Spider fights for freedom.
A couple of my other favorites include The Black Wings of Death, The Green Globes of Death, Citadel of Hell, and a couple I listed previously. I’ve only read 10 Spider novels so far, but obviously I plan on reading more. He’s pretty widely accessible online, although I would nab copies of The Spider: City of Doom and The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham, both are collections of Spider novels with covers and frontispieces by Jim Steranko.
Bruce Timm, the creator of Batman The Animated Series said, “It’s something I tried to inject into the show from early on, the atmosphere, danger and illicit excitement, and especially that Norvell Page-type feeling of impending doom—the “doomed city” mood.” If you have ever seen Batman the Animated Series, or in fact, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, or The Batman, all which share this element of doom and wide-spread disaster, think of The Spider. For sheer intensity, read his stories.
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
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