Spider (pulp fiction character)
The Spider is an American pulp-magazine hero of the 1930s and 1940s. The character was created by publisher Harry Steeger and written by a variety of authors for 118 monthly issues of The Spider from 1933 to 1943. The Spider sold well during the 1930s, and copies are valued by modern pulp magazine collectors. Pulp magazine historian Ed Hulse has stated "Today, hero-pulp fans value The Spider more than any single-character magazine except for The Shadow and Doc Savage."
Creation and publication history
The Spider was created in 1933 by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications as direct competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero the Shadow. Steeger said he got the idea for the character's name when he was playing tennis and saw a large spider walking along the edge of the court. Steeger also sought to emulate the films of Douglas Fairbanks, while historians George E. Turner and Michael H. Price felt the character was also descended from Siegfried, Fantômas and The Bat.Recognizing that imitating the Shadow created the potential for lawsuits as well as the potential for strong sales, Streeger consulted his lawyer, who advised him to hire a writer with an established character and have him transform that character into the Spider. Thus, R.T.M. Scott's detective character Aurelius Smith and Hindu assistant Langa Doone became, respectively, Richard Wentworth and Ram Singh. The first two novels were written by R.T.M. Scott, but they were deemed too slow-paced, so another author was brought in. Later stories were published under the house pen name of "Grant Stockbridge", which was intended to recall Maxwell Grant, the house pen name which the Shadow novels were attributed to. Most of the Spider novels were actually written by Norvell Page. Other authors of the series included Donald C. Cormack, Wayne Rogers, Emile C. Tepperman, and Prentice Winchell. The series was the first Popular pulp to be named after a character rather than a genre.
The were Walter M. Baumhofer for the debut issue, followed by John Newton Howitt and Rafael De Soto. The Spider was published monthly and ran for 118 issues from 1933 to 1943. Sales declined in the late 1930s due to surging competition from superhero comics and never fully recovered. Paper shortages during World War II and a declining readership following Page's departure to work on propaganda also played their part.
A 119th Spider novel manuscript had been completed but was not published until decades later, a heavily rewritten mass-market paperback with renamed characters. In 2012, Moonstone Books finally published it as Slaughter, Inc., in its original unedited form. The novel was again reprinted in 2018 by Altus Press as a facsimile edition, this time designed to look like a 1940s pulp.
Stories
The Spider stories often involve a bizarre menace to the country and a criminal conspiracy. They were often extremely violent, with the villains engaging in wanton slaughter of thousands as part of sometimes nationwide crime sprees. Pulp magazine historian Ed Hulse noted that "Spider novel death tolls routinely ran into the thousands". The master criminal of the stories is usually unmasked only in the last few pages. The stories often end with Wentworth killing the villains and stamping their corpses' foreheads with his "Spider" mark.Will Murray would note the character's brutality and willingness to kill criminals, even occasionally pre-emptively. Price and Turner also noted he was considerably more brutal and violent than other pulp heroes, especially under Page, who they stated "maintained in the character a viciousness that placed The Spider magazine in a par with the horror-anthology pulps of its day".
A complete list of all 119 Spider pulps in the original series is available online at fan sites
Characters
The Spider
The Spider is millionaire playboy Richard Wentworth, who served as a major in World War I, and was living in New York City unaffected by the financial deprivations of the Great Depression. The ninth pulp represents him as the last surviving member of a rich family.Wentworth is easily identified as the Spider by his enemies in a number of earlier novels and is arrested by the police, only to escape. He adopts a cover identity - Tito Caliepi - and associated aliases. The Spider's earliest costume consisted of a simple black domino mask, black hat, and cape. Later in the series, vampire-like makeup appears, which is replaced with a face mask featuring grizzled hair and finally a hunchback. These are added to terrorize the criminal underworld, while the Spider dispenses his brand of violent vigilante justice. Utilizing his talent as a violinist, Wentworth, sometimes uses busking as part of his disguise.
Wentworth also ventures into the underworld disguised as small-time hood Blinky McQuade in order to gain needed information. To Scotland Yard, Wentworth is known as Rupert Barton, who holds a badge of Inspector for services rendered; by the fifth novel, he also holds the rank of lieutenant in the FBI. Wentworth, according to the fifth story, is tall, and has grey eyes. He has an old battle scar on his head that flares up at times of great stress. He is an accomplished pianist and violinist, and drives a Lancia. He speaks fluent Hindustani and so talks with Ram Singh in his own language, with little fear anyone else would understand what is being said. As written by Page, Wentworth was also psychologically vulnerable and suffers frequent bouts of fear, self-doubt, despair and paranoia.
The Spider's seal and weapons
The Spider's calling card is a red-ink spider image left on the foreheads of the criminals he kills, so others will not be blamed. In the sixth novel, the Spider imprints his red sign on a gold ring so that any who need his help can use it by taking it to Kirkpatrick. The Spider's seal was concealed in the base of his platinum cigarette lighter, and was invented by Professor Brownlee. The Spider also carried a thin silken line which had a tensile strength of several hundred pounds. Wentworth was also a master of disguise. In the small steel case of burglar tools he carried under his arm, he also had his make-up kit and his Spider's eye mask.Like The Shadow, The Spider's usual weapons of choice are a pair of Colt.45 caliber M1911 automatic pistols. He is a crack shot and normally shoots to kill. However, he would not shoot anyone in law enforcement, although they frequently are under orders to shoot to kill him on sight. Brownlee also invented the lethal and almost silent air pistol the Spider used for "quiet" kills. He acted as a sort of on-call weaponsmith for Wentworth, whom he looked upon as being close to a son. Wentworth also had a gun in one of his shoes, which he used twice in the 5th novel.
In Timothy Truman's 1990s comic book adaptation, Brownlee created the "Web-Lee", a non-lethal stun pistol that fired projectiles which erupted into a spider web-like mass, inundated with microscopic barbs of frozen curare.
"Master of Men"
The Spider's by-name is "Master of Men", indicating that he has a voice commanding enough to get many people to do his bidding. Wentworth can also imitate other people's voices. When he imitates Kirkpatrick's voice, he can give orders to lesser policemen during a stakeout, even during one intended to capture The Spider, so he can himself escape. Wentworth was not above disguising himself as a cop to escape when surrounded by policemen.Supporting characters
- Nita Van Sloan is Wentworth's longtime fiancée, who often aids him. Though they are as close as man and wife, they know they could never marry and have a family, as Wentworth believes he will eventually be unmasked or killed as The Spider, and his wife and family would then pay the price. In the issue #100 story, "Death and The Spider", Wentworth expects to die. Nita disguises herself as The Spider a few times, covering for Wentworth when he has been seriously injured.
- Ram Singh, a Sikh, is Wenthworth's fanatically loyal manservant; he is a deadly knife thrower and usually carries several knives with him, including the deadly kukri. Ram Singh never views his position as a servant as demeaning or negatively impacting his self-respect, feeling that he serves a man totally above other men. At times, he and Wentworth talk in Hindustani, which only they understand.
- Sergeant Ronald Jackson, Wentworth's chauffeur, served under Wentworth in World War I and often refers to him as "the Major". He is killed by "The Avenger" in "The Pain Emperor". However he is revived in "The Reign of the Death Fiddler" when it is revealed that Ram Singh saved him and brought him back to full health, ignoring the fact that Jackson had been given a military burial.
- Harold Jenkyns is Wentworth's butler, an elderly man who has been in the Wentworth family's service for a long time.
- Police Commissioner Stanley Kirkpatrick or simply "Kirk", is Wentworth's closest friend, who is sure Wentworth is The Spider but can never prove it. He has promised to arrest him, try him, and send him to the electric chair if he ever has proof.
- Professor Ezra Brownlee, an inventor and Wentworth's old war colleague, features heavily in the early Spider novels; he is killed in Dragon Lord of the Underworld. Brownlee's son makes some appearances afterward, taking over from his late father. Brownlee's unjust arrest is what motivated Wentworth to take the law into his own hands for the first time.
Enemies