Hordes of the Red Butcher: The Spider: Master of Men (Hordes of the Red Butcher) by Grant Stockbridge; John F. Gould; Mark Wheatley

by Grant Stockbridge

Snarling beast men ravage, rob, molest, and kill girls in Kentucky. Framed for murder, Wentworth must be rescued from Sing Sing and the electric chair by Nita (a.k.a. "Hordes of Destruction").

Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

Reviews

[S.wagenaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure pulp madness! Moves at a breakneck pace and never lets up. A dastardly villain uses Neanderthal beast-men to attack and decimate small towns in Kentucky in order to...well I’m not entirely sure why, but it results in outrageous violence and mayhem. Rest assured that The Spider will get to the bottom of the mystery, even if he has to kill dozens in order to do it! Recommended!

[Kevin Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been good pulpy adventure if the publisher hadn't added to the absurdity with modernizations and updates. And there were editorial changes that just didn't make sense, like changing the character name from THE Spider to Spider.

[Lew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally enjoy stories from the Pulp magazines but I found this one hard to get through. I don't know if it was the writing or not. I read several of the first Spider stories during High School. This is one of three (?) that Pocket Book released in the mid-70s. There are lots of little clues that someone had edited the original story from 1935 to make it appear that it takes place in the 70s. A rock band is mentioned and a 747 plays a major part in the story. A entry in Wikipedia mentions that Pocket Book was trying to cash in of the success of Doc Savage reprints even to make the Spider character on the cover look like Doc Savage and not like the Shadow.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn't a review of the tale, per se (which is very good), but of this edition of it. As others have noted, the four Pocket Books editions were "modernized" from the 1930s pulp originals. That's a ghastly notion. I've warded off these Pocket reprints as if repelling Dracula, fingers formed into a cross. So no, I haven't read them. But I know enough to pan this edition. Get the original.

[Randy · Rating 2 out of 5]

rewritten to modernize the character. Bad idea.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is another of the Spider novels that Pocket re-issued in the mid-'70s that was heavily edited to moderize it. It was a terrible idea that ruined the original; avoid this edition!

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

read SOMETIME in 2000

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun pulp novel featuring the Spider. You gotta love the titles in this series.

[bluetyson]

Hordes of the Red Butcher by Grant Stockbridge

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really good one.