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The Spider #11
Spider #11 August 1934
Will Murray's Pulp Classics
The Spider eBook
#11 August 1934
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.
Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! Richard Wentworth — the dread Spider, nemesis of the Underworld, lone wolf anti-crime crusader who always fights in that grim no-man’s land between Law and lawless — returns in vintage pulp tales of the Spider, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Table of Contents:
Meet the Spider!
by Will Murray
The Full-Length Feature Novel
Prince of the Red Looters
by Norvell W. Page writing as Grant Stockbridge
The strains of Pagliacci had barely died away, when above the glittering Diamond Horseshoe of the Metropolitan Opera House there shrilled the panicked cry of a multitude in mortal terror. Death swooped upon the horrified audience. Despite the warning of the Spider, the police had been helpless to cope with the fiendish cunning of the Fly, arch-criminal and gentleman killer! Go with Richard Wentworth as he battles this deadly crime organization which succeeds finally in having Commissioner Kirkpatrick removed from office and the Spider himself falsely identified as the Fly!
Doc Turner Visits A Slaughter House — A Doc Turner Story
by Arthur Leo Zagat
A waddling duck whose feather drip with human blood leads Doc Turner to his most spine-tingling duel with death!
Dynamite and Stone — A Short Story
by Winston Bouvé
Was it brotherly love which brought Pete Crowley to his underground rendezvous with killer lead?
The Web — A Department
by Inspector Leslie T. White
How can we aid the Spider’s fight against crime?
Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s.
The Spider eBook
#11 August 1934
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.
Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! Richard Wentworth — the dread Spider, nemesis of the Underworld, lone wolf anti-crime crusader who always fights in that grim no-man’s land between Law and lawless — returns in vintage pulp tales of the Spider, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Table of Contents:
Meet the Spider!
by Will Murray
The Full-Length Feature Novel
Prince of the Red Looters
by Norvell W. Page writing as Grant Stockbridge
The strains of Pagliacci had barely died away, when above the glittering Diamond Horseshoe of the Metropolitan Opera House there shrilled the panicked cry of a multitude in mortal terror. Death swooped upon the horrified audience. Despite the warning of the Spider, the police had been helpless to cope with the fiendish cunning of the Fly, arch-criminal and gentleman killer! Go with Richard Wentworth as he battles this deadly crime organization which succeeds finally in having Commissioner Kirkpatrick removed from office and the Spider himself falsely identified as the Fly!
Doc Turner Visits A Slaughter House — A Doc Turner Story
by Arthur Leo Zagat
A waddling duck whose feather drip with human blood leads Doc Turner to his most spine-tingling duel with death!
Dynamite and Stone — A Short Story
by Winston Bouvé
Was it brotherly love which brought Pete Crowley to his underground rendezvous with killer lead?
The Web — A Department
by Inspector Leslie T. White
How can we aid the Spider’s fight against crime?
Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s.
204 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 1934
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 24, 2014
If you're a villain who goes by the moniker of "The Fly" and you purport to be a criminal mastermind who is always the smartest guy in the room, then you should be able to figure out that setting up shop in a city protected by a masked vigilante who calls himself "The Spider" is not at all the wisest move to make. But The Fly does it anyway, carrying off multi-million dollar robberies and slaughtering anyone who gets in his way, at the same time hampering the efforts of the police by taking innocent hostages and hiding behind an unknown alter-ego. Fortunately for the beleaguered and panicked city, The Spider operates under a slightly different set of rules than do the city cops.
In this fast-paced and action-riddled crime novel from the 1930s, Grant Stockbridge (AKA Norvile Page) gives his masked mystery man an opponent that is nearly his equal. In doing so, he sets the stage for the deaths of thousands, for although The Spiders is able to hamper The Fly's plans to a certain extent, and even prevent a few, there is no way he, as one man, battle the "congress of criminals" that The Fly has assembled, or fully combat the underworld that is emboldened by every success of The Fly. However, whereas the police battle the symptoms of The Fly (his crimes), The Spider relentlessly and single-mindedly pursues the criminal himself, pitting his intellect against that of The Fly, as well as his own skills at masquerade and his physical prowess. Early on, the reader figures out that when the climax comes, as it surely must, the fight will be settle man to man, mano y mano.
What the reader will not figure out till the end, however, is the identity of The Fly, the true face behind the every-changing array of facades. As with many of the pulp tales of the time (as well as in the popular serial films) there are a number of suspects who might possibly be The Fly, who eventually get eliminated from suspicion, not through deduction but by meeting their demises at the hands of The Fly.
The Spider was one of the more popular anti-heroes of the pulp magazine era, along with the likes of The Shadow and The Avenger. Unlike the iconic Doc Savage, who was obviously and steadfastly on the side of the law, The Spider operated from the shadows, often against the police in that he felt himself free to break the laws they were sworn to enforce. More often than not, The Spider's foes were filled with lead, but the writer makes sure the reader (if not the police) knows that these actions are not taken through any sense of wanton bloodthirstiness but because The Spider is protecting the citizens of his city at a time when criminals (as they do now) thumbed their noses at the laws of the land, and because the criminals brought on their own destruction. The Spider's code of honor forbids him from killing the innocent (such as the police doing their jobs), even when holding back endangers The Spider's identity or life. But criminals...let them even reach for their weapons and The Spider does not hesitate.
If you are looking for a mystery novel where characterization, motivation and deduction play a large part, this is probably not the book for you. But action, excitement, justice and a helluva great story...yeah, this is it.
In this fast-paced and action-riddled crime novel from the 1930s, Grant Stockbridge (AKA Norvile Page) gives his masked mystery man an opponent that is nearly his equal. In doing so, he sets the stage for the deaths of thousands, for although The Spiders is able to hamper The Fly's plans to a certain extent, and even prevent a few, there is no way he, as one man, battle the "congress of criminals" that The Fly has assembled, or fully combat the underworld that is emboldened by every success of The Fly. However, whereas the police battle the symptoms of The Fly (his crimes), The Spider relentlessly and single-mindedly pursues the criminal himself, pitting his intellect against that of The Fly, as well as his own skills at masquerade and his physical prowess. Early on, the reader figures out that when the climax comes, as it surely must, the fight will be settle man to man, mano y mano.
What the reader will not figure out till the end, however, is the identity of The Fly, the true face behind the every-changing array of facades. As with many of the pulp tales of the time (as well as in the popular serial films) there are a number of suspects who might possibly be The Fly, who eventually get eliminated from suspicion, not through deduction but by meeting their demises at the hands of The Fly.
The Spider was one of the more popular anti-heroes of the pulp magazine era, along with the likes of The Shadow and The Avenger. Unlike the iconic Doc Savage, who was obviously and steadfastly on the side of the law, The Spider operated from the shadows, often against the police in that he felt himself free to break the laws they were sworn to enforce. More often than not, The Spider's foes were filled with lead, but the writer makes sure the reader (if not the police) knows that these actions are not taken through any sense of wanton bloodthirstiness but because The Spider is protecting the citizens of his city at a time when criminals (as they do now) thumbed their noses at the laws of the land, and because the criminals brought on their own destruction. The Spider's code of honor forbids him from killing the innocent (such as the police doing their jobs), even when holding back endangers The Spider's identity or life. But criminals...let them even reach for their weapons and The Spider does not hesitate.
If you are looking for a mystery novel where characterization, motivation and deduction play a large part, this is probably not the book for you. But action, excitement, justice and a helluva great story...yeah, this is it.
March 19, 2024
What begins as an open challenge to the Spider, soon escalates to bank robbery and massive attacks on New York City! The Fly may prove more than a match for the mysterious Spider, as he outwits him and the police force at every turn. But in this match of equals, the Spider is not one to turn tail.
This is my first foray into the world of the Spider. I knew he was something of a Shadow clone and was prone to extreme violence, but I wanted to read it for myself. It has all the typical tropes of the time; Richard Wentworth is a rich man with a passion for justice - even if law enforcement doesn't see it that way. He's in the vein of a Lamont Cranston or Bruce Wayne for sure, but he bills himself as an amateur criminologist providing a convenient excuse for him to be around all these crime scenes and to continue dodging accusations of being the Spider (even though he really is!). Similarly, he has a trusted ally in Ram Singh (yes, plenty of racial issues with this one), a beautiful girlfriend, Nita Van Sloan, and a close relationship with the police commissioner. Nothing new or earth-shaking here.
The set up is also pretty standard for pulp fare - the hero is faced with his opposite number, equally skilled in every way and determined to either take his place or kill him outright. Here this story has a slight twist as both men are masters of disguise, so the true identity of the Fly isn't revealed until their final encounter. Of course, Wentworth has put all the clues together and gives a great summation of the clues at the end of the story. Early on, this wasn't actually clear since the author gives a concrete description of the Fly and implies he's something of an escape artist at getting out of tight spots, but about halfway through, there are several clues pointing to the Fly using disguises. It's actually kind of clever.
The Fly is also nothing short of a terrorist! He starts fairly small with a one-on-one duel with the Spider, but then progresses to bank robbery where he kills several people. From there, things get way out of hand with several attacks that kill hundreds, if not thousands, of New Yorkers! As he begins to assemble a group of underworld supporters he gets more and more brazen in his plots. Bigger profits mean more deaths, all in an attempt to upstage and needle the Spider. The fact that these incidents are quickly forgotten and don't have an ongoing effect in the story was a little disappointing. One its over, things didn't really have an effect on the characters or setting, and in fact, were rarely mentioned again.
As for the more visceral violence - gun shot wounds, stabbings, etc. - it seems pretty average for today, but it might have been graphic in 1934. Most thrillers have this type of violence today, so there wasn't anything that I found over the top. I guess we're just a bit desensitized in the modern world.
Overall, I had fun with this one. Because it relied on a lot of tropes it didn't take that much to settle into it, and the story moved along pretty well, with no real lapses. I liked Wentworth and his masquerade as the Spider, but most of the other characters were just window dressing. I can see reading another of these stories down the line.
This is my first foray into the world of the Spider. I knew he was something of a Shadow clone and was prone to extreme violence, but I wanted to read it for myself. It has all the typical tropes of the time; Richard Wentworth is a rich man with a passion for justice - even if law enforcement doesn't see it that way. He's in the vein of a Lamont Cranston or Bruce Wayne for sure, but he bills himself as an amateur criminologist providing a convenient excuse for him to be around all these crime scenes and to continue dodging accusations of being the Spider (even though he really is!). Similarly, he has a trusted ally in Ram Singh (yes, plenty of racial issues with this one), a beautiful girlfriend, Nita Van Sloan, and a close relationship with the police commissioner. Nothing new or earth-shaking here.
The set up is also pretty standard for pulp fare - the hero is faced with his opposite number, equally skilled in every way and determined to either take his place or kill him outright. Here this story has a slight twist as both men are masters of disguise, so the true identity of the Fly isn't revealed until their final encounter. Of course, Wentworth has put all the clues together and gives a great summation of the clues at the end of the story. Early on, this wasn't actually clear since the author gives a concrete description of the Fly and implies he's something of an escape artist at getting out of tight spots, but about halfway through, there are several clues pointing to the Fly using disguises. It's actually kind of clever.
The Fly is also nothing short of a terrorist! He starts fairly small with a one-on-one duel with the Spider, but then progresses to bank robbery where he kills several people. From there, things get way out of hand with several attacks that kill hundreds, if not thousands, of New Yorkers! As he begins to assemble a group of underworld supporters he gets more and more brazen in his plots. Bigger profits mean more deaths, all in an attempt to upstage and needle the Spider. The fact that these incidents are quickly forgotten and don't have an ongoing effect in the story was a little disappointing. One its over, things didn't really have an effect on the characters or setting, and in fact, were rarely mentioned again.
As for the more visceral violence - gun shot wounds, stabbings, etc. - it seems pretty average for today, but it might have been graphic in 1934. Most thrillers have this type of violence today, so there wasn't anything that I found over the top. I guess we're just a bit desensitized in the modern world.
Overall, I had fun with this one. Because it relied on a lot of tropes it didn't take that much to settle into it, and the story moved along pretty well, with no real lapses. I liked Wentworth and his masquerade as the Spider, but most of the other characters were just window dressing. I can see reading another of these stories down the line.
May 23, 2021
Another good tale by Page. I'm accepting more that Richard Wentworth's identity as the Spider is an "open" secret acknowledged by himself and police commission Stanley Kirkpatrick. The conflict that I saw in the Spiders published by Sanctum (which were not in chronological order) is addressed in an exchange between the two. Which also lets Page address how so many people "know" Wentworth is the Spider and focus on him when trying to implement their schemes. Wentworth says at one point when talking to a reform mayor out to eliminate the Spider that he accepts the suspicion because he sees it as a challenge to his role as a criminologist.
So everyone "knows" he is the Spider and "Wink, wink, don't let us catch you redhanded," but keep up the good work and stop criminals like the Fly, who is this story's villain, out to unite the underworld and pillage the city. The Fly's identity is not known until the end, as he is in disguise and might be any one of three or four different people. There are saber duels, car chases, bank robberies, and dirigible gas attacks, and Page is only about eight entries into his tenure as the series writer with more wild tales still to come.
So everyone "knows" he is the Spider and "Wink, wink, don't let us catch you redhanded," but keep up the good work and stop criminals like the Fly, who is this story's villain, out to unite the underworld and pillage the city. The Fly's identity is not known until the end, as he is in disguise and might be any one of three or four different people. There are saber duels, car chases, bank robberies, and dirigible gas attacks, and Page is only about eight entries into his tenure as the series writer with more wild tales still to come.
July 3, 2019
Ventinge pulp. Classic hero vs villain. Lots of gun play, death, fights and close shaves
July 31, 2014
I've not read a lot of Norvell Page, but everything I've encountered so far has been characterized by vertiginous pace, unusually supple prose (compare Page's effortless grace and vigour with the fractured sentences and clumsy syntax of Lester Dent!), and characters who are so emotionally overcharged that in this case, it's sometimes hard to decide who's crazier, the hero or the villain.
I confess this is my first encounter with Page's most celebrated character, the Spider, and although an early entry in the series, it's great overripe fun. The parts that stood out the most for me were a fine action sequence in which Page loots and incinerates the Met (in a manner somewhat reminiscent of a famous episode in Feuillade's Les Vampires), and the way he takes the time before lunging into the climactic violence to evoke the oppressiveness and menace of a stinking hot summer afternoon.
As far as I know, the e-book edition of this is still available for free on sending an e-mail to the publisher. You can't beat that!
I confess this is my first encounter with Page's most celebrated character, the Spider, and although an early entry in the series, it's great overripe fun. The parts that stood out the most for me were a fine action sequence in which Page loots and incinerates the Met (in a manner somewhat reminiscent of a famous episode in Feuillade's Les Vampires), and the way he takes the time before lunging into the climactic violence to evoke the oppressiveness and menace of a stinking hot summer afternoon.
As far as I know, the e-book edition of this is still available for free on sending an e-mail to the publisher. You can't beat that!
June 2, 2015
This was a high-action, enjoyable story. Reading it will give you some hints into every day life in the 1930's, and a lot action.
In fact, some of this action is so over the top, you'd expect it to be a Michael Bay movie, minus explosions. To know this came from the '30s is a surprise just due to the body count. Great adventure/crime story.
There are some plotholes, especially later in the book, and leaps in logic that led me to believe I had somehow skipped pages. Then I remembered that I was reading a 30's pulp novel and just went with it.
This book is free on amazon kindle, so download it.
Also, the original cover art is amazing, Hewitt was a master and this is the best cover of all the Spider stories, and there are several excellent ones.
In fact, some of this action is so over the top, you'd expect it to be a Michael Bay movie, minus explosions. To know this came from the '30s is a surprise just due to the body count. Great adventure/crime story.
There are some plotholes, especially later in the book, and leaps in logic that led me to believe I had somehow skipped pages. Then I remembered that I was reading a 30's pulp novel and just went with it.
This book is free on amazon kindle, so download it.
Also, the original cover art is amazing, Hewitt was a master and this is the best cover of all the Spider stories, and there are several excellent ones.
June 8, 2012
My first experience with a classic pulp novel, and what an exciting adventure it was. The Spider is a vigilante hero who does not shy away from killing the criminals he hunts, although he does have his own code of honor about it. The Fly is a criminal mastermind of Luthorian levels, though he pre-dates Lex by nearly a decade. The cat-and-mouse game between the two makes for a high body count, but an enjoyable read.
September 14, 2013
A good beginning entry in the famous Spider pulp novel series.
The pulp novels are a product of their time and people of today may find them tricky to get into. The pulp adventures of the Spider, Master of Men is basically an acquired taste. It'll take some time to get into, but it can be a thrilling read. Compared to some of the lengthy doorstoppers and hacks out there nowadays, you could do much worse than this confrontation between the Spider and his enemy, the Fly.
The pulp novels are a product of their time and people of today may find them tricky to get into. The pulp adventures of the Spider, Master of Men is basically an acquired taste. It'll take some time to get into, but it can be a thrilling read. Compared to some of the lengthy doorstoppers and hacks out there nowadays, you could do much worse than this confrontation between the Spider and his enemy, the Fly.
July 24, 2013
It hangs together plot-wise better than most pulp books. The points of melodrama that allow the reader to catch their breath are short and seemingly well placed. This ain't grand fiction, but it sure is fun.
August 29, 2012
Corny 30's dialogue and story.O.k
December 28, 2014
Very entertaining stories. The "back up" stories strongly evoked the era.
October 25, 2016
I've given the Spider a try, but I'm just not a fan. Even among pulp stories, the Spider tales seem very poorly plotted and put together.
December 30, 2015
I have not yet read a bad or mediocre Spider tale!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews