My New Best Friend

THE SPIDER - MASTER OF MEN!

I'm not sure if all of you remember Nichols Department store, specifically the Salisbury location.  After Nichols went out of business, the building went unused before briefly becoming an indoor flea market.

Flea markets are one of my favorite things in the world, along with antique stores, and coincidentally my sister, had she played her cards right, could have easily wed Bargain Bill, Junior, thus tying our family in with the Bargain Bill Flea Market dynasty of Laurel Delaware for all time.  But you just couldn't do that, could you, Betsy?

Hands down my favorite stall at the indoor flea market was called "Not Just Books", a stall which sold only books.  Exclusively.  Just books and nothing else.  

It was there I bought this:

Or rather, my grandmother bought it for me and, bless her heart, I remember her telling me that it looked like a good one.  For this and many other things, I am forever in her debt.

As far as I knew at the time, the book was part of a series.  It's hero was one Richard Wentworth, who conducted a weird war against evil.  This copy was printed in the seventies, I think, but was a reprint of a novel that had appeared first in January of 1935.  In '35 Wentworth was referred to as "The" Spider while in action but "The" was dropped this time around to make it sound more like a spy code name.  Like Batman, Wentworth was a wealthy man, a criminologist, in fact, who got his kicks crusading against crime.  Other references were changed, and so the Spider's 30's era automobile became a 70's era sports car and some timely references were added.  It was, as they say, jazzed up for then modern readers.

I next picked up a Spider novel shortly after enlisting in the Navy.  I'd long been enamored of pulp novels and in particular the garish colors and gruesome scenes depicted on their covers.  The cover of this edition was a more traditional one:

This was during the long and tedious process of enlistment, signing and swearing in and generally being indoctrinated to the military's highest protocol, which is "hurry up and wait".  On a dinner break I walked over to a bookstore and found the Spider there waiting for me.  I read it, enjoyed it, and left Richard Wentworth behind for more than 15 years.

Legend has it that Harry Steeger, an editor for Popular Publications, was seeking a character to rival the Shadow, produced by Street and Smith.  The Shadow was a man of mystery who wore all black, carried two .45 caliber pistols, had a trademark ring, and was almost as psychotic as the criminals he warred against.  One afternoon while playing tennis, Steeger saw a spider crawling across the court, which to some may have been just a wandering arachnid, but Steeger saw inspiration.  And dollar signs.

Note the black ensemble, the two .45 caliber pistols, the
trademark ring, and just how crazy the Spider looks.  

Norvell Page, a native Virginian, took over writing the new magazine after a few lackluster issues and proved just crazy and weird enough in his own right to add an entirely unheard of dimension of sheer strangeness to the magazine.

Though a few people might still remember the Shadow today (there was a movie with Alec Baldwin around 1997) I prefer the Spider hands down.

The past few months have been a strange and lonely time for yours truly.  Little things have come to mean a lot, and for whatever reason I gave the Spider another shot, and boy am I glad I did.  I've read a bunch  of these damn things and am so glad there are more than a decades worth of them left to go.

During my reading of the last one (#110 "Zara- Master of Murder", November 1942)  I even went so far as to highlight  a few passages:

"He did nothing so limiting as to make plans in advance."

The Spider is a master of impromptu violence and of bewildering escape.  Given a pair of tweezers, he could wipe out an angry mob.  Given a nose hair, he could escape from San Quentin.

"But the eye is slower than the brain- and the Spider is faster than either."

Norvell Page writes of the Spider with grand hyperbole, at the same time making him so sinister you're almost as scared of him as the villain he's pursuing.

"...the Spider's voice was monotonous.  "Nothing can withstand my will.  Zara is not an exception.  My will is more powerful.  It overcomes resistance.  It dominates." "

The Spider is, again imitative of the Shadow, a master hypnotist.  That is why he is called "the Master of Men".  He'd tell you to "go take a hike" and before you knew it you'd be out on a nature trail somewhere and not know how the hell you got there.  

In addition to the heroics, the Spider is also involved with the lovely Nita Van Sloan.  The two are actually a great couple and rather than being completely helpless and constantly rescued, Nita more often than not is a perfectly capable assistant to her beau.  The Spider is very affectionate and tender to her, telling her more than once that "our karmas are one."

And then, of course, he runs off to shoot, stab, mutilate, and telepathically assault people.

The weirdest part?  On the covers the Spider is shown as a guy in black suit, cloak, hat, and mask, right?  This was an editorial decision on someone's part, because inside, the Spider is described as looking like this:

I've only read his hair described as black, but, as I said, I'm new to the Spider.  But fangs?  Brrrr.... Talk about striking terror into the hearts of criminals.  A mask is one thing.  After you got over the initial "why the hell is this guy wearing a mask?" you'd shoot at him, but not this guy.  What a creeper!

Am I gushing?  Yeah, I guess I am.  I'm a fanboy at heart and always will be.  And the new object of my affection?  Richard Wentworth, a.k.a.  the Spider!

The above image is from the ReelArt Studios statue of the Spider.  Had I the hypnotic abilities of my new hero, I would compel you to buy this for me for Christmas.