The SPIDER

   US PULP MAGAZINE. 118 issues Oct 1933-Dec 1943; monthly until Feb 1943, bimonthly thereafter. Published by Popular Publications; ed Rogers Terrill until near the end. TS, one of the hero/villain pulps, began as a straightforward imitation of the highly successful The Shadow, telling of a mysterious caped avenger. The first 2 novels were by R.T.M. Scott; the remainder, credited to the house name Grant STOCKBRIDGE, were mainly by Norvell W. PAGE with others by Emile Tepperman, Wayne Rogers and PrenticeWinchell (1915-?). Under Page's guidance, the Spider became a more ruthless character who stamped a spider sign on the foreheads of the villains he killed, and the menaces he combated became more fantastic, including a metal-eating virus and Neanderthal hordes (the 2 novels concerned were reprinted as The City Destroyer [1935; 1975] and Hordes of the Red Butcher [1935; 1975]). TS also contained short stories, including the non-sf Doc Turner series by Arthur Leo ZAGAT. The character later featured in a cinema serial, The Spider's Web (1938; 15 episodes, Columbia, starring Robert E. Kent). Since 1969 further novels have beenreprinted in book form (Norvell W. PAGE for details). A final Spider title, left unpublished when the magazine folded, was reworked with new characters as Blue Steel (1979) as by Spider Page.

   MJE/FHP/PN