Columnist and critic Mark Squirek contributed this piece.

“The Spider is the number three most popular pulp character in the field. He is right behind The Shadow and Doc Savage,” said Tom Brown, the owner of Radio Archives during an interview with Scoop earlier this week.

While almost everyone knows full well who Doc Savage and the Shadow are, awareness of The Spider seems to have eluded many but the most faithful. Today however that is changing. The Spider is finding new fans all the time.

Publishing houses such as Moonstone, Dynamite Entertainment, Radio Archives and Girasol Collectibles as well as others are all having newfound success with Spider books, merchandise and reprints.

Brown went on to speak about the character's current popularity.

“Audiobooks featuring stories of The Spider as well as new reprints of the original tales are among our biggest and most consistent sellers at Radio Archives. Once fans discover the character they almost always want to read or listen to every story they can get their hands on,” he said

Like all of us, Scoop loves a good cult character so we went in search of the real Spider. He proved to be every bit as deserving of his popularity as Brown has noted. One thing is for sure, The Spider certainly has a lot of “street cred” among those who should know.

The creator of Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz, loved him. When talking about his youth he was quoted as saying "My greatest reading in those days was the Sports pulps and the Spider magazine. I could hardly stand to live from one month to another when the new Spider novel would come out"

Stan Lee has said many times in interviews over the years that part of his inspiration for The Amazing Spider-Man came from the original pulps of The Spider.

In an interview with Josephine Reed on the radio show Art Works (produced by the National Endowment for the Arts), Lee is quoted as saying “…and also when I was a kid there was a pulp magazine called The Spider, Master of Men, (he) had absolutely nothing to do with spiders but he was a guy who wore a mask sort of like the Spirit -- if you remember that -- and a hat and a coat and he went out and fought crooks, but they called him the Spider. And I read those things when I was about eight years old and I thought it was so dramatic.”

Lee is absolutely right. Spider stories are some of the most dramatic, world-wrecking, cataclysmic and down-right amazing stories ever produced for the pulps.

What makes him such a strong seller even today? For many it is the strong writing of Norvell Page that laid the foundation for the character’s enduring popularity. Page had a massive imagination, could deliver well-written stories quickly and as a result the publisher, once he saw the sales numbers, let Page run wild on The Spider for years.

The majority of the stories are flat out, pedal to the metal crazy adventure with a high dose of violence and insanity. The danger never lets up. The character, once given to the hands of Page, became a sheer terror on not just criminals, but the streets of New York as well.

Take a look at some of these titles. Issue #25, October 1935 featured “Overlord of the Damned” which had at its center a villain named “The Boss” who was the master of demonic acid guns. The Boss loved corrosive acid so much that he even built a vat into which he could dip those who talk too much!

Issue #28, (January 1936) was headed by “The Mayor of Hell”. Things get so dangerous The Spider even has to adopt a second identity in this one as he assumes the identity of “Corporal Death.” This ability to create perfectly believable disguises was another of The Spider’s great talents. It pays off for him most often in the character of Blinky McQuade. This was The Spider’s way of infiltrating the underworld when he had to.

In issue #29 (February 1936) Page wrote “Slaves of the Murder Syndicate”. Everyone in NYC is threatened by tiny darts dipped in poison. This is a poison that sends victims into convulsions which at first resembling crazy dancing and then it quickly kills them. Page wasn’t shy about killing off high numbers of good citizens of Manhattan as an out of control crime spree progresses.

In one memorable story criminals poison NYC’s food supply causing untold deaths while also holding the city hostage. In another a criminal with delusions of God-hood threatens to poison millions unless they agree to follow him. Page truly went as far in constructing a wild story as the times would let him.

Even by today’s standards the number of actual casualties in a Spider pulp is often astounding. Page thought nothing of killing thousands during the course of a good Spider tale. Guns went blazing, corrosive acid, tainted water, horrific bombs and a hundred other dreadful plot devices showed up. Even the Spider wasn’t immune from getting hurt. In several instances his eternal and loyal girlfriend Nita Van Sloan had to disguise herself as The Spider in order to save lives because The Spider was out of it.

For the record, Miss Van Sloan herself was not immune to danger. In issue #29 The Boss attempted to drop her in that massive vat of acid! She had a terrible knack for getting caught and being placed in danger. But Page balanced that out as The Spider occasionally needed rescuing as well. A mission Miss Van Sloan was more than willing to undertake.

What balances out the near-absurdity of the tales is Page’s way with the regular cast of characters. They are believable (for the time) and they are immensely loyal to each other. There is a real sense of comradeship as well as an often-stated near religious devotion to The Spider and his cause. Readers wanted to return to The Spider month after month not only for the stories, but to see people that they quickly grew familiar with.

Another gift of Page’s was his ability to create memorable villains. The Spider did kill a lot of them such as Red Feather, The Silencer and Judge Torture (great name!). But among the corpses he left, there were also some regular opponents who liked to show up every once in a while to test his mettle one more time

His battle with The Living Pharaoh lasted four straight issues. This is another aspect of pulp writing that Page excelled at. He could spread a convincing yarn over three or four issues and every word rang true to what made The Spider so interesting. He was extremely adept at bringing readers back for more.

In later decades these multi-issue arcs would help keep awareness of the character in the public eye as starting in the seventies, paperback editions of those multi-issue arcs were collected by various publishers. This helped bring old readers back into the fold and took new generations back to the originals.

Possibly the most identifiable thing about The Spider was the insignia he left on his victims. It looked like a Spider but also resembled a drop of red blood. Whenever he had to kill a criminal in the line of duty he left an imprint of his Spider insignia on the dead person’s forehead. It was important to The Spider that others not be blamed for his killings! This was his logic behind branding those he killed. The cops knew it was him who had done the killing and they were welcome to try and get him for it!

The insignia was hidden in the bottom of a cigarette lighter he constantly carried. The branding was a particularly gruesome touch that he seemed to relish. It didn’t matter if the police were one step away, The Spider made took time to make sure that anyone who had fallen from his weapons bore the insignia.

As a writer, the idea was a brilliant move as soon “Official Richard Wentworth Spider Rings” became all the rage among readers across the United States. And you can bet that Popular Publications was only too happy to supply those fans with quality rings at a small fee. This is cross-over marketing at its best before anyone knew exactly what to call it.

The character of The Spider himself was the creation of Henry “Harry” Steeger who worked at Popular Publications. The hero was created in order to be a competitor to Street and Smith Publications newest success, The Shadow. The first few issues were written by writer R.T.M. Scott. When he first appeared, The Spider wore a large hat and a black cape to conceal his identity.

Some historians speculate that in order to create the first version of The Spider, Scott looked back to work he had done earlier in his career. Some of The Spider’s key elements are similar to work Scott had done back in the middle nineteen-twenties on a character called “Secret Service Smith”.

It was Scott who laid the basic groundwork and cast for the series. Anchoring it all was a millionaire playboy; (of the variety so common at the time…!) named Richard Wentworth who took on the secret identity of The Spider in order to serve as a vigilante and deterrent against rising crime and the underworld.

A former Major in the Army, Wentworth was aided in his fight against crime he by a large Hindu named Ram Singh. His girlfriend was the beautiful and very intelligent Nita Van Sloan. Eventually that cast grew.

Unfortunately Scott’s first two issues were considered kind of dull by his publisher. So he was replaced by Page. As was the tradition at the time, all the stories were listed as having been written by one “Grant Stockbridge,” a fictitious pen-name supplied by the publisher.

Page quickly built the character up to something new. At first he altered the Spider’s appearance by making him appear to be a hunchback in public. He also added ugly false fangs that resembled crooked spider teeth and he also gave him a wig. This new combination helped create a frightening appearance for anyone who had to deal with him.

Page also changed the sidekick Ram Singh from a Hindu to a Sikh. He became a deadly knife-thrower who was armed at all times. In addition he now referred to The Spider (Wentworth) as “Master”. This changed the relationship slightly as Ram Singh began to think of himself as a willing servant to the greatness of Wentworth. In addition Singh picked up a lot of bulk and became a much more physically threatening menace to all who had to deal with him.

Other characters such as Police Commissioner Kirkpatrick continued. But under Page they each developed an extra sharpness to their portrayals that may not have been apparent earlier. “Kirk” as he came to be known always suspected that his good friend Wentworth was The Spider. Often the Commissioner came within inches of proving that Wentworth and the Spider were one and the same but he could never manage to nail down absolute proof.

Another major supporting character was Ronald Jackson who served under Wentworth in WWI. Now working as Wentworth’s chauffer, he called him “the Major” just as he had in their younger days. As other characters in the story line often did, Jackson would take a bullet or two defending his boss. More than once he hung in near death from a fierce fight or the devastation wrote by an errant criminal mind.

None of the characters were as beloved by fans (and Wentworth!) as was Nita Van Sloan. A socialite who had more than enough of her own money, she loved him for who he was. She and Wentworth make a classic thirties-era couple. This isn’t to say that the repartee is any where near The Thin Man, but it is clear the two had a communication level of their own. They respected each other’s space but still had a near telepathic ability to communicate. She knew when he was in danger and he she. There was a nobility I the way they dealt with each other and their concern for each other was real and on occasion, very tender.

A woman of almost unbelievable beauty and grace, Van Sloan knew why Wentworth couldn’t marry her. This commitment to remaining single was a fate that she accepted with a near stoic pragmatism. He was afraid that his enemies would learn his identity and hurt her (or any number of his other friends as well) to get to him so he could never marry her. Needless to say, this dreaded scenario would play out occasionally anyway. (Vat of acid anyone?)

Of the 118 published Spider stories, it was Page who wrote the most of them. Other authors, each of whom published under the pen name of Grant Stockbridge, include Prentice Winchell and Emile C. Tepperman who penned eleven issues, most of which saw publication in 1937. Tepperman is especially revered among pulp fans for his work on the brilliant Operator 5 multii-issue story line The Purple Invasion.

A script for a planned issue #119 was eventually discovered and in 1979 was published as a paperback. For legal reasons the characters were changed and the book went out under the title “Blue Steel”.

Over the years several companies have gathered the original Spider stories into different paperbacks. Given Page’s ability to sustain a story over multiple issue this is only natural. Moonstone Books has recently released a new anthology of Spider stories. They have also done quite well with adaptations of some of the older pulp stores as well as TP collections.

The most successful published series of reprints has been the Girasol “Pulp Doubles” title. Each issue contains two different original Spider stories. The books are printed in the manner of the original pulps as each page has two columns of story. The cover art for each is always reprinted as well. These are well-made and beautiful reprints that are worth any new fan’s time. They may be the ideal way to discover what made The Spider great

The Spider proved to be so popular a pulp character that he made the leap to the big screen not once, but twice. First up was The Spider’s Web in 1938. A sequel was released in 1941 titled The Spider Returns. In each film The Spider was played by veteran actor Warren Hull, a long forgotten actor who had some solid chops on the screen.

But the uneven quality of the serial’s direction and action may have slightly hid this fact. His presence in the Spider’s legend is well worth noting as, thanks to his success as The Spider, Hull went on to portray other classic radio and comic characters in movies as well.

Born in 1903, Hull started out as a singer. By the late twenties he had moved from the chorus to the front line and was appearing in a string of Broadway musicals. By the mid thirties he had been hired by Warner Brothers and after making a few musical shorts, he moved into regular pictures.

While he never really caught on as an “A” list star he still had a great career in the “B” line of pictures. In the first Spider picture, The Spider’s Web, he proved to be a triple threat as he handled The Spider, his secret identity as Richard Wentworth and also did a credible job as Blinky McQuade, the name The Spider used when he went underground and walked among criminals. Playing three distinct characters in the same film is not an easy feat for any actor.

The Spider serial was such a big hit that Hull ended up temporarily type-cast as he also played in screen adaptations of The Green Hornet Strikes Again and Mandrake the Magician. Eventually he moved into TV and also went into radio as a singer. In those early days of TV he was a respected game show host. Sadly, he passed away from Parkinson’s disease in 1974.

Serial fans consider Hull’s work to be above par in both serials. In both the 1938 original and the 1941 sequel the script stayed pretty close to the pulp series. Characters such as Nita Van Sloan and Police Commissioner Kirk (Kirkpatrick in the pulps) were true to their original characters. Unfortunately the director for both, James W Horne, is often singled out for adding unnecessary flourishes and crazy fight scenes that lowered the quality of the films, especially in the case of the sequel.

Hull is one of the few people to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the same industry. Both of his stars were given to him for his work in radio.

As with all pulps (and comic books as well) it was cover art that brought readers eyes to the issue. Much of the cover art was done by Rafael M. DeSoto. His work easily brought new readers to the series with every cover he drew. He could really pack a massive amount of action onto each cover he created. Often the covers would incorporate a web image as part of the overall look.

In comics the Spider had to wait a while for his first success. Timothy Truman updated him during the early nineties. Just last year Dynamite Entertainment announced a new Spider title.

Over the years Spider-related merchandising has been minimal. A while back a Spider ring was created for the collector market. It was a near duplicate of the original first offered all those years ago.

Perhaps the best looking article ever released in celebration of the Spider was a statue by Reel Art Studios. They did a Spider statue several years ago that has proved to be a highly collectible item. Sculpted by William Paquet it truly captures the best of The Spider as his head is lowered with both guns blazing. It even came with a version that included the fangs and wild wig!

Today The Spider is even more active than he was during his heyday in the thirties and early forties. Thanks to Radio Archives, Moonstone, Girasol, and Dynamite Entertainment. Every day someone new discovers the character. Not bad for a guy who is nearly eighty years old!