Monster of the Day #3448

Updated on August 8, 2023 By Ken Begg 8 Comments

The Spider was a more homicidal The Shadow knock-off. It tended to feature a typical mix of madmen, gangsters, yellow perils and the like, which a fairly small number of more fantastic foes. However, there’s always metaphors, and as we know, few things sell as well as cover art featuring skeletons.

I like to think the heroine on this cover is running from both these nutjobs.

Thanks to everyone sending me their watch party emails! See you Friday.

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  • Beckoning Chasm

    That skeleton is ripping her clothes off, so that’s a good reason to run. Stan Lee said that The Spider was an inspiration for Spider-Man, as he really liked the slogan “The Spider – Master of Men.”

    BTW, the skeleton is wearing the “One-Wolf” t-shirt.

  • Gamera977

    I think the skelly is her husband- ‘Sweetheart, please just make me a sandwich- I’m hungry as a wolf!!!’

  • Rock Baker

    I actually got to draw a Spider story for a comic book that tried to recreate 40’s comics. I can’t remember the title of the book, though. It was a while back and I’d contributed to several projects at the time. But for the book I provided the pencils for a Spider episode and a Magno story. The feather in my cap was that I also got to do the cover art pencils.

  • Eric Hinkle

    If I remember right that woman is the Spider’s girlfriend Nita van Sloan. She could be pretty brutal herself when her beloved Richard Wentworth AKA The Spider (Master of Men!) was threatened. At least once she had a murderer tortured to clear his name and save him from the death house.

    Really though the Spider stories were absolutely insane. People get slaughtered by the thousands by the villain of the month in every issue. Cities are leveled. Anarchy and madness stalk the land. And then the Spider vaults into action with his blazing .45s and sends the villains off to their well-deserved ends.

    I still find it amusing that one big fan of the Spider series was Charles Schulz of Peanuts fame. Try and imagine one of the Spider’s demented escapades as illustrated by Sparky.

    Oh, and if anyone wants to find out what they’ve been missing, the whole series of 110 novels is being reprinted by Steeger Books, available through their website and Amazon among others.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Oh, and if anyone wants to know the plot of the above novel, here’s a review:

    Wentworth is in a small city in Ohio. Wentworth seeks a man who purchases 5,000 dogs! A horrible threat has been released in American towns.
    Hydrophobia! The disease is spread by an army of animals: rabid dogs,
    cats, mice, rats, and even bats! Anyone infected by this deadly strain
    becomes a raving madman who only serves to spread the contagion further.

    The hidden power behind this plague is rightly termed the Horde Master.
    Laboratories that produce medicine to fight rabies are blown to bits.
    What could anyone possibly gain through this madness!

    This story is the Spider meets a horror movie. The action is non-stop, and the fear and horror are almost tangible. I did wonder what the Horde Master
    planned to do to stop the madness after he obtained his goal. After all,
    each new victim would only produce more victims. It is useless to
    extort money unless you are going to be able to spend it… Just saying…

  • Ken_Begg

    That’s pretty fun. If any superhero is a “master of men”, it’s not Peter Parker.

  • Ken_Begg

    Sweet!

  • Beckoning Chasm

    Reminds me a of a story “Satan’s Incubator” by Randolph Craig, about another crime fighter, Dr. Skull. I read it some time ago in a huge “Weird Tales” anthology. It’s also filled with murders and has some guy who can turn ordinary people homicidal (I forget how). Very pulpy and frequently gruesome.