The Spider: Dictator of the Damned / The Mill-Town Massacres (Master of…

This is an omnibus edition -- the second of Carroll & Graf's eight reprint editions from 1992 -- collecting two unconnected Spider novels: "Dictator of the Damned" (originally published in January 1937) and "The Mill-Town Massacres" (originally published in February 1937). Oddly, the cover art is from a third Spider novel ("Dictator's Death Merchants").

"Dictator of the Damned" concerns a criminal mastermind who has been assassinating every newly appointed Commissioner of Police for New York City. The plot involves multiple frame-jobs: a common trope of Spider novels seems to involve framing either the Spider or an innocent person who the Spider then has to protect for a crime that the evil mastermind has committed. Inevitably, the Spider is then hunted by the police force. There's an amusing scene where the Spider's sometime ally, Kirkpatrick, has been framed and sent to a mental asylum where he is about to be subjected to hideous torments. The plot turns out to have been perpetrated by a Russian count who had plastic surgery to disguise his appearance; he planned to place an ally in the commissioner's office to provide the criminal ring free reign in the city. A relatively forgettable Spider adventure, but not bad.

"The Mill-Town Massacres" takes place outside the city in a mil town where otherwise solid steel mill workers unexpectedly start killing people randomly in an "epidemic of murder madness." (As it turns out, hypnotism is the cause.) The town is cordoned off by the army and police (who otherwise don't do anything to solve the problem, oddly enough). Fortunately, the Spider sneaks into town. The Spider raises an army of mill workers who combat the criminals who have infiltrated town. Many, many people are gunned down with tommyguns and the like. There are a couple good scenes involving tugboats and gun battles as well. As is often the case, the scheme has been dreamed up by a cabal of evil industrialists who plan to make a lot of money by sending their competitors' stock prices into the toilet (perhaps we need the Spider again in 2009?). Of the two, this was the better story.

As with the first Spider omnibus, I heartily recommend this collection. Fun, fast, action-packed.

Review copyright 2009 J. Andrew Byers ( )