This is an omnibus edition -- the first of Carroll & Graf's eight reprint editions from 1992 -- containing two unconnected Spider novels. It was my first exposure to the Spider; while I've read a fair amount of other pulp novels from the same era (e.g., Doc Savage, The Avenger, The Shadow), I had not read any of the Spider's adventures prior to this book. The cover art is from one of the Spider novels included here ("The Painmaster").

The first novel is "Secret City of Crime," originally published in February 1943. I was concerned when I first started reading the book because it begins somewhat in media res and I was unfamiliar with the Spider and his allies (the fiance of his alter ego -- a kind of proto-Bruce Wayne -- and a Sikh bruiser). The dialogue also started off relatively stilted. Both the dialogue and the plot got better fairly rapidly. A criminal has set up a secret facility where other criminals are trained to perfection and then used to carry out extremely well-disciplined and coordinated crimes. He's a nasty guy; they almost succeed in pulling off a subway train collision as a mere decoy operation! The Spider stops that with an excellent gun battle in the subway tunnels. Eventually the Spider locates the eponymous "secret city" and matches wits against the main criminal while breaking into his base. Oh yes, and the police commissioner is a friend of the Spider's alter ego -- and suspects him of being the Spider -- but can't prove it. He's still willing to bring his friend to justice if he's guilty, so the Spider must constantly be on guard against the police as well as the criminals. Imagine if Batman had to contend with Gotham PD as well as his foes.

The second novel is "The Painmaster," originally published in January 1940. Normally respectable citizens begin committing horrible crimes -- thefts, murders, etc. -- for no apparent reason. As it turns out, a villain who calls himself "Red Feather" (he's not a Native American, his calling card is a feather dipped in blood) has been blackmailing them by kidnapping their loved ones and threatening to torture and murder them if his instructions aren't followed. An insidious plot that seems pretty hard to solve. Red Feather also has his own criminal henchmen who wield flamethrowers. And they aren't afraid to use them. The Spider gets into several gunfights with Red Feather's men and RF and co. manage to burn to death and torture several victims (including the heartbreaking murder of a newspaperboy and his sister). For the early '40s, I have to imagine that this was really edgy stuff. Eventually, the Spider figures out where RF's headquarters is and manages to infiltrate before his fiance is tortured to death.

I heartily recommend this omnibus, despite my initial reservations. The Spider is an excellent, exciting pulp hero, surprisingly brutal in his methods and facing truly despicable foes. The Spider is very willing to kill, as are his opponents. This was a really fun read.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers ( )