Wings of the Black Death
The Spider 3
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Wings of the Black Death
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Narrated by:
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Roger Rittner
About this listen
Some writers fall into clover, but Norvell W. Page backed into a spider web that captured him for ten exciting years. Back in the difficult year of 1933, Page was working as a newspaperman and writing for the pulp magazines, when fellow pulpster mentioned that he was stuck. He had promised to deliver a horror novelette to the editor of Dime Mystery Magazine, but the deadline was too tight. So Page decided give it a shot himself.
Page's timing was perfect. He not only scored the cover of that issue of Dime Mystery, but this was his first sale to Popular Publications, who had just launched The Spider, written by R. T. M. Scott. After two issues, Scott was moving on and editor Rogers Terrill desperately needed a replacement. Page was fast, wrote vividly, and made difficult deadlines. The job was offered to Page. His background as a crime reporter didn't hurt his resume either.
The December, 1933 issue of The Spider ushered in the era of Grant Stockbridge with the thrilling Spider exploit, Wings of the Black Death. Stockbridge was the byline Popular attached to The Spider to avoid the kind of problem caused by the loss of R. T. M. Scott. With his first white-heat story, Norvell Page owned both that byline and the series. No doubt, he saved it from oblivion. In a few short months, Page remade Richard Wentworth alias the Spider into a messianic avenger unlike anything pulp readers ever read before. Driven, deadly, the Spider was a daredevil caught between the law that branded him as a criminal and the underworld he terrorized with his metallic laugh and searing lead.
RadioArchives.com is proud to present Norvell Page's debut Spider exploit - a desperate struggle against overwhelming odds to save Manhattan from being overwhelmed by a man-made Plague - as narrated by Nick Santa Maria, with Robin Riker as Nita Van Sloan. Produced by Roger Rittner with full period music score and sound effects.
©1961 Popular Publications, Inc., Assigned to Argosy Communications, Inc. (P)2014 RadioArchives.comWhat listeners say about Wings of the Black Death
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 09-09-23
The first Spider story by Norvell Page
I've been intrigued by the Spider stories for a while, but it was hearing the Audible sample of The Mayor of Hell (#28) narrated by Nick Santa Maria that made me take the plunge and I've now listened to about a half dozen of them, completely out of order.
This is the first of the Spider stories to be written by Norvell Page (under the house name "Grant Stockbridge") and right from the get-go he takes the character and adds his personal stamp, ratcheting up the action and keeping a breakneck pace throughout. The Spider is now an alternate identity of Richard Wentworth, complete with mask and disguise, rather than just a convenient excuse for Wentworth to kill criminals and get away with it.
It also has a death count in the thousands (common for Page's Spider stories) as a psychopathic blackmailer threatens the rich and powerful and the public at large with the bubonic plague, that he spreads through animals. Wentworth is hampered by the police as usual, but with the added complication of this new foe killing cops and leaving an imitation of Wentworth's own Spider seal on the bodies to frame him. The public soon turn against the Spider, with many believing him to be the blackmailer himself.
Nick Santa Maria gives an incredible performance as narrator as usual. This is the first (and possibly only) Spider story to have additional sound effects and music accompanying the action. I honestly found it a bit of a distraction and generally wasn't a fan (a night scene accompanied by the sound of crickets definitely worsened the experience for me). That said, there was one section where Wentworth starts playing his violin with a steadily maddening intensity that is accompanied by actual feverish violin music that I thought was really well done and a good addition.
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