The Spider series MEGATHREAD!

So Dynamite gets The Spider.
Great. I love the Spider.

Then I see the picture.

WHY! Why would you use the HORRIBLE costume from the serials?
Why not use the actual pulp costume. The ones described in the actual source material? This webs costume makes him look like he escaped from Spider-Island over at Marvel.

[Guest]

I'm kind of pleased to see this come to Dynamite, but (not to put a damper on things) I would prefer it if they gave a bit more consideration to the ones they already have.

That may not be true of all titles; I don't buy the Warlord of Mars stuff or Vampirella (yet, anyway) and they still seem to get a fair bit of "push". But the books that drew me in in the first place (PSP, Hornet) feel like afterthoughts.

Of course the company has to continue to grow, but my experience with the other books takes away my enthusiasm for the new ones. How long until Spider is shuffled aside for the next flavour of the month?

[Paul Nolan]

Personally, I Love the costume design.... I'll definitely give the book a look.

[Ralok]

So Dynamite gets The Spider.
Great. I love the Spider.

Then I see the picture.

WHY! Why would you use the HORRIBLE costume from the serials?
Why not use the actual pulp costume. The ones described in the actual source material? This webs costume makes him look like he escaped from Spider-Island over at Marvel.

BUT, they used a costume from the established material

Instead of completely abandoning any and all ideas from the original like alot of people do when adapting

[Bjarne]

So Dynamite gets The Spider.
Great. I love the Spider.

Then I see the picture.

WHY! Why would you use the HORRIBLE costume from the serials?
Why not use the actual pulp costume. The ones described in the actual source material? This webs costume makes him look like he escaped from Spider-Island over at Marvel.

Maybe the powers that be at DE thought the original costume made him look too much like the Shadow??

[comixfan1980]

http://geek-news.mtv.com/2011/08/18/...er-comic-book/

I'm loving the design on The Spider, I'm really looking forward to reading this!

Dynamite has a knack with getting me to fall in love with characters I've NEVER cared about previously (Phantom, Green Hornet, Vampirella) and this book seems like it could do the same. I'll be keeping an eye out for it when it hits.....

[Renaud]

So Dynamite gets The Spider.
Great. I love the Spider.

Then I see the picture.

WHY! Why would you use the HORRIBLE costume from the serials?
Why not use the actual pulp costume. The ones described in the actual source material? This webs costume makes him look like he escaped from Spider-Island over at Marvel.

This design don't work for me, I'll just treasure my rare copy of The Spider Chronicles from moonstone and their excellent other work with The Spider, along with the original Pulp reprints in Douple Pulp format

The classic look from Pulp Magazines, was always the best, and the movie serials from the 1940 was not really truly respecting the original Pulp character, like many other movie serials of that time (It's a curiosity but nothing more, and nothing to base new work on), with underpaid creators from the 1930's having little to nothing to say about the movies from those days.

[Renaud]

Maybe we'll need an other good classic one a la Green Hornet Year One by Matt Wagner

Someone would certainly have fun exploring the origin of this character, classic style

[Ralok]

having now seen the original pulp designs for "the spider" I can honestly say, I prefer the serial design

the pulp design . . . . looks exactly like a dozen other pulp heroes of the pulp era

the serial design might not be magnificient, but its soemthing

[comixfan1980]

having now seen the original pulp designs for "the spider" I can honestly say, I prefer the serial design

the pulp design . . . . looks exactly like a dozen other pulp heroes of the pulp era

the serial design might not be magnificient, but its soemthing

Quoted for truth.

[Ralok]

Quoted for truth.

and like I said before, dynamite could have completely tossed any spider designs and made their own from scratch

NO!!!!!!!!!!

They wouldnt have ANY OF THAT, because they knew there was more to the spider than the pulp series it came from.

They decided to homage derivative works aswell!!!!!!!

Because like it or not, it was part of what the spider brought into the world as part of itself.

[positronic]

Look, here's the thing, guys.

Dynamite just acquired rights to both THE SHADOW and THE SPIDER. Now, if you look at the old pulp cover paintings, these guys could practically be twins. They both wear black suits, hats and capes, and both carry twin .45 automatics. The major difference is that The Spider wears a small domino mask, while The Shadow keeps his mouth covered by a red scarf (or part of his cape).

The reason being that The Spider was created by a rival publisher to directly compete with The Shadow, and they went so far as to make him look as close to The Shadow as they could get (without being sued) on the covers.

On the other hand, as described in the novels themselves, Richard Wentworth used makeup, fake fangs, a white fright wig and a false hump to create the fear-inspiring image of the ugly, hunchbacked Spider. The whole "ugly hero" thing just doesn't play well on covers (and in comics), which is why original publisher Popular Publications didn't use that image (with the exception of about 7 covers).

Now, with Dynamite publishing both characters, it makes perfect sense for them to want to differentiate them as much as possible. Therefore, Dynamite chose to update The Spider to modern times, and use a costume inspired by the old movie serial, while keeping the look of The Shadow (whose image is well-established in comics, going back to the DC comics series by Mike Kaluta in the early 1970s) traditional. Also, The Spider is still being published by Moonstone Books, where they are using the traditional domino mask along with the wig (black this time) and fangs -- no hunchback.

[positronic]

This design don't work for me, I'll just treasure my rare copy of The Spider Chronicles from moonstone

Rare? I doubt it. I just ordered a copy from Moonstone last week.

The classic look from Pulp Magazines, was always the best, and the movie serials from the 1940 was not really truly respecting the original Pulp character, like many other movie serials of that time (It's a curiosity but nothing more, and nothing to base new work on), with underpaid creators from the 1930's having little to nothing to say about the movies from those days.

But Dynamite also based the look of GREEN HORNET YEAR ONE on the costume from the movie serials, and yet you don't seem to have a problem with that.

Actually, the two Spider serials were some of the better adaptations ever made in movie serials, speaking as someone who has actually seen them. A better serial adaptation than The Shadow, which was made a couple of years later. The Spider's Web, the first serial from 1938, was ranked by The Serial Squadron [http://www.serialsquadron.com/] 10th best out of 266 sound serials.

[Renaud]

Rare? I doubt it. I just ordered a copy from Moonstone last week.

But Dynamite also based the look of GREEN HORNET YEAR ONE on the costume from the movie serials, and yet you don't seem to have a problem with that.

Actually, the two Spider serials were some of the better adaptations ever made in movie serials, speaking as someone who has actually seen them. A better serial adaptation than The Shadow, which was made a couple of years later. The Spider's Web, the first serial from 1938, was ranked by The Serial Squadron [http://www.serialsquadron.com/] 10th best out of 266 sound serials.

The look of year one was based on the golden age comic book and to a certain extend on the serial not that far appart









Not as much differences for Green Hornet, as the golden age comics to the movie serial keeps the hornet logo on the mouth, and the TV version more or less keeps only the top part

But between the 2 Spider versions is a world of differences, and the serial is much less appealing. But it don't bother me that much because between Moonstone and the classic reprints, I was spoiled. Everyone is free to do as they please, and If Dynamite wants my money on this character, classic is certainly the way I take my Spider

Back to the Green Hornet, on earing of the unwanted Smith version, I personally suggested a more classic approach which we all got to appreciate as Green Hornet Year One hit the press; and I think The Spider Year One with the same approach would be an other great one. And maybe later one we could finally have a Pulp Team-up event

http://heroescomics.9f.com/pulp_heroes.htm

An event worthy of the great classic heroes.

PS: The Green Lama could cross from Project Superpowers to Pulp Classic Heroes Gathering

The Shadow / The Spider(classic design) / The Avenger (double pulp reprint, most read, great origin) / Green Lama

and more.

PULP YEAR ONE :-)

[Renaud]

The Spider Judgment Knight, I like :-)