This is a heady collection of Spider tales from Moonstone. The Spider Chronicles kicks off with an introduction from Denny O'Neil and features fantastic illustrations from Tom Floyd throughout. Doug Kaluba's cover is a powerful introduction to the proceedings. As with any anthology, the quality of the stories vary, but most of all of them successfully tap into that Spider magic in some ghastly way.
"City of the Melting Dead" by Martin Powell is a heady tale by one of my favorite writers which pits the Spider against a malevolent foe dubbed "The Crucible" who has a deadly and horrific formula that melts human flesh. This murderous enemy is put down in the most distinctive of ways.
"King of the City" by C.J. Henderson shows how the Spider is able to use the forces of gangland against each other in their mad scramble of greed and avarice. The true king of the city is revealed by the story's bloody finale.
"Death from a Blood Red Sky" by Elizabeth Massie features death from above as a murderous woman uses an autogyro to wreak havoc and murder from the safety of the skies. Her killing method is singluar and savage. Her rampage is put down by the Spider with great cost to himself.
"Death Reign of the Zombie Queen" by Howard Hopkins has Nita fall victim to the powers of a deadly woman seeking power and revenge on men for the crimes committed against her. She has created deadly cannibalistic zombies to support her deadly play for power.
"March of the Murder Mummy" by Will Murray is a wild story which delivers on the title. We have a murderous mummy who seems to have an insatiable lust for gold. The Spider is taxed to the limit to bring down this seemingly ancient menace that can shrivel men in its grasp.
"Regrets Only " by Chuck Dixon is a story focused on Nita Van Sloan. She is in attendance at a dinner party which turns into a potential massacre when brutal thieves and murderers overwhelm the city's elite. The Spider is seemingly occupied with another crime and Nita fears she is all alone.
"The Marching Madmen" by Bill Crider is a wild story about an insane mob which in defiance of death and seemingly impervious to pain attack a collection of the city's most important folks. The Spider is at a loss how to deal with this threat, even to the point of seeming to lead the maddened mob at one point.
"Fear Itself" by Joel Friedman and C.J. Henderson sets the Spider against the most ancient threat of Set and of Monks older than time. Also on hand are deadly giant reptilian beasts all too ready to rend people apart for food. These monsters are under the thrall of the Serpent Men. The Spider needs magical help to solve this case.
"Blazing Barrels at the Reich House" by James Anthony Kuhoric is set just as WWII is coming to an end, but while the Third Reich might seem to have fallen, a mysterious zeppelin delivers deadly Nazi agents with jet packs to a Washington party at which the President is scheduled to appear. The Spider is all that stands between the President and death, and I haven't even mentioned the odd leader of the pack.
"Senor Suicide" by Steve Englehart is a bizarre tale which begins when the Spider shoots himself in the face. We learn that the whole of the city is consumed by the rays of a device which creates emotions, especially those leading to deadly behaviors. People commit suicide by the thousands and even airplanes fall from the sky. It's all the Spider can do to save himself let alone his fellow citizens.
"Wheelman for Terror" by Shannon Eric Denton and John Helfers is an unusual Spider story told from the perspective of a simple thug named Len who just wants to make his way in the mob. He's diligent if decidedly uncaring about his fellow man, but he makes a name for himself when he seemingly kills the Spider. While he feels he's at last a success, his fame carries a cost.
"More Souls for Hell" by C.J. Henderson puts the spotlight on Ram Singh when he finds himself all alone having to defend the Wentworth Estate from a gang of thieves decked out in black. With blades only he cuts a lusty and savage swatch through the interlopers and so ends his boredom at having to stay behind when The Spider was elsewhere.
"Caught in the Crossfire" by Ann Nocenti finds Wentworth and Nita in the Bahamas aboard a gambling boat which finds itself accosted by classic gangsters and real-world pirates led by a fascinating creature called "The Red Slash". It's bloody mayhem as a Monopoly game becomes a real contest between deadly agents from several quarters. This one really gets inside the mind of The Spider.
"The Invisible Gang" by Ron Fortier features a malignant female Fagan who uses her youthful charges to carry out murderous robberies of gangsters setting off a bloody gang war. The Spider is busy dealing with the bloody consequences and has little time to find out the true nature of this invisible menace.
"The Devil's Druggist" by Robert Weinberg focuses on a horrifying mystery of poisonous aspirin which seems to find its way into all brands. The real secret of how the poison is being delivered sets up a wild finale which pits the Spider against some exotic and quite deadly enemies.
"The Mad Gasser of Mantoon" by Joe Gentile tells the tale of a small town which suffers from a madman who silently sneaks around and silently pumps a weird gas into the homes of various citizens. The connection between victims is hard to fathom and the motive for the crime maybe even more complex. And then there's the problem with the FBI men who seem to want to frustrate the investigation.
"The Calling of The Spider" by Mort Castle is a story from the early days of the Spider in which Dick Wentworth might have had less lethal aspirations for his crusade against crime. In a story set among the music industry as well as a deadly drug culture, this story perhaps explains why The Spider deals out justice with such ferocious intensity.
"The Spider and the Monster Makers" by Christopher Mills is the story of a madman who infects young women with a horrific disfiguring disease and uses that threat to blackmail the rich and well-to-do of the city. The true secret of the villain known only as "Proteus" is even more horrific than we at first are led to believe.
"Banquets for the Damned" by John Jakes wraps up the collection as Jakes pays homage to his favorite pulp hero with a story set in Hell's Kitchen, and never has that name been more accurate. A wave of madness and murder sweeps through the city when a foreign chef sets up shop in town. His ultimate motives are sadly even more of the times.
These are pretty dang good stories overall. The beauty of a collection like this is that if a certain story isn't really thrilling you, there's the pleasure of knowing a new one is just a few pages away. The sad part is that when a tale is really potent, you know it will wrap more quickly than you might prefer. Moonstone published a lot of these kinds of collections and this one is the best one I've read so far.
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