Norvell W. Page
Encyclopedia
Norvell Wordsworth Page (1904–1961) was an American pulp fiction writer, journalist and editor who later became a government intelligence worker. He is best known as the author of the majority of the adventures of the ruthless vigilante hero The Spider
, which he and a handful of other writers wrote under the house name
of Grant Stockbridge. He also contributed to other pulp series, including The Shadow
and The Phantom
, and supplied scripts for the radio programs based on the characters he wrote, science fiction
and two early sword and sorcery
fantasy
novels under forms of his real name, Norvel Page and Norvell W. Page. His 1940 Unknown
novel, But Without Horns is considered an early classic explication of the superman theme. Under the pen name of N. Wooten Poge, Page wrote the adventures of Bill Carter for Spicy Detective Stories. His works only saw magazine publication during his lifetime, but his fantasies and some of the Spider novels were later reprinted as paperbacks.
The Spider was a crime-fighter in the tradition of The Shadow
, wanted by the law for executing his criminal antagonists, and prefigured later comic book
superheroes like Batman
. Page's innovations to the series included a hideous disguise for the hero and a succession of super-scientific menaces for him to combat. One of these, involving an invasion of giant robots, was copied by an early Superman
story and helped inspire the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
.
The setting of Page's sword and sorcery novels is central Asia
in the first century A.D., when the legendary Prester John
supposedly established a Christian kingdom there. In Page's conception, the man behind the legend was hard-bitten Mediterranean adventurer Hurricane John, or Wan Tengri, a hero in the mold of Robert E. Howard
's Conan
, though more humorous, verbose, and exaggeratedly omnicompetent as a warrior. He comes close to taking over two cities in the course of his travels, but the series concludes before he establishes his empire.He was featured two stories Flame Winds and Sons of the Bear God. The magic John encounters is unconvincingly rationalized.
The Spider
The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
, which he and a handful of other writers wrote under the house name
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Grant Stockbridge. He also contributed to other pulp series, including The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
and The Phantom
The Phantom
The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many media, including television, film and video games, it stars a costumed crimefighter operating from the fictional African country Bengalla.The Phantom is...
, and supplied scripts for the radio programs based on the characters he wrote, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and two early sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novels under forms of his real name, Norvel Page and Norvell W. Page. His 1940 Unknown
Unknown (magazine)
Unknown was an American pulp fantasy fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1943 by Street & Smith, and edited by John W. Campbell. Unknown was a companion to Street & Smith's science fiction pulp, Astounding Science Fiction, which was also edited by Campbell at the time; many authors and...
novel, But Without Horns is considered an early classic explication of the superman theme. Under the pen name of N. Wooten Poge, Page wrote the adventures of Bill Carter for Spicy Detective Stories. His works only saw magazine publication during his lifetime, but his fantasies and some of the Spider novels were later reprinted as paperbacks.
The Spider was a crime-fighter in the tradition of The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
, wanted by the law for executing his criminal antagonists, and prefigured later comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
superheroes like Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
. Page's innovations to the series included a hideous disguise for the hero and a succession of super-scientific menaces for him to combat. One of these, involving an invasion of giant robots, was copied by an early Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
story and helped inspire the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a 2004 American pulp adventure science-fiction film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut. The film is set in an alternative 1939 and follows the adventures of Polly Perkins , a newspaper reporter, and Harry Joseph "Joe" Sullivan ,...
.
The setting of Page's sword and sorcery novels is central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
in the first century A.D., when the legendary Prester John
Prester John
The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval...
supposedly established a Christian kingdom there. In Page's conception, the man behind the legend was hard-bitten Mediterranean adventurer Hurricane John, or Wan Tengri, a hero in the mold of Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
's Conan
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
, though more humorous, verbose, and exaggeratedly omnicompetent as a warrior. He comes close to taking over two cities in the course of his travels, but the series concludes before he establishes his empire.He was featured two stories Flame Winds and Sons of the Bear God. The magic John encounters is unconvincingly rationalized.
The Spider
(as Grant Stockbridge)- Wings of the Black Death (The Spider v. 1, no. 3, Dec. 1933)
- City of Flaming Shadows (The Spider v. 1, no. 4, Jan. 1934)
- Empire of Doom (The Spider v. 2, no. 1, Feb. 1934)
- The Citadel of Hell (The Spider v. 2, no. 2, Mar. 1934)
- Serpent of Destruction (The Spider v. 2, no. 3, Apr. 1934)
- The Mad Horde (The Spider v. 2, no. 4, May 1934)
- Satan's Death Blast (The Spider v. 3, no. 1, Jun. 1934)
- The Corpse Cargo (The Spider v. 3, no. 2, Jul. 1934)
- Prince of the Red Looters (The Spider v. 3, no. 3, Aug. 1934)
- Reign of the Silver Terror (The Spider v. 3, no. 4, Sep. 1934)
- Builders of the Black Empire (The Spider v. 4, no. 1, Oct. 1934)
- Death's Crimson Juggernaut (The Spider v. 4, no. 2, Nov. 1934)
- The Red Death Rain (The Spider v. 4, no. 3, Dec. 1934)
- The City Destroyer (The Spider v. 4, no. 4, Jan. 1935)
- The Pain Emperor (The Spider v. 5, no. 1, Feb. 1935)
- The Flame Master (The Spider v. 5, no. 2, Mar. 1935)
- Slaves of the Crime Master (The Spider v. 5, no. 3, Apr. 1935)
- Reign of the Death Fiddler (The Spider v. 5, no. 4, May. 1935)
- Hordes of the Red Butcher (The Spider v. 6, no. 1, Jun. 1935)
- Dragon Lord of the Underworld (The Spider v. 6, no. 2, Jul. 1935)
- Master of the Death Madness (The Spider v. 6, no. 3, Aug. 1935)
- King of the Red Killers (The Spider v. 6, no. 4, Sep. 1935)
- Overlord of the Damned (The Spider v. 7, no. 1, Oct. 1935)
- Death Reign of the Vampire King (The Spider v. 7, no. 2, Nov. 1935; reprinted in The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham (Baen Books, June 2007))
- Emperor of the Yellow Death (The Spider v. 7, no. 3, Dec. 1935)
- The Mayor Of Hell (The Spider v. 7, no. 4, Jan. 1936)
- Slaves of the Murder Syndicate (The Spider v. 8, no. 1, Feb. 1936)
- Green Globes of Death (The Spider v. 8, no. 2, Mar. 1936)
- The Cholera King"' (The Spider v. 8, no. 3, Apr. 1936)
- Slaves of the Dragon (The Spider v. 8, no. 4, May. 1936)
- Legions of Madness (The Spider v. 9, no. 1, Jun. 1936)
- Laboratory of the Damned (The Spider v. 9, no. 2, Jul. 1936)
- Satan's Sightless Legions (The Spider v. 9, no. 3, Aug. 1936)
- The Coming of The Terror (The Spider v. 9, no. 4, Sep. 1936)
- The Devil's Death Dwarfs (The Spider v. 10, no. 1, Oct. 1936)
- The Man Who Ruled in Hell (The Spider v. 12, no. 2, Jul. 1937)
- Machine Guns Over the White House (The Spider v. 12, no. 4, Sep. 1937)
- Master of the Flaming Horde (The Spider v. 13, no. 2, Nov. 1937)
- Legions of the Accursed (The Spider v. 13, no. 4, Jan. 1938)
- The Grey Horde Creeps (The Spider v. 14, no. 2, Mar. 1938)
- City of Whispering Death (The Spider v. 14, no. 3, Apr. 1938)
- The Emperor From Hell (The Spider v. 15, no. 2, Jul. 1938)
- The City That Paid to Die (The Spider v. 15, no. 4, Sep. 1938)
- The Spider At Bay (The Spider v. 16, no. 1, Oct. 1938)
- Scourge of the Black Legions (The Spider v. 16, no. 2, Nov. 1938)
- Claws of the Golden Dragon (The Spider v. 16, no. 4, Jan. 1939)
- The Silver Death Rain (The Spider v. 17, no. 2, Mar. 1939)
- King of the Fleshless Legions (The Spider v. 17, no. 4, May. 1939)
- Rule of the Monster Men (The Spider v. 18, no. 1, Jun. 1939)
- The Spider and the Slaves of Hell (The Spider v. 18, no. 2, Jul. 1939)
- The Spider and the Fire God (The Spider v. 18, no. 3, Aug. 1939)
- The Spider and the Eyeless Legions (The Spider v. 19, no. 1, Oct. 1939)
- The Spider and the Faceless One (The Spider v. 19, no. 2, Nov. 1939)
- Satan's Murder Machines (The Spider v. 19, no. 3, Dec. 1939; reprinted in The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham (Baen Books, June 2007))
- Hell's Sales Manager (The Spider v. 20, no. 1, Feb. 1940)
- Slaves of the Laughing Death (The Spider v. 20, no. 2, Mar. 1940)
- The Spider and the War Emperor (The Spider v. 20, no. 4, May. 1940)
- Judgment of the Damned (The Spider v. 21, no. 1, Jun. 1940)
- Pirates From Hell (The Spider v. 21, no. 3, Aug. 1940)
- The Council of Evil (The Spider v. 22, no. 1, Oct. 1940)
- The Spider and His Hobo Army (The Spider v. 22, no. 2, Nov. 1940)
- The Spider and the Jewels of Hell (The Spider v. 22, no. 3, Dec. 1940)
- Harbour of the Nameless Dead (The Spider v. 22, no. 4, Jan. 1941)
- The Spider and the Slave Doctor (The Spider v. 23, no. 1, Feb. 1941)
- The Spider and the Sons of Satan (The Spider v. 23, no. 2, Mar. 1941)
- Slaves of the Burning Blade (The Spider v. 23, no. 3, Apr. 1941)
- The Devil's Paymaster (The Spider v. 23, no. 4, May. 1941)
- The Benevolent Order of Death (The Spider v. 24, no. 1, Jun. 1941)
- Murder's Black Prince (The Spider v. 24, no. 2, Jul. 1941)
- The Spider and the Scarlet (The Spider v. 24, no. 3, Aug. 1941)
- The Spider and the Deathless One (The Spider v. 24, no. 4, Sep. 1941)
- Satan's Seven Swordsmen (The Spider v. 25, no. 1, Oct. 1941)
- Volunteer Corpse Brigade (The Spider v. 25, no. 2, Nov. 1941)
- The Crime Laboratory (The Spider v. 25, no. 3, Dec. 1941)
- Death and the Spider (The Spider v. 25, no. 4, Jan. 1942)
- Murder's Legionnaires (The Spider v. 26, no. 1, Feb. 1942)
- The Gentleman From Hell (The Spider v. 26, no. 2, Mar. 1942)
- Slaves of the Ring (The Spider v. 26, no. 3, Apr. 1942)
- The Spider and the Death Piper (The Spider v. 26, no. 4, May 1942)
- Revolt of the Underworld (The Spider v. 27, no. 1, Jun. 1942)
- Return of the Racket Kings (The Spider v. 27, no. 2, Jul. 1942)
- Pangs of the Dragon (The Spider v. 27, no. 3, Aug. 1942)
- Hell Rolls on the Highway (The Spider v. 27, no. 4, Sep. 1942)
- Army of the Damned (The Spider v. 28, no. 1, Oct. 1942)
- Zara: Master of Murder (The Spider v. 28, no. 2, Nov. 1942)
- The Spider and the Flame King (The Spider v. 28, no. 3, Dec. 1942)
- The Howling Death (The Spider v. 28, no. 4, Jan. 1943)
- Secret City of Crime (The Spider v. 29, no. 1, Feb. 1943)
- Recruit for the Spider Legion (The Spider v. 29, no. 2, Mar. 1943)
- The Spider and the Man From Hell (The Spider v. 29, no. 3, Jun. 1943)
- The Criminal Horde (The Spider v. 29, no. 4, Aug. 1943)
- The Spider and Hell's Factory (The Spider v. 30, no. 1, Oct. 1943)
Hurricane John (Wan Tengri)
- Flame Winds (Unknown, June 1939; paperback Berkley 1969)
- Sons of the Bear God (Unknown, Nov. 1939; paperback Berkley 1969)
Other
- "But Without Horns" (Unknown, June 1940; reprinted in Five Science Fiction NovelsFive Science Fiction NovelsFive Science Fiction Novels is a 1952 anthology of five science fiction novellas edited by Martin Greenberg. The stories originally appeared in the magazines Unknown and Astounding.-Contents:* But Without Horns, by Norvell W. Page...
, edited by Martin GreenbergMartin GreenbergMartin Greenberg is an American book publisher and editor of science fiction anthologies.-Biography:Greenberg married in 1941. He was in the U.S...
(1952) and The Crucible of Power, edited by Martin GreenbergMartin GreenbergMartin Greenberg is an American book publisher and editor of science fiction anthologies.-Biography:Greenberg married in 1941. He was in the U.S...
(1953))
- City of Corpses:The Collected Weird Mysteries of Ken Carter. (Mystery StoriesMystery fictionMystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
). Black Dog BooksBlack Dog Books (US)Black Dog Books located in Normal, Illinois, is one of the finest independent press operations in North America. Founded by publisher Tom Roberts to keep an outlet for adventure fiction alive, they have expanded to publish fiction in the adventure, mystery, science fiction, and horror genres.-...
, 2009. - Trail of the Snake. (WesternsWestern fictionWestern fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 1900s and Louis L'Amour from the mid 20th century...
). Black Dog Books, 2011.