The Spider is a pulp magazine, that appeared in 1930's and 1940's,
Created by Henry "Harry" Steeger as competition to Street and Smith Publications' The Shadow, and at first written by R.T.M. Scott. Several years earlier Scott had written seven fast paced books from 1923-1947 about a character named Secret Service Smith who was probably the role model for the character of The Spider. Under Scott, The Spider began as a mysterious, but uncostumed, avenger who operated after the fashion of a secret agent. After two issues, the series was handed over to Norvell Page, who wrote under the house pen name Grant Stockbridge. Page's changes included making Ram Singh a burly, bombastic Sikh, and giving The Spider a 'public' persona: a disguise that made Wentworth look like a cloaked, slouch-hatted and hunchbacked 'monster' with a fright wig, hooked nose, bushy brows and fanged teeth. This disguise may have been copied from a 1921 Harold Lloyd film, Dr Jack where Lloyd dressed up in 'exactly the same disguise' as The Spider later wore. Wentworth was aided by his fiancé, Nita Van Sloan who was anything but a shrinking violet. She featured in his deadliest adventures, sometimes fighting side by side with The Spider and even impersonating him when he was out of action (First in "Master of the Death-Madness", August 1935). His Sikh (originally Hindu) manservant Ram Singh was a deadly knife thrower. Though Ram Singh referred to Wentworth as "the Master", he is not an employee but happily serving someone who was the greatest warrior he had ever known and would have laid down his life for him, as he knew Wentworth would have done for him in turn. Dogging Wentworth's steps was his friend and foil, Police Commissioner Stanley Kirkpatrick or simply "Kirk", who suspected Wentworth was The Spider but could not prove it. [Wikipedia]