Spider (DC Comics)

Last updated
Alias the Spider
Publication information
Publisher Originally Quality Comics
Later DC Comics
First appearance Tom
Crack Comics #1 (May 1940)
Lucas
Starman vol. 2, #47 (Oct. 1998)
Thomas
Seven Soldiers #0 (April 2005)
Created byTom
Paul Gustavson
Lucas
Geoff Johns
James Robinson
Thomas
Grant Morrison
In-story information
Alter ego- Tom Ludlow Hallaway
- Lucas Ludlow-Dalt
- Thomas Ludlow Dalt
Team affiliations(Tom, Thomas)
Seven Soldiers of Victory
(Tom)
All-Star Squadron
Notable aliasesThomas
I, Spyder

"Alias the Spider" is a superhero feature from the Golden Age of Comic Books that appeared in Quality Comics' Crack Comics for nearly three years, starting with issue #1 in 1940. He was created by writer-artist Paul Gustavson. [1]

Contents

The original Golden Age version of the character is in the public domain, but the rights to all subsequent versions are currently owned by DC Comics. [2]

Publication history

Only one adventure of the Spider has ever been reprinted by DC Comics, which acquired the Quality Comics stable of characters when that company went out of business in 1956: the story from Crack Comics #25, in Detective Comics #441. [3]

The Spider later made sporadic cameo appearances in All-Star Squadron and The Young All-Stars . As a Quality Comics character, he was one of the heroes who went with Uncle Sam to protect Earth-X during World War II, becoming part of the Freedom Fighters. This was the fulfillment of a storyline that began in Justice League of America #107-108, which introduced most of Quality Comics' characters to the DC Universe. Previously only Plastic Man and Blackhawk had been used.

Fictional character biography

Tom Hallaway

Quality Comics version

The Spider is playboy Tom Hallaway, who had tired of seeing criminals have their own way harassing and murdering honest citizens, so he adopts the guise of the Spider to settle the score. The Spider fights crime in a yellow shirt and blue shorts. He is armed with a bow and arrows, a special car known as the Black Widow, and the assistance of his valet Chuck (who helps Hallaway in both of his identities without anyone making any sort of connection). Hallaway uses a special arrow called the "Spider's Seal", which has a flat disc on the end; he shoots it at thugs' hands to disarm them.

According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, the Spider "fights enemies like the Crow, the pirate Falcon, Iggie the Yogi, and the Yellow Peril Yellow Scorpion". [4]

DC Comics version

In the continuity that followed DC Comics' "Crisis on Infinite Earths" company-crossover storyline, the Spider is not heroic. Now given the full name Tom Ludlow Hallaway, he did not become the Spider out of an altruistic motive, but rather because he was a smuggler, kidnapper and murderer who used the guise of a superhero as a cover to help him eliminate the competition. Though originally based in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a member of the Ludlow clan from New England. The family inadvertently ran up against the Shade, a near-immortal sometime-villain introduced during the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books. The family had a history of ill-gotten gains, having originally amassed its vast wealth by killing their partners in a business enterprise.

Instead of working with the Freedom Fighters, this revised Spider is a member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory (also known as the Law's Legionnaires). Crisis on Infinite Earths had erased the Golden Age Green Arrow and Speedy from existence, and the Spider helped fill the void in the team. Shining Knight, the Vigilante and his partner Stuff, the original Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, and the Crimson Avenger were on board with the Spider. As depicted in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9, during the final case of the Seven Soldiers, the Spider betrays them to their old enemy, the Iron Hand (who had created the cosmic menace known as the Nebula Man). The Spider kills the Vigilante's friend Billy Gunn, but is stopped by the Crimson Avenger's partner Wing, who stops the Nebula Man (though at the cost of his own life).

With the only people who knew him to be a criminal dead, the Spider continues his heroic facade. He becomes the hero-in-residence of Keystone City after the Flash retired in 1950, but his Ludlow heritage catches up with him, as does the Shade. The Spider had been planning to face the Shade for quite a while. He had saved fragments of the Shade's shadow substance, intending to plant them at the scene of a double murder, that of Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash) and his wife Joan. The Spider hoped to lessen the Shade's power by keeping him captive near a roaring fireplace, but the added light only increased the shadows. The Shade creates arrow-casting monsters that shoot the Spider with black arrows. The Shade is able to prevent the Garricks' murders, but convinces his old enemy the Flash not to publicize his role.

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth" which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". Spider was fought by Fire and Ice. [5]

Lucas Ludlow-Dalt

The Spider's son, Lucas Ludlow-Dalt, takes up the bow and arrow (and his original yellow and blue costume) in the pages of Starman , helping Culp, the Mist, the Rag Doll, Doctor Phosphorus, Solomon Grundy and several other villains lay siege to Opal City during the "Grand Guignol" storyline. This Spider had trained all his life for revenge on the Shade, and comes close to getting it. Matt O'Dare prevents the Spider from killing the Shade, and he is chased off to parts unknown. Lucas later attempts to kill Jack Knight in the final issue of Starman (and nearly kills Mason O'Dare, if not for the timely intervention of the spirit of the deceased magician Zatara). The Shade tells Jack Knight he is going to bring him in, since he is a Ludlow.

Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 also depicted the beginning of vengeful activity for another Spider, though this may be the same Spider that was depicted in Starman.

The Spider takes up his bow again in the pages of the most recent Hawkman series, facing off against Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Green Arrow. The Green Arrow shoots the Spider in his aiming eye with an arrow, hoping to end the criminal's career by maiming him. The Spider manages to re-learn archery from a new perspective (and far quicker than is usual for any normal human).

I, Spyder

Seven Soldiers #0 featured the advent of yet another Spider, although he spelled the name "I, Spyder". This character, named Thomas Ludlow Dalt, was one of the five heroes brought together by the Vigilante to form a new incarnation of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Prior to this, he was abducted by the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp after accepting a contract to kill them at their home base in the aforementioned bog. It was revealed that the Seven had hired him in order to lure him into their headquarters so they could hopefully prepare him to defeat the Sheeda (though one character criticised recruiting 'another schmuck with a bow and arrows'). Thomas was given several augmentations in terms of his abilities and gear which included new clothes, a jet-black helicopter with a black widow hourglass symbol on its base as well as 'cold blood and perfect aim'. This Spyder is also the son of Thomas Hallaway, and the brother of Lucas, who usurps the identity by killing his brother. His glory is short lived however, as he is killed by the evil Sheeda and resurrected as their agent.

This Spyder was not actually villainous like his father. After a failed assassination attempt on Bulleteer's life, Spyder was greeted by the ghost of Greg Saunders, the original Vigilante. What occurred during their confrontation is not shown but in Seven Soldiers #1, Spyder shoots the Sheeda queen Gloriana Tenebrae, knocking her from her floating castle, and she is hit and killed by a car driven by the Bulleteer.

Other characters named Spider

There have been other characters who have called themselves Spider:

In other media

Related Research Articles

<i>Starman</i> (DC Comics) Fictional comics superhero

Starman is a name used by several different DC Comics superheroes, most prominently Ted Knight and his sons David and Jack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starman (Jack Knight)</span> Fictional comic book superhero in the DC Comics

Starman is fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe and a member of the Justice Society of America. He is the son of the original Starman, Ted Knight. Created by James Robinson and Tony Harris, he first appeared in Zero Hour #1.

The Injustice Society is a group of supervillains in the DC Comics Universe. They are the main antagonists of the Justice Society of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven Soldiers of Victory</span> Team of fictional comic book superheroes

The Seven Soldiers of Victory is a team of fictional comic book superheroes in the DC Comics universe. They first appeared in Leading Comics #1, and were created by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin. The team was a short-lived assembly of some of the less famous superheroes in the DC Universe who have made occasional appearances since their Golden Age debut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shade (character)</span> Comics character

The Shade is a comic book character developed in the 1940s for National Comics, first appearing in the pages of Flash Comics in a story titled "The Man Who Commanded the Night", scripted by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Hal Sharp. Debuting as a villain, the Shade was best known for fighting against two generations of superheroes, most notably the Golden Age and Silver Age versions of the Flash. He eventually became a mentor for Jack Knight, the son of the Golden Age Starman, Ted Knight, a hero the Shade had also fought.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulletman and Bulletgirl</span> Comics character

Bulletman and Bulletgirl are fictional superheroes originally published by Fawcett Comics.

Vigilante is the name used by several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Notable individuals to assume the alias include Greg Saunders and Adrian Chase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clock (character)</span> Hero from the Golden Age of Comics

The Clock is a fictional masked crime-fighter character created in 1936, during the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was the first fully-masked hero to appear in American comic books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulleteer</span> Comics character

Bulleteer is a fictional character and DC Comics superheroine, a member of the Seven Soldiers. She debuted in Seven Soldiers: The Bulleteer #1, and was created by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette. The character is based in part on the Fawcett Comics character Bulletgirl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electrocutioner</span> Comic book character

The Electrocutioner is an alias used by three fictional characters in the DC Universe, all minor enemies of the superhero Batman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Ra-Man</span> Magical superhero

Prince Ra-Man is a fictional comic book magician published by DC Comics. Mark Merlin first appeared in House of Secrets #23, and was created by Mort Meskin. Prince Ra-Man first appeared in House of Secrets #73, and was created by Jack Miller and Bernard Baily.

<i>Seven Soldiers</i>

Seven Soldiers is a 2005–2006 comic book metaseries written by Grant Morrison and published by DC Comics. It was published as seven interrelated mini-series and two bookend issues. The series features a new version of the Seven Soldiers of Victory fighting to save Earth from the Sheeda. The series has been interpreted as "an extended metafictional treatise on the writing and reading of comic books in general and the superhero genre in particular".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invisible Hood</span> Fictional supuerhero in DC Comics

The Invisible Hood is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe. He was originally owned by Quality Comics, but was later acquired by DC Comics, along with other Quality characters. He first appeared in Smash Comics #1, and was created by Art Pinajian, who illustrated the story under the pseudonym "Art Gordon".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bozo the Iron Man</span> Fictional character appearing in Quality Comics

Bozo the Iron Man is a fictional character, first appearing in Quality Comics series, Smash Comics #1. The character's adventures were written and drawn by Quality Comics editor George Brenner, using the name "Wayne Reid".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvester Pemberton</span> Comics character

Sylvester Pemberton, alternately known as The Star-Spangled Kid and Skyman, is a superhero in the DC Comics universe. Sylvester first appeared in Star Spangled Comics #1 and was created by Jerry Siegel and Hal Sherman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotman (Robert Crane)</span> Fictional character

Robotman is a Golden Age DC Comics superhero. He first appeared in Star Spangled Comics #7 and was created by Jerry Siegel and Leo Nowak. As his name suggests, Robotman is a cyborg; part robot and part human.

The Whip is the alias used by different characters in DC Comics with four of them being superheroes. The third one made his first appearance in Flash Comics #1. The fourth Whip appeared in 2005 and was created by Grant Morrison. The fifth Whip appeared in 2011 and was created by Fabian Nicieza.

Scalphunter is a fictional character, a Wild West hero in the DC Comics Universe. Scalphunter first appeared in Weird Western Tales #39 and was created by Sergio Aragones and Joe Orlando.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Saunders</span> American comic book character

Greg Saunders is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first DC character to bear the name Vigilante.

References

  1. Wallace, Dan (2008), "Alias the Spider", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, London: Dorling Kindersley, p. 10, ISBN   978-0-7566-4119-1
  2. Koolman, Mike; Amash, Jim (2011). The Quality Companion. TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 185–187. ISBN   978-1605490373.
  3. Markstein, Don. "Alias the Spider". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  4. Nevins, Jess (2013). Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes. High Rock Press. p. 251. ISBN   978-1-61318-023-5.
  5. DC's Harley Quin Romances #1. DC Comics.
  6. Detective Comics #36 (February 1940). DC Comics.
  7. Action Comics #35 (April 1941). DC Comics.
  8. All-American Comics #28 (July 1941). DC Comics.
  9. Star-Spangled Comics #40 (January 1945). DC Comics.
  10. Sensational Comics #38 (February 1945). DC Comics.
  11. Blackhawk #58 (November 1952). DC Comics.
  12. Plastic Man #46 (May 1954). Quality Comics.
  13. Wonder Woman #79 (January 1956). DC Comics.
  14. Catwoman (vol. 2) #48 (August 1997). DC Comics.
  15. Arkham Manor #2 (January 2015). DC Comics.