Norvell Wordsworth Page (July 6, 1904 – August 14, 1961) was an American pulp fiction writer, journalist and editor who later became a government intelligence worker. He is best known as the prolific writer of ''

The Spider The Spider is an American pulp-magazine hero of the 1930s and 1940s. The character was created by publisher Harry Steeger and written by a variety of authors for 118 monthly issues of '' The Spider'' from 1933 to 1943. ''The Spider'' sold well ...

'' pulp magazine novels (1933–1943). Mike Ashley, "Page, Norvell W(ooten)", in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed.

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whi ...

, St James Press, 1996, , (pp. 465–466)

Early life

He was born in Virginia, the son of Charles Wordsworth Page (1880–1947) and Estlie Isabelle Bethel Page (1880–1946). The name Norvell came from his maternal grandmother Elvira Russell Norvell Page.

Career

Between 1924 and 1934 Page worked for the ''

Cincinnati Post ''The Cincinnati Post'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. In Northern Kentucky, it was bundled inside a local edition called ''The Kentucky Post''. The ''Post'' was a founding publication and onetim ...

'', the ''

Norfolk Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virgi ...

'', the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...

'', and the ''

New York World-Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

''. Page spent 12 years as a newspaperman, doing many dirty jobs and seeing many corpses in the morgues. When he did start writing, it was western stories, a subject he knew nothing about, but they sold. Finally the editor who bought the stories suggested he write about something he knew, like gangsters. One of Page's earliest stories was a mystery story, "The Devil Muscles In", written for the November 1930 issue of ''Detective-Dragnet Magazine'', as by N. Wooten Page. In October 1933,

Popular Publications Popular Publications was one of the largest publishers of pulp magazines during its existence, at one point publishing 42 different titles per month. Company titles included detective, adventure, romance, and Western fiction. They were also k ...

launched ''

'' magazine, about the titular hero. Popular hoped ''The Spider'' would imitate the enormous success of

Street & Smith's Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...

.'' Page wrote a backup story in the first issue of ''The Spider'' pulp, "Murder Undercover", and by the third issue was writing the main Spider stories. This continued with great success till he seemed to have a nervous breakdown while writing "the Living Pharaoh" serial and took a nine-month break from writing before returning to writing relatively tame stories about G-Men (in Ace G-Man Stories) and detective stories. He is best known as the author of the majority of the adventures of that ruthless vigilante hero

, which he and a handful of other writers wrote under the house name of Grant Stockbridge. The Spider was a crime-fighter in the tradition of

, wanted by the law for executing his criminal antagonists, and prefigured later

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

superheroes A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

. 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 is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

story and helped inspire the movie ''

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ''Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'' (often shortened to ''Sky Captain'') is a 2004 science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut, and produced by Jon Avnet, Sadie Frost, Jude Law a ...

''. He also contributed to other pulp series, including '' The Black Bat'' and '' The Phantom Detective'', and supplied scripts for the radio programs based on the characters he wrote,

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and two early

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of Romance (love), romance, Magic (fantasy), magic, and the supernatural are also ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novels under forms of his real name, Norvel Page and Norvell W. Page. His 1940 ''

Unknown Unknown or The Unknown may refer to: Film and television Film * The Unknown (1915 comedy film), ''The Unknown'' (1915 comedy film), Australian silent film * The Unknown (1915 drama film), ''The Unknown'' (1915 drama film), American silent drama ...

'' 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 setting of Page's sword and sorcery novels is

central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

in the first century A.D., when the legendary

Prester John Prester John () was a mythical Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king. Stories popular in Europe in the 12th to the 17th centuries told of a Church of the East, Nestorian patriarch and king who was said to rule over a Christian state, Christian ...

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 Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American writer who wrote pulp magazine, pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sor ...

'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 A flame () is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction made in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density, they are then considered plasma. ...

and

Sons of the Bear God A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

. The magic John encounters is unconvincingly rationalized. Page was elected as president of the American Fiction Guild, serving the year from November 1934 through October 1935.''American Fiction Guild Bulletin'' #19, November 5, 1934. In 1943 he began working for the US government, including the Atomic Energy Commission, the President's Scientific Research Board, the President's Ten Year Health Program, the two Hoover Commissions, and the President's Materials Policy Commission. He died of a heart attack on August 14, 1961.

Bibliography

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 Light '' (''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)

*''

'' (''Unknown'', June 1939; paperback Berkley 1969) *''

'' (''Unknown'', Nov. 1939; paperback Berkley 1969)

Other

*"But Without Horns" (''Unknown'', June 1940; reprinted in '' Five Science Fiction Novels'', edited by Martin Greenberg (1952), and '' The Crucible of Power'', edited by Martin Greenberg (1953)) *''City of Corpses:The Collected Weird Mysteries of Ken Carter''. ( Mystery Stories). Black Dog Books, 2009. *''Trail of the Snake''. (

Westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

). Black Dog Books, 2011.

Adaptations

''Flame Winds'' was adapted by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

as a three-part Conan story in ''Conan the Barbarian'': * #32 ("Flame Winds of Lost Khitai", Nov 1973) * #33 ("Death and Seven Wizards", Dec 1973) * #34 ("The Temptress in the Tower of Flame", Jan 1974)
as well as a four part adaptation of "Sons of the Bear God" both by writer

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...

* #109 ("Son of the Bear God", Apr 1980) * #110 ("Beware the Bear of Heaven", May 1980) * #111 (" a Cimmerian Against a City", Jun 1980) * #112 ("Buryat Besieged !", Jul 1980)

Notes

* Will Murray gives a good write up on Page in his foreword for the "G Stands For Glory" Kindle book of Page's detective stories, some of which is used in the main article on this page.

External links

*
Who Wrote The Spider, by Robert Sampson, Joel Frieman, and Robert Weinberg Norvell Page on MySpace, hosted by his great-niece
{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Norvell W. 1904 births 1961 deaths 20th-century American novelists American fantasy writers American male novelists Pulp fiction writers American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Spider (pulp fiction character)