Before The Punisher, before Batman, even before Superman, there was The Spider, Master of Men. The classic pulp hero was created in 1933 by Harry Steeger (co-founder of Popular Publications) to compete with the other pulp crime-fighter, Street & Smith’s The Shadow.

Now, here it is 70 + years later and The Spider is back, now as a comic book character in his first ongoing series, courtesy of award-winning writer Martin Powell and artist Pablo Marcos. The cover is by Dan Brereton (The Nocturnals), and the interior coloring is by Jay Piscopo.

The Spider #1 debuts this week from Moonstone Books as part of their ““Return of the Originals” publishing program.

Here’s the Moonstone pitch: “There was no escape for Nita Van Sloan, abducted by a horde of inhuman monstrosities, doomed to become the victim of a diabolical experiment. The Spider, Master of Men, strikes back with a vengeance, fighting alone against the brutally brilliant creator of the Frankenstein Legion, in a desperate race against time to save the only woman who shares his darkest secrets!”

The title of the story is worth the cover price alone: “Death Siege of the Frankenstein Legion.” (And the cover price is just $2.99, which ain’t bad for a full color indie comic.)

There’s also a nifty back-up feature starring another pulp hero,  Operator 5. This one’s written by Gary Phillips (creator of Bicycle Cop Dave and writer on Moonstone’s upcoming That Man Flint comic).

I’m checking this one out this week.

[Artwork: The Spider #1, cover by Dan Brereton, from Moonstone Books]