It was a scarlet scorpion that reached Richard Wentworth, warning him that the Far East had crept forth from its Chinatown lair to raid New York! Victims were dying with a blood orchid in their hearts, and the Dragon screamed! With the police helpless, and Manhattan paralyzed, only Wentworth, in the Spider’s somber guise, could hope to battle this Prince of Darkness who was looting a metropolis to found his evil Empire!
“Exploits” might not be the operative term for Claws of the Golden Dragon. It’s actually one of the most intense ordeals the Master of Men ever endured in his decade-long career as a crime hunter. And that’s saying a lot!
It begins with the arrival in New York of a Chinese supercriminal known as the Golden Dragon. His true identity shrouded in secrecy, the Dragon plans to loot America in order to fuel his planned conquest of Asia. Author Novell W. Page took his inspiration from Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu.
Claws of the Golden Dragon dates from the period when The Spider magazine was infused with Weird Menace elements, like the fare offered by companion magazines Terror Tales and Horror Stories. In this case, the Golden Dragon has cultivated a hothouse orchid that insinuates its suffocating roots and tendrils into the victim’s still-beating heart! Forget Terror Tales, this is Weird Tales territory.
Page milks this new menace for all it’s worth. Victims begin succumbing in the first chapter. And by the time Richard Wentworth and the valiant Nita van Sloan have struggled to defeat the Blood Orchids, they too fall victim to this most hideous doom!
Has Norvell Page gone too far this time? Can even the Spider survive this soul-paralyzing predicament? Or will he and his beloved be buried with their own personal funeral flowers feeding off of their stopped hearts?
Once again, Nick Santa Maria takes on the dual persona of Richard Wentworth and his arachnid alter-ego for this nail-biting audio rendition of the January, 1939 issue of The Spider magazine.
