Chris Kalb: The Spider is a great addition to the Moonstone lineup of pop-cult characters. How exactly did this project come about?

Joe Gentile: Well, we dig the pulps, of course. We were unsure of who held the rights to the Spider. One of our freelance writers (CJ Henderson) just happened to run into Rich Harvey at a con, got talking, and boom. I got a call from CJ, and immediately contacted Joel at ARGOSY (the rights holder).

The Spider was huge in the 1930s and '40s, but only sporadically reprinted until recently. How did you personally first become aware of The Spider?

The paperback novels from the 1970's (where he looked like he was wearing a pale yellow sweater or something on the cover! Man, what a crap look!)

Between the pulps, serials, and comics there has been a number of "versions" of the character. Will this be the "original" Spider? Did you give any guidelines to the writers at all?

Well, you are right. There have been a couple versions, even within the pulps themselves. Yes, we did give a couple guidelines. The SPIDER had to be set in the correct (and original) time period. We were NOT looking to do any kind of updating or improving. The character is still so vital, that there just is no need.

We also had a few discussions on how far we should go with the stories, as in, what "rating" would they be. Moonstone and the licensor didn't start out agreeing, but managed to find a common ground just fine (PG-13/NC17). I must say that thus far, Joel has been VERY cool to work with. He CARES so much about this character, which we really like in a licensor. And that's because we have experienced the opposite previously!

Artist Doug Klauba's Spider (pictured) seems to mix the vampire-like image of the character that Norvell Page wrote about in the pulps, with the black-mask version that Howitt and DeSoto painted on the covers. Was this a conscious decision?

As far as the physical "look" of the SPIDER, well, that's a little more complicated. Every writer had their own idea, the licensor had another idea, and even the different editors here at Moonstone had different ideas! AAACK! But, eventually, we got it nailed down. I REALLY pushed for THE SPIDER to have the same look in each of our stories. I want NEW readers to know what he looks like! So, the final result is what you see here: we were able to get the hat, the wig, a little "teeth action", the cloak, the ring, the guns, etc. Its NOT quite as crazy looking as some of the descriptions of the character from the pulps, but is also FAR away from that "sweater guy"!)

At this stage you've probably read a number of writers' drafts. Tell us, exactly, HOW PSYCHED ARE YOU?

It is VERY exciting! You see, anthologies by their nature, usually is kind of a "mixed bag" of stories. But with The Spider, ALL of the writers were SO juiced about doing a SPIDER story, MAN, did we get some cool stuff!

Look for Moonstone's Spider anthology this January! And keep checking this site and Moonstone for the latest on this project.