“Emperor of the Yellow Death” was originally published in the December 1935 issue of The Spider Magazine. Wang-ba emerged from the mystic Orient to proclaim himself Emperor of America! Sight of his green face caused blood-curdling terror; his anger could be appeased only by soul-twisting agony and writhing, long-lasting death… His iron will dominates all, even Richard Wentworth — The Spider!
This is a very well-done Spider story. Very few loose ends at the end, and for a series known for these nagging things, that’s a pleasant surprise. Yes, the ending is a bit abrupt, but it is appropriate, and there’s really not much left to say, anyway. The story is quite exciting, and as always is filled with non-stop action. The coolest part is that this story is more than just battles of fists and guns. It’s also about battles of the mind… the will power of The Spider over that of the mystic Wang-ba. That’s what makes this one of the top Spider stories.
If the title of the story didn’t make it clear, the name of the master villain, Wang-ba, should… this is a “yellow peril” story. Those seemed to be quite popular in the 1920s and 1930s, but were fading by the end of the decade, probably due in part to the sympathy toward China at being invaded by Japan. But there’s no sympathy shown toward the Chinese in this story. There are plenty of racial slurs thrown about which would never be acceptable in today’s literature. So remember, as you read this story, it’s a product of its time. Judge it from that perspective, not through today’s more enlightened eyes.
‘I’ll rule the world!’
Wang-ba is out to take over the entire nation… perhaps the world! When he appears, a greenish glow surrounds him. He wields the amazing power of the mind. He controls others through his indomitable will. And he also has this bizarre Devil Flame which burns just about anything in a green flame. Nothing will stop it. Water spreads it. It burns without air. It can’t be smothered with extinguishers. Richard Wentworth identifies it as what the East calls “elemental fire” generated by the will of a powerful mentality; it consumes brick and stone as readily as wood. It’s really unclear whether it is strictly chemical in origin or has psychic elements as well. But whichever, it’s a nasty weapon that gets used over and over.
It all begins when Richard Wentworth stops an attempt to poison Judge Mahoney by his Chinese houseboy. Wentworth fears this is but the beginning of an attack from the Orient. He’s seen this type of thing before, specifically five months earlier in the story “Dragon Lord of the Underworld.” Back then there were tons of devious Oriental death traps: a fungus whose spores had sprouted in human flesh, poison needles, pits of poisonous dust, dens of deadly vermin, and the list goes on and on. Yes, and his fears are justified, as it turns out.
He goes out for a casual walk, seeking to lure out his enemies. And it works. A tiger attacks him on the streets of Manhattan! After killing it and surviving by a hair’s breadth, he hears a woman’s voice, almost as though it were in his head: “Bravery has conquered. Take warning. Even immortality will not save you a second time.”
When Wentworth arrives back at his penthouse, he finds a woman waiting for him. A Chinese beauty who doesn’t give her name. We later find out that it’s White Flower. Anyway, she’s a walking death trap. The rings on her fingers carry sharp poisoned darts. Wentworth is very careful when shaking hands with her. She also conceals a small deadly snake, a swamp adder. Jackson, the chauffeur, shoots the head off of it, thank goodness.
‘What’s the password?’
Since Wentworth has survived her poison rings and snake, she figures he has passed Wang-ba’s tests, and tells him to meet the master by floating in a rowboat down the river. When challenged, he is to respond with the pass phrase: “The world rests upon the turtle’s back.”
A lot happens before Wentworth finally meets up with Wang-ba. Nita is kidnapped. Jackson is found laughing insanely, and is taken to Bellevue hospital. A giant steam roller trundles down the streets of Manhattan, embossing a giant turtle into the asphalt and spewing poison gas.
When finally Wentworth and Wang-ba meet, it is on his submarine. Wentworth has surrendered himself to agents of Wang-ba in order to meet him. But he finds himself in a death trap, instead. So be prepares to blow up the submarine, using his special hidden explosives. Yes, just as The Shadow carries explosives hidden in the lining of his cape, The Spider hides explosives under his arm:
“He carried always in a compact kit strapped beneath his arms, two vials of liquid which, harmless each in itself, formed the most powerful explosive known when they were thoroughly mixed, trinitrotoluene, the big brother of T.N.T. It had never been used in warfare because of its treacherous nature.”
Wow, not exactly what I’d want to be carrying in my arm pit… But anyway, he doesn’t get to use it, because Wang-ba shows up just in time.
Hypnotic battle of wills
Wentworth enters into a battle of wills against the mental giant Wang-ba. It’s an amazing hypnotic battle of will power. Wentworth gradually gets the upper hand and is winning… when Wang-ba cheats and shoots him with a drugged dart. That not only renders our hero unconscious, but also puts him under the spell of Wang-ba. That’s right, Wentworth’s mind is no longer his own. He is a slave of the sinister Wang-ba!
Okay, there’s lots more action ahead. Let’s skip along quickly and just hit the high points. Thousands of people die, victims of either poisoned gas, or that hideous Devil Flame. All of New York City is held hostage. No one is allowed to enter or leave the city. Anyone who tries, dies. Trains attempting to run on schedule burst suddenly into flames. An ocean liner blows up in the narrows. The harbor is blocked; railroad tunnels blocked. The Government has closed the Holland Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge. Citizens of the city are starving… there’s no way to get food to them.
Two thousand of New York’s residents are killed by Wang-ba on one night. Four thousand more will die tomorrow. Yes, things are getting serious! Unless Wang-ba is paid one hundred million dollars, the number who perish will double daily!
Here, we have one of the few nasty little loopholes that bugged me. Wentworth flies to Poughkeepsie, a half-hour to the north. There, he fills a couple trains with food and prepares to “run the gauntlet” and get food to the starving New Yorkers. But wait… how did he get out of the city? We were just told it was completely barricaded. No trains, no planes, no boats could leave. Yet, he flies from Floyd Bennett airport and nothing is said about how he is able to do it without being challenged by Wang-ba’s forces. If it’s that easy to get a plane ride out, why wasn’t everybody doing it? Sometimes I’m afraid I over-think these things. I shouldn’t ask… just go along for the ride.
The wolf turtle is not to be trifled with!
One of my favorite scenes is where Wentworth is captured by Wang-ba (yes, again) and chained up. His method of escape involves giant wolf turtles with savage parrot beaks that love the taste of human flesh. I won’t spoil it for you by going into too much detail, but it makes for a terrific escape from near-certain death.
The ending of this story was a most satisfactory one. All too often, the ending of Spider stories is a rushed affair. Everyone is held captive and death is imminent… then everything is resolved in a happy ending that is described in five paragraphs. Okay, I exaggerate, there. But the endings are often rushed and vague. This one is darned near perfect. This time around, the bad guy dies, the good guys live, and it all makes sense and doesn’t feel unnecessarily truncated.
The only real loose end in this story is the fate of Jackson. Near the beginning of the story, he was found laughing madly on the street, and was taken to Bellevue. A victim of Wang-ba. We are never told what caused his madness or why only he was stricken by it. No one else in this entire story goes mad. As the story winds down, nothing is said about Jackson. Apparently he still lays in the mental ward of Bellevue. Too bad author Norvell Page couldn’t have wrapped that up.
I found some points of interest in this pulp adventure of The Spider. We are told that Richard Wentworth lives in a duplex penthouse. Duplex? Hmmm… If there are two penthouses on the roof, who lives in the other one? Nothing is ever said, but it makes one wonder.
Political correctness just jumped out the window
In one scene, police are instructed to “shoot any suspicious Chinese on sight.” Wow! That’s a big extreme! Usually that kind of cavalier attitude is reserved for The Spider. My how police work has changed in the intervening years.
I found it interesting to note that Commissioner Flynn is portrayed very positively in this story. He runs his police force with an iron hand and the men have come to love it. There’s no sign of police pig-headedness or stupidity that so often rules in The Spider stories.
This tale gives us a quick peek at the origin of The Spider:
“Years ago, when youth had been hot in his veins, he had killed a man because there had been no other way for him to prevent a great injustice to one he loved. There had been no remorse in his soul, only a vaulting joy that a miscreant had paid the penalty for evil deeds. He had stooped over the man’s body and upon his forehead had traced in blood the figure of a spider…
“On that night, The Spider had been born and since that time, Richard Wentworth had labored unceasingly — at the sacrifice of all normal felicities of love and happiness — to protect mankind against injustice and the depredations of the Underworld.”
The tale of that first Spider adventure would be told six years later in the short story “Wings of Kali” that appeared in the back pages of the May 1942 magazine. But readers got a preview of it, here.
I found this Spider story to be just as thrill-packed as its reputation would have it. It lives up to the standard set by some of the best Spider stories. Just check your political correctness at the door and get ready for some action with the Master of Men!
