“The Spider’s Web” is the second collection of stories featuring Tom Johnson‘s New Pulp hero, The Black Ghost.
His Black Ghost character is one of his original characters. Unlike most other New Pulp characters, this character is set in modern times.
The Black Ghost is really young Jimmy Malone. His father was a cop, killed in the line of duty, and his stepfather is a police detective. At a young age, he was trained by an elderly couple, who were retired super spies. He created the persona of Compere, but the underworld calls him the Black Ghost. He wears an all-black outfit, carries guns, and has other items to scare and throw off his foes. He’s also an expert fighter. In many ways, he is an attempt at creating an original pulp hero like The Shadow.
This book collects two stories.
“Black Ghost” tells of when the character was a kid. This combines four early stories into a single novelette. The four stories appeared in issues of Pulp Fiction Magazine, while the novelette appeared in an issue of Tom Johnson’s Classic Pulp Fiction Stories. While not quite an “origin” story, but more of a ‘young Black Ghost’ story, it explains how he met those old ex-spies.
“The Spider’s Web” is a long story that fills most of the volume. I’m not sure if this is long enough to be a novel, maybe a novella. It is a sequel to one of the stories in the first Black Ghost collection, “Guns of the Black Ghost.” We have the Black Ghost go up against a very strong foe whose identity is not known (there are a couple of red herrings). And the Black Ghost adds to his network of agents. It’s clear that this story leaves it open to further Black Ghost stories. I look forward to them.
Now for some negatives; there are a couple: saw a few typos, something I see too much from the small presses. The second is the cover. When I first saw the book at Tom Johnson’s website, I wasn’t interested in the book, not realizing it was a Black Ghost work. At least some text to say “A Black Ghost Adventure” might have helped.
If you enjoy New Pulp heroes, check this one out.
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