Preview: The Return Of The King Of Crooks — ‘The Spider’s Syndicate Of Crime Vs. The Crime Genie’

Yet another volume in the wonderfully weird and magnificently mad adventures of a Brit favourite, the King of Crooks… The Spider.

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If there was a ever a crown for the finest character created for British Comics in the shadowy black and white newsprint world of the 1960s, it would be proudly worn by the Spider.
Paul Grist

Yep, you can’t disagree with Grist there, who knows a fair bit himself about making fabulous black-and-white comics!

It’s time for the King of Crooks to return in a third volume of off-the-wall and magnificently British adventures. The Spider, created by Ted Cowan and Reg Bunn in the pages of Lion in the 1960s but, for the most part, written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, was a classic Brit hero/villain from the ’60s.

And it’s one that’s indicative of how different Brit comics were from their American cousins – whilst they had clean-cut, all-American do-gooders, we had a strange looking, egomaniacal, criminal mastermind with a fabulous array of weaponry. Oh yes, this was formative stuff for a generation, no wonder they turned out the way they did.

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Here’s what to expect in the latest volume of The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime adventures…

‘When small-time hoodlum Steve Gurko unwittingly releases a magical entity from captivity, he quickly gains the kind of power he could only ever dream about. Embarking on a crime spree, Gurko soon finds himself on the Spider’s radar. But the astounding crime fighter is about to face his toughest opponent to date because the Crime Genie won’t be enslaved by a fool like Gurko for long. Once unleashed, this mystical menace possesses enough might to enslave the human race forever!’

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The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime vs The Crook From Space – Written by Jerry Siegel, art by Reg Bunn

Published by The Treasury Of British Comics on 14 August 2024

Originally serialised as…
The Spider vs. The Crime Genie originally printed in Lion, 4th February 1967 – 20th May 1967
The Spider and the Stone Of Venus originally published in Lion Annual 1968
The Spider (text story) originally published in Lion Annual 1969
The Spider Versus The Red Baron originally published in Lion Annual 1969

Available in both standard paperback and webshop exclusive hardcover, with a brand new cover by Vincenzo Riccardi. That’s below… and after that, just a little preview for you…