Golden Age Tarantula (John Law) Appreciation Thread

[MajorHoy]

He may not have been DC's first character named "Tarantula" (a villain Sandman fought in Adventure Comics #40 in 1939 came first), but in 1941 DC introduced the heroic character named "Tarantula" in Star Spangled Comics #1 (October 1941) .







To be continued . . .

[MajorHoy]

In his secret identity, Tarantula was John Law, a mystery writer.



As for his Golden Age career as a crime-fighter, that only lasted for a couple of years (until Star Spangled Comics#19 (April 1943)).

But he was the subject of a "Fact File" that ran in a few comic books back in 1968.


And one of his Golden Age stories was reprinted in World's Finest Comic #207 (November 1971).



But in 1981, Roy Thomas would breathe new life into the character as part of the All-Star Squadron.

[MajorHoy]

About the Tarantula's costume, . . .

He started wearing it with his first appearance in Star Spangled Comics #1 (cover-dated October 1941).

The Golden Age Sandman (Wes Dodds) dropped his green business suit-and-gas mask outfit and adopted a yellow/gold-and-purple outfit (initially with a cape!) in Adventure Comics #69 (cover-dated December 1941).


When Roy Thomas started using Tarantula in All-Star Squadron, the idea of Sandman and Tarantula having very similar outfits did come up. Then, in All-Star Squadron #24 (August 1983), a new costume for Tarantula was retconned/revealed!



Still later, Roy would retcon/reveal the reason for why the Tarantula's outfit was so similar to Sandman.

[The Odd Man]

And his costume was altered again slightly for THE GOLDEN AGE by James Robinson and Paul Smith. I still prefer the ALL-STAR version though.

[Robotman]

I’ve always been interested in the Tarantula. Comics’ first wall-crawler/web-slinger. Plus the revamped costume was pretty cool. I wish DC would have made a bigger effort to utilize the character. I guess it was still during a time when the Big 2 weren’t so open about using similar characters. It would have been cool to see The New Age of Heroes use Tarantula instead of Sideways as their Spider-Man stand in.

[MajorHoy]

It would have been cool to see The New Age of Heroes use Tarantula instead of Sideways as their Spider-Man stand in.

But if they're trying to give us a younger hero who reads like/sounds like early Spider-Man, Tarantula wouldn't fit.
He had the Spider-Man-like abilities and gimmicks, not to mention a spider name, but that's where it ends unless the character is TOTALLY reimagined/cannibalized.

[Lee Stone]

I remember really liking the All-Star costume, as well.
The origin issue made him one of my favorite members of the team.

[Black_Adam]

Great thread, interesting read on a character I didn't know much about. Wonder if we will see either version of Tarantula (Law or Flores) in the Rebirth era?

[MajorHoy]

Great thread, interesting read on a character I didn't know much about. Wonder if we will see either version of Tarantula (Law or Flores) in the Rebirth era?

I doubt we'd see John Law unless they reinstate the Golden Age heroes (beyond possibly the JSA) sometime in the future.

A "modern" version of Tarantula (Catalina Flores) was present under the New 52/DCYou run by Benjamin Percy in Green Arrow, so she may still be a round.

[MajorHoy]

. . . As for his Golden Age career as a crime-fighter, that only lasted for a couple of years (until Star Spangled Comics#19 (April 1943))...

From issue #19,

[MajorHoy]

From Star-Spangled Comics #13 (October 1942):



You have to wonder how many characters have been referred to as "The Fly" . . .

[The Odd Man]

I became a big fan of Tarantula's when he was re-introduced in ALL-STAR SQUADRON. I chuckled when Roy Thomas reminded us all that he was actually referred to as a "Spider-Man" by a newspaper or radio announcer in-story in one of his original appearances. Heh. That and the fact that he had Dr. Doome appear in ALL-STAR always tickled me.

[MajorHoy]

from Who's Who Vol. XXIII (January 1987):

[MajorHoy]

Tarantula first started to play a major role in All-Star Squadron #18 (February 1983).



There was much made in that issue about the resemblance between Tarantula's and Sandman's costumes, with a few mistaken identifications of Tarantula as Sandman.
Even the villain of the issue made that mistake.



As for the bad guy, he had previously appeared back in Adventure Comics #75 (June 1942).

[MajorHoy]

from Star-Spangled Comics #2 (November 1941):