A very loose adaptation of the Black Police Trilogy from the Spider pulp
novels, featuring the Spider himself, the Shadow, the Green Lama, the Green
Hornet and Kato, the Black Bat, the Black Terror, Zorro (Rafael Vega, a
descendant of the original Zorro) and Miss Fury. The leader of the Black Legion
turns out to be Brian O’Brien, formerly the Clock, a masked vigilante appearing
in stories published by Centaur Publications and Quality Comics in the 1930s
and ’40s. The heroes visit a penthouse at the Empire State Building, where the
Shadow remarks that it is too bad that the occupant of the penthouse is out of
the country, as he would be a valuable ally to them in this mission. This is a
reference to Doc Savage. Britt Reid meets with reporter Steve Huston, who
mentions Old Man Havens. Steve Huston and Frank Havens are from the pulp
exploits of the Phantom Detective. The events of this comic differ greatly from
the Black Police Trilogy, including factors such as the identity of the
mastermind being changed and Nita Van Sloan’s role being omitted (indeed, she
is never even mentioned.) The Spider is wearing a version of his outfit from
the movie serial The Spider’s Web rather than the costume from the
pulps. The Black Bat is given a different origin story than in the original
pulps. The Green Hornet is out of character, calling criminals “mooks,” and is
stated to be from Chicago rather than Detroit. All these factors serve to place
this story outside CU continuity.
