In the heart of New York's Chinatown, on his imperial throne, guarded by swordsmen and gunmen and a labyrinth of death traps, sat the Arch-Criminal of all time. Master of life and death, of disease, of horrible, crawling things—the Emperor of Vermin released destruction over city and nation. The Spider, Master of Men, champion of humanity, fought with every ounce of his cunning, against the monster who personified evil incarnate—while one faithful servant gave his life in this, the Spider's most bitter, hopeless battle, and Nita herself was faced with a doom more ghastly than any criminal mind had conceived before!