In August of 1962, Southern California’s Crude Bay experienced something the like of which they had never seen before! Two high school children, Jimmy and Jamie Jill (siblings, a senior and sophomore in high school, respectively), donned masks, and went on an unlawful vigilante crime spree! An instant buzz began, and they came to be known to the public as the Spider Twins, as the media aggressively sensationalized their adventures! The Spider Twins’ spree only lasted a little over a month before they were apprehended, and over the following year, public speculation, debate and side-choosing abounded on television and in print, as the Jill kids appeared in court, and were ultimately sentenced to serve time! But the general consensus considered them cult heroes! They were looked on as sympathetic children, injustice-opposers rather than law breakers, admirable rather than villainous, pitiable rather than criminal, for the two youngsters only perpetrated crimes against symbolic and unfair social issues!
Countless books, magazines, newspaper articles, news programs, and tv documentaries, (the most daring, respectable, and thought-provoking of them being Tabloia Weekly Magazine, who managed to license the true life exploits of the Spider Twins in non-fictive comics form!) have documented the deeds of the Spider Twins, and weighed in their opinions on the relativity of morality in our unsure post-modern society! That is not our purpose here! This compendium is dedicated to a much more unique and odd social phenomenon that developed as a result!
During the Jill trials, a number of inhabitants of Crude Bay found themselves in a political uproar! The unique social climate, with its tension, gusto, polarizing values of right and wrong, and heroicizing of the teen-aged masked vigilante, energized many to realize and fight for their own personally perceived social injustices and strongly-held values!
Like no other time in history, before or since, a rash of (primarily) teen-agers donned masks and began roaming the streets, looking for injustices to right! This painstakingly researched compendium, “The Spider Twins Companion,” captures a portion of these masked vigilantes! More importantly, it documents a moment and movement in our history, all-too-important to the protagonists of the time, but nearly forgotten in the present day! We hope you find it revealing, scholarly, at times touching, and perhaps even inspiring!
-Rob Oder, Editor-in-Chief, Tabloia Weekly Magazine
SPIDER TWINS MINI-COMICS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE! Go to merchandise page to learn more! You can BUY ONE OR ALL THREE (3) Spider Twins Mini Comics (“Pink,” “Blue,” and “Lilac”), PLUS FREE Creator’s Commentary CD!