Happy Birthday: The Creeper
Jack Ryder’s parentage certainly predicted his future—his father was the publisher of a successful union dispatch, while his mother suffered paranoid schizophrenia and died in an institution while Jack was still a child.
Growing up, Ryder followed in his father’s footsteps and became a television news reporter. Unfortunately, Ryder had a big mouth. Normally that would be an asset, but Ryder didn’t know when to shut up, and it cost him his job.
The network didn’t fire him, but they did demote him to working network security, a job Ryder found beneath him. He got his chance to prove himself again when mobsters kidnapped a scientist named Dr. Emil Yatz. Ryder guessed that Yatz would be held at the mob boss’ mansion. The boss was holding a masquerade party that night, so Ryder cobbled together a bizarre costume and snuck in.
He found Yatz, but was seriously injured in the process, and to save him Yatz injected Ryder with the serum he’d created. The scientist also hid the device the mobsters were after by concealing half of it inside Ryder’s wound, which then healed thanks to the serum’s effects.
The device can make matter appear and disappear instantly, allowing a soldier to walk into a place in civilian clothes and then have a uniform and full weapons with the touch of a button. In Ryder’s case it let him make his strange new costume appear and disappear. Ryder used his bizarre appearance, the strength and agility the serum granted him, his unhinged disregard for personal safety, and a disquieting laugh to bring the mobsters to justice.
They dubbed him "The Creeper," and so a new—and truly bizarre—superhero was born.
Steve Ditko at his wackiest – all of his best concepts are at about 45 degrees to "normal" comics.
I've generally considered his "Odd Man" to be his wackiest, but it didn't get the chance to develop — not even as far as The Creeper did. All in all, The Creeper remains my favorite of Steve's creations, and the first two covers (the Showcase debut, printed above, and the first issue) are high on my top 40 list.
Of all the characters he created for DC, Creeper seems to be the one they've brought back the most. He even got an action figure from the Batman animated line.Giffen's revamp added a nice little twist to the origin. Yatz' drug had a hallucinogenic side to it as well, which is why the Creeper was a bit off. And when he switched the matter thingy off, the drug (and its effects) would vanish as well.
I've always thought of the Creeper as a precursor to Ambush Bug. One of those super heroes that senses they are in a comic book.
I loved the idea of the Creeper, even as a child. Did not like the recent Steve Niles version though,