Now while DC and Marvel both have countless heroes which are widely known and loved by members of the public, in some instances and in the minds of some, the more obscure heroes are more appealing. Sure, there are reasons for why some are obscure and lost in the depths of time, mainly because they are either outdated, dull or just plain bad. But oppositely, there are heroes who are remade and changed in order to make them fit better in the world and to just make them better characters all around. An instance of this which I love is Animal Man, in which Grant Morrison relaunches in the late 1980s after he was left and forgotten in the stories of Strange Adventures. Morrison makes his character more human, entertaining and just great. The stories are brilliant and ground-breaking, changing Animal Man from a dull regular hero to a unique one. That being said, not all obscure heroes that are brought back years later are boring or bad. The big example of this to me is the Creeper, a super powered and athletic person who is a journalist named Jack Ryder in his spare time. Created by Steve Ditko, who worked at Marvel for years on titles and created Spiderman and Doctor Strange, this hero that he made was unique due to his powers and although he may come across as a Superman clone (due to his journalistic guise), to me he is one thousand times better. Being introduced in an issue of Showcase, the Creeper was given his own title. For just six issues, Steve Ditko unleashed one of his best creations along with some of the greatest art ever produced from the Bronze Age of comics…
The stories which I will be reviewing are:
The Coming of the Creeper --- Showcase (vol 1) 73
Where Lurks the Menace?/The Many Faces of Proteus/The Isle of Fear/ Which Face Hides My Enemy/ The Colour of Rain is Death/A Time to Die --- Beware the Creeper (vol 1) 1-6
The story from Showcase (vol 1) 73 was published in March 1968, with the main title starting in June 1968 and concluding in April 1969, being published bi-monthly. I have read these stories from The Creeper by Steve Ditko hardcover book, which is quite
rare due to its limited printing and the unfortunate death of Ditko last year.
THE STORIES AND MY THOUGHTS
The Coming of the Creeper --- Written by Steve Ditko and Don Segall with art by Steve Ditko
THE PLOT
As a scientist named Yatz is kidnapped by gang members to be turned over to communist spies, an investigator is beaten by gang members after snooping in their area. Meanwhile, reporter Jack Ryder is fired from his job as a reporter after a rough interview with a protester against violence. However, he is given a job by somebody to track down Yatz as he was smuggled into the country. Ryder also learns that the investigator from earlier tried to get information but failed and got beaten. Later on, Ryder gets a strange costume (his superhero yellow, red and green costume) and attends a party hosted by the gang who has Yatz hidden away. But he is uncovered at the party by gang members and is injured badly by them. Ryder manages to hide in a room and locks himself in while finding Yatz. After telling Ryder that he would rather die than have the gang members find his research, he injects one of his research products to hide inside of Ryder which also heals him. Yatz also tells Ryder that the injection will give him powers of superhuman strength and stamina. After testing the device in his body which makes him naked, he turns it on again, so he is back into his costume and the enemies manage to break in and shoot Yatz, killing him. Ryder makes his escape from the room and takes out some of the criminals before hiding again and turning back into his normal guise. Unfortunately for him, the other guise of Ryder (who the police don’t know is anything to do with Ryder) is named a “creeper” and the police mistake him for a villain. Due to that, Ryder becomes the Creeper again and heads back into the house round the back to avenge Yatz by taking out the remaining gang members and their communist leader, who is dressed in a half normal and half red/purple costume, who he manages to frighten using his creepy laugh he has. Once they are defeated, the Creeper escapes from the scene, leaving the communists behind to be found by the police. The next morning, Jack Ryder hears about the Creeper and how unpopular he is, making him joke that maybe the Creeper needs a good manager.
MY THOUGHTS
While many heroes over the years were introduced and shown in Showcase, the Creeper story is almost definitely a highlight and he is one that the readers of the tale will remember. This is not only due to his costume, but also because of his origin and the way that his power can be activated. The main plot of the story feels quite exciting and it has a great amount of action, making it feel balanced in terms of its action scenes and dialogue scenes. While having the communists as the villains of the story makes this dated to a degree, you have to accept that this was a sign of the times, but it just makes the plot feel more real and there is much more of an impact due to it. In terms of character, while the villains don’t really feel too great as characters and they are a bit bland, Jack Ryder’s character is the real highlight as he feels real, while also being quite funny and quirky at the same time. For example, as a reporter, he comes across as a sort of aggressive and quite a sarcastic journalist, which is a real breath of fresh air. I mean, let’s just compare Jack Ryder to Clark Kent, who I think is one of the dullest and borderline cardboard disguises held by any superhero. He is just too much of a person stuck to rules and he is a kind person, which although that makes him a more positive character, it is better and more funny and interesting when the man character has an attitude has the readers can either find irritating or marvellous. To me, Jack Ryder adds the funny aspects of the comic and it really introduces the main character feel. In terms of the Creeper, there is some mystery behind his powers and even he is unsure of the potential he has. Again, this makes the whole character and progression of the story superb and it doesn’t feel like a dull and formulised story. The same applies to the costume, which may look ridiculous when thinking about it, but the way it is displayed along with Ditko’s great art just make it look a tad more serious, but not to an extreme degree where all of the fun and joy is taken out of this great story, which to me, has no flaws with the exception of a dull main villain, which I take as just a sign of the times when writers didn’t use super villains, but Ryder’s character more than makes up for it.
As I previously stated, Ditko’s art in this is absolutely superb and comparing it to the art around that time and era, he is a true highlight who is up there with Neal Adams.
Not only does Ditko draw the human anatomy in extreme, but natural and awesome ways, but the use of lighting really meshes with the tone of the story that Segall and Ditko both deliver, both in terms of the story and art. True, in later issues of the series you see the true talent of Steve Ditko’s art, but in this issue it looks absolutely grand to me, this is how I think comics should look due to its use of lighting. This also shows me how great an inker Steve Ditko was and with a plot that has some serious aspects while also being quite joyful, his use of art really works spectacularly.
Story: 10/10
Art: 10/10
Where Lurks the Menace?/The Many Faces of Proteus/The Isle of Fear/ Which Face Hides My Enemy/ The Colour of Rain is Death/A Time to Die --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Steve Ditko, Jack Sparling and Mike Peppe
THE PLOT
NOTE: I will be explaining and reviewing all six issues of the series together just to make it easier and quicker to read. Plus, these stories pretty much tie into each other anyway but let’s get on with.
At night, a masked murderer named Terror breaks into a gang informant’s home, who is waiting for Jack Ryder to visit him for information. But the gang member is attacked critically just as Ryder enters the house, but Terror manages to escape. Ryder hears the last words of the dying man, which contains a number of different names. After the police investigation of the murder, Ryder decides to visit and look into the people that the gang informant mentioned, starting with crime boss Gerk Kreg. But before he goes on his quest, Ryder is told by his boss to look after a weather woman, who is claiming to be threatened. Ryder ignores her after some time and goes to Kreg’s hideout. After hearing a talk between gang members, Ryder becomes the Creeper and attacks some of the gang members, asking for information about Terror. But he is attacked by Kreg, who tries to shoot the Creeper, but fails. He then escapes and becomes Jack Ryder again to speak to the other people who the informant spoke of, which leads him to Vance Cleary and Hack Axeley, both of whom are seemingly useless to Ryder in the case. Later on, at night when speaking to Vera, the weather woman from earlier, Terror (who knows that the Creeper is Ryder) attacks Ryder and gets onto the roof. Ryder then follows him as the Creeper and finds Axeley dead in his office. The Creeper then speaks to his secretary who was blackmailing Kreg’s gang, but he is ambushed by Terror. The two fight and the Creeper takes off Terror’s mask,
revealing him to be Forbes, who is Axeley’s assistant. Forbes then accidently runs into Kreg’s gang, who want to take him to their boss for a reward. The Creeper intervenes and defeats the gang members, leaving them for the police before going back to the office, lying to Vera about where he has been after Terror attacked.
During a special report on TV about the Creeper (who the police are hunting), Jack Ryder watches in the studio as it is attacked by somebody pretending to be the Creeper. After speaking to his boss about the Creeper who believes that he is part of a gang related to gambling from reports from reporters, Ryder is asked to hunt down the Creeper. Again, after being annoyed by Vera and trapping her in a room to get away from her, Ryder becomes the Creeper and visits the home of the gangster related to gambling, who he finds and begins to question, but is suddenly shot by a masked man. From reading a note in the office of the gangster, the Creeper finds that Proteus is behind the crime, who is a master of disguise, but he leaves the office after gang members break in to shoot the Creeper. He becomes Ryder again and leaves, unknown to him that Proteus is watching him. Later on, using information from the dead gangster’s file, he becomes the Creeper again and visits a number of people mentioned in the file, one of whom he finds out from that Proteus has taken control of all of the gangs in the city. After telling his boss (now who is named as Bill Brane) about his discovery, he orders Ryder to get hard evidence which he has at his home. After thinking that Bill is acting harsher than usual, Ryder discovers that Proteus is pretending to be Bill and he has the real Bill held hostage and after finding them, he chases Proteus, but he escapes. Ryder then heads back to his home to get the file from the dead gangster and he finds Vera, who is going out for golf. He then punches her after knowing that Vera doesn’t like golf and it is shown to be Proteus. The two then fight as Proteus uses a flamethrower, burning down Ryder’s apartment. Becoming the Creeper, Ryder chases Proteus, but jumps off the building as Ryder and lands on a firemen’s safety net as the building is burning down. The next day, Ryder admits failure as the file got burned in his home, but it is shown that Proteus survived the fire.
After taking out a gang of criminals and leaving them for the police as the Creeper, Ryder is reminded about his failure with the Proteus case, but he is told to go to an island to find the weather woman Vera, who was sent to the island by the TV station, but she hasn’t contacted them for days. Ryder then gets on a plane and parachutes down on the island, finding that a group of cultists of sorts are attacking the residents of the island. He becomes the Creeper and takes out a number of the villains, but he finds Vera taking photographs of the fight, but she is taken away by the cultists. After the fight, the Creeper takes the cultist robes off one of the criminals, discovering that the cultist is an escaped convict. He then dresses in the robes to blend in and find Vera. After seeing that the cultists are using the inhabitants of the island as slaves, he finds Vera tied up, shouting at the cultist leader. He thinks about killing her, but then is reminded that the Creeper is looking for her, making the leader think that he can kill both of them together. He then knocks Vera unconscious. But, unfortunately for Ryder, he is uncovered by the cultists and tied up with Vera. Luckily, while they aren’t looking, Ryder becomes the Creeper and breaks free and takes out some of the cultists while following the boss, who is planning to destroy the island using explosives. But he is just about to escape the island on a speedboat, but he is apprehended by the Creeper, who knocks him out of the boat. The Creeper finds that the leader has come out of the sea, making him think that he is dead and that the island is safe from the cult.
Walking the street as Jack Ryder, he finds a woman who claims to have seen a person who could change his face in an old house. After thinking that the woman is talking about Proteus, he becomes the Creeper and visits the house, finding a cult leader named Yogi, who he begins to question and fight, but once he discovers that he knows nothing of Proteus, he leaves the scene just as the police arrive. But, once he becomes Ryder again and goes to open the door of his new apartment, the door explodes. After the smoke of the blast disappears, Ryder’s reporter friend Rip Cord finds a note from Proteus telling him to stay away. Just then, he meets two secret agents from another country who claim that Proteus is a former secretary of state from their country. After finding that one of the agents is a mute that is only used for muscle power, Ryder, Cord and the agents begin their search for Proteus, which begins with Ryder secretly becoming the Creeper to take out a gang of criminals who he finds out are working for the gangster named Yogi, who the Creeper spoke to earlier. Some time later back as Ryder, he searches through the files related to the gangster while being hassled by his boss Brane. After that, Ryder, Cord and the agents visit the residence of Yogi. Ryder then goes in another direction from the other three people and becomes the Creeper while finding Yogi. But, just as the Creeper is about to get information out of Yogi regarding Proteus, Yogi is shot and killed by the mute agent, who isn’t really mute. He also tells the Creeper that he was hired by Proteus and due to that, he knows that Ryder is the Creeper. The two begin their fight and just as the agent is about to kill the Creeper, he manages to defeat him and push him off the roof of the building, seemingly killing him.
After his duel with the (un)mute agent, the Creeper discovers that he isn’t actually dead, but he is babbling about something. The Creeper then becomes Jack Ryder and finds the other agent, who he tackles to the ground. But just as he is confronting him, Ryder is hit in the back of the head, knocking him out as the agent runs out of the room. Some time later, he is woken up by Rip Cord, who reminds Ryder that the agent is heading to a small airport to escape. Therefore, he becomes the Creeper again and hunts down the agent before he takes off in a plane. The two fight each other, which results in the plane exploding due to a bomb on board. Meanwhile, Vera and Bill are told to visit Ryder’s apartment, but they are shocked to find Jack Ryder, who knocks out Bill and reveals to Vera that he is Proteus, but she doesn’t believe him. He then locks the two of them in the apartment as Bill phones the police. Some time later, Ryder hears that he is wanted by the police and he becomes the Creeper and manages to find Proteus, who is planning to plant explosives in the city. But, after Proteus escapes and the Creeper becomes Ryder again, he is arrested by the police and taken to a cell. After hearing his boss moan and complain to him, Ryder explains to him that he wasn’t behind the attack on him and Vera, allowing him to be let out of prison. After this, Ryder goes to sleep and has a nightmare about who Proteus really could be.
Once he wakes up, he locates Proteus near the docks of the city and the two fight. Their duel continues into the sewers, where Proteus manages to defeat the Creeper and tie him up. He tells the Creeper that he is leaving him in the sewer to drown, but he reveals to the Creeper his real identity before leaving the Creeper to die.
After being left in the sewer by Proteus, he thinks about the clues surrounding his identity, including the bomb in his door and how the one person who hasn’t had any connection to Proteus is Rip Cord, who revealed to the Creeper in the sewer that he was really Proteus. After the tunnel gets completely full of water, the Creeper manages to escape the sewers and end up near the docks. Meanwhile, Rip Cord is told to protect the governor of their state by the TV station. But, Cord disguises himself as the governor and tells the residents through a television broadcast that the northern quarter of the city will be flooded with water. Ryder watches the broadcast and goes to the station after the broadcast and punches the governor. Just as it looks like Ryder is in the wrong for the attack, the real governor arrives, causing for Proteus to kidnap weather woman Vera. After Proteus leaves, Ryder becomes the Creeper again and locates Proteus, managing to take out his guards and to rescue Vera. Although she complains to the Creeper about her black eye, he moves on and finds Proteus, who is throwing giant rocks at him. The two then fight each other, which results in Proteus picking up a barrel of nitrogen, which the Creeper kicks and pours all over him, causing for him to fall into the dam which he was planning to flood the city with. He falls in the water and the nitrogen explodes, seemingly killing Proteus. But he finds his body with no pulse, resulting in the Creeper feeling happy that he has defeated his enemy, but sad that he lost his friend Rip Cord.
MY THOUGHTS
Before I go into detail about what I think of the multiple villains in this story, one consistent and great thing that both O’Neil (writing under the name of Sergius O’Shaughnessy) and Ditko manage to show in the six issues is a great sense of fun and it never gets dull. Sure, there are some stories which are more interesting and better than others, but even the weakest story can be a fun read and due to that, these issues are far from difficult to read and the cliff-hangers and endings to each individual issue makes you just want to read on. Starting with the stories, the first one is a pretty regular detective murder story, but at least it features a sort of supervillain. Terror does come across as a threat and although he isn’t the Creeper’s main villain, he is suitable for a first issue as it gives a feel for how the comic will be and the tone that will be present throughout the title. Other than that, it just serves as an introductory story and isn’t really anything special, but it does build upon certain aspects that were set up in Showcase 73, such as the police being much more present as they are chasing after the Creeper. But before moving onto the storyline which prominently features in issues two, four, five and six, there same of what I said about issue one applies to the singular story in issue three, except in a lesser way. Now I’ll get into why I believe that one is the weakest story in a bit, but it does add some light relief to the story which may go over the top in some cases, but it still works well as a Creeper tale. Now, to the main course of the title, which has to be the Proteus story. Now before this title, DC Comics never really printed stories which ranged over a number of issues and Dennis O’Neil came along and changed that, which was almost certainly for the better. He did it in the Batman titles around the same time with stories featuring Ra’s Al Ghul, adding some continuity to the issues that he featured in and in the case of Beware the Creeper, the Proteus story almost comes across as a miniseries which works incredibly well. Using the essential help of Steve Ditko, multiple characters are used throughout the series and when the Creeper discovers who Proteus really is at the end of issue five, you wonder who he is, but you don’t get that answer until the start of issue six. Although I read this in a collected edition, readers at the time who were hooked on the title must have been itching to find out who Proteus really was and due to that, they would be impatiently waiting for the next issue (which unfortunately was two months away after the release of issue five due to a bi-monthly release schedule). But when you do find out that Rip Cord is the villain, it adds a sense of drama and sadness equally as he is a friend of Jack Ryder, but he is now an enemy of his. This is perfectly illustrated and shown by both the writer and artist at the end of issue six, which although that wasn’t supposed to be the last issue, it really adds a sense of conclusiveness, making the story satisfyingly end. One of the things which really carries the title apart from the main Proteus plot has to be the characters, particularly Jack Ryder, who is as funny, quirky and sarcastic as he was in his origin story. That being said, his serious and more considerate feelings are shown here, making the character feel fleshed out and real. All of the other minor characters add something to stories, for example the weather woman is in there more for comedic scenes, but she does star in more serious scenes like in issue three, which she features in the most out of the six issues. Bill Brane, Ryder’s boss also works well as he is the one who gets Ryder in most of his missions and due to that, he comes across as more of a major character in the book than anyone else, with the obvious exception of the Creeper. This leads me to Rip Cord, who comes across as a nice, but gullible person that Jack Ryder gets on with and due to his, well, lack of brain power, you would think that he wouldn’t be Proteus. That is what the creative team of this book did so well as they created numerous characters and over time, the reader kept on thinking who Proteus could really be, whether it be the two fake agents that Ryder
met or any other criminals. This is an instance of a great detective story done well and correctly, even if when you work out who Proteus is he reveals his plan, which is quite silly and a little bit pointless as there isn’t an explanation to why he would want to flood part of the city.
Now, there reason I think the third issue story is the weakest is not because it goes overboard in terms of silliness, but because it doesn’t really fit the tone of the comic which I thought it captured well in the earlier two issues. To elaborate on that, I thought the plot was too simple and it didn’t really feel like too much of a threat. To me it is similar to what I think about Green Arrow and what Mike Grell does with it. Green Arrow works at his best in Seattle or Star City, but when he is taken out of his normal surroundings and stuck somewhere else, that tends to fail unless done correctly and I think the Creeper works just like that as well. As I said, it is the weakest story, but is it crap? No. For the main Proteus plot, the main problem I have is his aim. It is clear that he wants to kill Jack Ryder who he knows is the Creeper, but why on Earth does he want to flood a section of the city and why does he have to use the governor of the state for it? I mean, can’t he just go to the dam and blow it without anyone knowing beforehand? It just comes across as a bit strange and uneven to me. I understand that the main story is about working out who Proteus is, but after we find out, the direction of the plot doesn’t turn bad, but it could have been a hell of a lot better.
Now, as I stated earlier, I love Steve Ditko’s artwork and here it is excellent and top of the range. His use of shadowing and lighting is excellent, and it is used multiple times suggestively as if something is being hinted at the reader. A great instance of this has to be in issue five where Ryder is knocked out by somebody silhouetted in black and when Ryder leaves the room after speaking to Cord, he is silhouetted in the background in black, hinting that Cord is Proteus. Instances like this and the great action scenes and panels that Ditko supply make this comic a joy to read. My only complaint is that Jack Sparling draws certain parts of the sixth issue, which still look good, but it doesn’t have that awesome impact like Ditko’s art has. Moreover, Ditko is inked by Mike Peppe for the last two issues and while I think that Ditko is at his best when he inks himself, Peppe inks him incredibly faithfully and well.
Stories: 8/10
Art: 9.5/10
VERDICT
Overall, the Showcase (vol 1) 73 story and the six issues of the Beware the Creeper (vol 1) series are a joy to read which in terms of plot are for the most part excellent with only a few aspects either making not much sense or just not fitting into the tone of the story. Ditko’s art is top notch, displaying how excellent an artist he is. Even when he is inked by other artists, it still has a great impact which sets this series off from any other. While the sixth issue was the last published due to cancellation, the Creeper continued to feature in stories with Ditko suppling the art for them, showing that the Creeper wasn’t forgotten and that he never will be. Even though the Creeper was no where near as popular as either Spiderman or Doctor Strange, he is an instance of the weird, but creative side to comics which had hardly been seen at that point. It is just a shame that Ditko was never given the credit he deserved as he presented his talent as an extraordinary creator, a fascinating writer and an astounding artist…
Stories: 8.5/10
Art: 9.5/10
Highlighted Character: The Creeper (Jack Ryder)
Next Review: Green Arrow: The Trial of Oliver Queen (Green Arrow (vol 2) 13-20. Written by Mike Grell with art by Ed Hannigan, Dan Jurgens, Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin. Expected to be published by 23/06/2019.
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