Heroes can come from all over the place, sometimes they come from an altered state. Jack Ryder and The Creeper are such a case. Like a Jekyll and Hyde who both work to help humanity. So what is The Creeper and what is going on? Let’s find out!
Jack Ryder was an investigative journalist with a show where he used aggressive interview gotcha style methods to uncover dangers and innovations to the world. This naturally got Jack into hot water from both his bosses and the types of people he would expose for wrongful acts. While investigating a scientist who had gone missing while working on some new medical concepts, Jack would not only find the scientist but his own end.
That is, he would have, had Dr. Yatz’s research not been in nanocells, which could grant their recipient fantastic healing properties and enhanced physical abilities. Yatz would inject Jack with his serum and pending on the story, Jack was caught by criminals while he was at a costume party and then they drugged him to death, which would bond with the serum. This created The Creeper, a ghoulish sun-yellow man with green hair who cackled and acted erratically due to the drugs in his system.
Sadly, Yatz would not survive the ordeal due to the criminals that The Creeper would stop soon after. It would then be discovered that The Creeper was able to be stronger, faster, and tougher than a human. Even more strange, The Creeper could transform back into Jack, but since one is Jack on a weaponized drug substance, they were practically two different people.
Batman would become the first hero to team up with The Creeper, while he found him to be unnerving, he found his heart and spirit to be in the right place. He would even develop a serum that could rid Jack of The Creeper, but Jack refused it, knowing that The Creeper could do more help. Batman would even fight for The Creeper to be a full-time member of the Justice League but he was made a reserve member for his erratic behavior.
The Creeper would experience death and resurrection of his own, hard to keep these two/one down. Often times, The Creeper would get compared to the Joker and even get framed for some of his crimes and had to bring him in to prove his innocence. Jack often works with The Creeper as basically his own private investigator to aide with his work since there are places he can’t go that The Creeper most certainly can.
There you have it! The Creeper has been on the small screen in animation and Jack Ryder has been in video games. Will we ever see this strange hero in live action on the big or small screen? Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Until then, see you next time!
Suggested Reading
Showcase #73
The Creeper
The Outsiders
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
