Top Cow - The Madding Crowd, Part 10 - R.A. Wonsowski

Believe it or not, the general seed of this story started as my first Top Cow submission. Particularly my villain of choice, in a way... Hopefully this answers a few mysteries...Happy Halloween!

Synopsis: Jack Ryder has been separated from the Creeper, with the wrong mind in the wrong body. Jack goes to investigate the pharma labs responsible, where multiple subjects have been separated from their "shadow aspects" by mysterious black diamonds., when he is suddenly ambushed...

All backgrounds are flat black. Layout:
111
234
555

Panel 1- Off-kilter POV. The CREEPER is being dragged down to the ground at the legs by a swarm of DARKLINGS. Their teeth and claws are bared and the CREEPER is feeling both tear at him.

(Off-Panel): Well, well...I knew I had tasted your madness before...

CREEPER: ...rrRRRGh...

(Off-Panel):....didn't I kill you once?

Panel 2- Foreground, the CREEPER is now swarmed to the waist by rabid DARKLINGS; some at the fringes are licking their chops. Behind, the shapes of Drs. SKOLOS and YATZ merge into one, like the weaving of gelatinous tendrils.

SKOLOS: Ah, you and your ilk have an annoying knack for not staying dead.

YATZ: But that will soon change. I see you've met the Darklings.

Panel 3- Foreground, the CREEPER is now dragged lower, and DARKLINGS now clutch about as high as his chest and shoulders; one scratches at his face and his expression is one of fear. Background, the two forms have coalesced into the DARKNESS, approaching from behind; we see his carapace-like armor, but only the glowing blue and pupilless eyes are visible of the head.

DARKNESS: They are an outward extension of the Darkness within Jackie Estacado.

DARKNESS: With him fully in the thrall of the Black Diamond, they are the willing cannon fodder for my army.

Panel 4- Foreground, the CREEPER is now brought to his knees, eyes shut as he starts to panic, the DARKLINGS completely covering him except for his head, and one DARKLING has clamped his mouth shut. Background, the DARKNESS is fully visible, towering over the grand guignol. His faceplate is in place, but instead of Jackie's long black hair, there is a black medieval leather skull-cap with stitching down the middle and two long and thick leather thongs dangling to the chestplate, one in front of each pointed ear.

DARKNESS: I can now hunt the I-Am and mount His head on the topmost spire of my castle. I can raze His creation in the Seven directions.

DARKNESS: Such is the power of the Darkness.

Panel 5- Close-up, the CREEPER's face, eyes wide with the terror of recognition, mouth still clamped by Darkling hands. From behind, the faceplate pulls apart and away from a face, 2/3 darkened, the other third an ashen grey, fiery violet eyes from below the skull-cap, our villain is finally revealed as he grinningly nibbles seductively on the CREEPER's ear. A Darkness-gauntleted  hand holds a Black Diamond in front of their gaze.

ECLIPSO: And whose hands are better to wield it than mine.

Frog-Man - The Madding Crowd, Part 9 - R.A. Wonsowski

Layout: best way to think about this is as a page out of one of those newspaper comics anthologies, three 4-panel strips one on top of the other, like so:
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX

Panel 1- Night. Foreground, the CREEPER (with Jack Ryder's mind still inside) is on a rooftop, elbows rested on the ledge, and peering through binoculars in our direction. Background, a frog-like shape bounds from one building back toward the building the CREEPER's on.

NO COPY

Panel 2- Same as Panel 1, but FROG-MAN has landed on our building.

NO COPY

Panel 3- FROG-MAN has walked up and is standing next to CREEPER, who is still staring intently through his binocs. They're both looking towards us.

FROG-MAN: Hey.

CREEPER: Hey.

Panel 4- Same as Panel 3, except CREEPER has lowered his binocs and turned to address FROG-MAN.

FROG-MAN: Whatcha doing?

CREEPER: Well, I...

Panel 5- same as Panel 4.

NO COPY

Panel 6- same as above, but CREEPER looks at us in a very Ferris Bueller-like deadpan fashion.

NO COPY

Panel 7- Same as panel 4.

CREEPER: I'm trying to find a way into those labs.

FROG-MAN: What's in there?

Panel 8- CREEPER has put the binoculars back up and is looking back in our direction. FROG-MAN has crossed his arms.

CREEPER: My other half. The crazy half.

FROG-MAN: You mean you with the candy-apple red back hair is normal?

CREEPER: Says the GEICO gecko's thyroidally challenged cousin.

Panel 9- FROG-MAN gestures nonchalantly as if he was going to make a casual point. CREEPER yells at him, a little scared but more insulted, as he points towards us.

FROG-MAN: Y'know, fifteen minutes could save you--

CREEPER: And second of all, shush! There's people in there looking for me.

FROG-MAN: Really?

CREEPER: Yes!

Panel 10- FROG-MAN cups his chin thoughtfully as he cogitates. CREEPER continues to yell at him angrily.

FROG-MAN: And you're trying to find a way in?

CREEPER: Yes!!

FROG-MAN: Besides, say, their front door?

CREEPER: YE...!

Panel 11- FROG-MAN crosses his arms again, regarding CREEPER thoughtfully. CREEPER is caught short mid-rant, a look of "waitaminnit" on his face as he is confused by his own comic book logic.

NO COPY

Panel 12- CREEPER walks away off-panel, fuming, tossing his binoculars over the side of the building. FROG-MAN gestures apologetically with open arms, shoulders shrugged.

FROG-MAN: Just saying...

CREEPER: Isn't there a Cajun chef with a deep fryer looking for you?

...to be continued...(promise, fight scenes coming soon)

Andrew Bennett - The Madding Crowd, Part 2 - R.A. Wonsowski

Previously, reporter JACK RYDER was given a lead on a conspiracy surrounding a new pharmaceutical company, chaired by two doctors who had hands in creating the CREEPER, and thought to be dead until now. RYDER's research is cut short when a deranged SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN, possibly sensing the reporter's own split sanity, separates the CREEPER from JACK, with the wrong mind in the wrong body.

Set-up: JACK, with the CREEPER's mind inside, chases SHADE up a fire escape and over Gotham's rooftops. The CREEPER, however, now inhabited by JACK's sane mind, balks at the first tenement ledge. He's considering going back down when a voice behind him tells him to stop, and that he is needed...

PAGE 4

Layout:
1122
1133
4455

Panel 1- We are looking over the CREEPER's shoulder at ANDREW BENNETT, who is standing on a rooftop steam pipe, the steam billowing about his feet. He is dressed in a duster coat, t-shirt, and jeans, hands in his jeans pockets and barefoot. He has a pair of military grade night-vision binoculars slung around his neck. Gotham's skyline is in view, the crescent moon has risen on a starless night and frames BENNETT's head like a broken halo.

BENNETT: My name is Andrew. I've been following the Changing Man, for far too long.

CREEPER: You mean the wacko in the technicolor dreamcoat? What's his story? Who's Kathy?

Panel 2- Profile, BENNETT looks through the binoculars into the distance, considering his quarry.

BENNETT: His "story" is that Shade is an interdimensional poet who can physically manifest madness through a vest he stole from another world.

BENNETT: Kathy is the woman he loves.

Panel 3- BENNETT steps down from the steam pipe to the roof, reaching into an inside pocket of his coat. The CREEPER stands arms folded as his skeptic-journalist self would, listening.

BENNETT: He believes that certain parties can help him access certain energies in the M-Zone to bring her back.

CREEPER: From where? Jersey?

BENNETT: The dead.

Panel 4- BENNETT holds the photos of Dr. Yatz and Dr. Skolos in front of his face. They are recognizable, bit the bits about the eyes and mouths are warped.

BENNETT: I'm not sure what these two are, really. But I've heard them called "necrologists". Supposedly they have mastered the clockwork of death and rebirth.

CREEPER (off-panel): And you know this how?

Panel 5- BENNETT smiles wide, his fangs bared, his eyes open, blank,  and glassy. We see the nervous face of the CREEPER reflected in his eyes, as JACK realizes he's over his head...

BENNETT: Because I've been dead. And reborn.

BENNETT: And I myself have been torn in two directions too often to count.

...to be continued...

The Creeper – Interview With a Batman – MK Stangeland Jr.

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: JACK RYDER sits in a chair with a smug look on his face. In the foreground, hidden behind a chair and looking across his desk at RYDER, is his TV PRODUCER.

PRODUCER (1): This can’t be real! You managed to interview BATMAN, of all people?!

JACK RYDER: Believe it.

PRODUCER (2): How did you even pull that off?!

Panel 2: The streets of GOTHAM - CREEPER is sitting on top of the BATMOBILE as BATMAN is getting into the vehicle.

CREEPER: How to acquire all your expensive technology?

BATMAN: None of your business.

Panel 3: BATMAN is chasing after JOKER. CREEPER is trying to follow behind BATMAN. JOKER is trying to flee from them both, but mostly trying to get away from CREEPER.

CREEPER: How do you sleep when all the criminals you put away get back on the streets so easily?

BATMAN: I don’t have time for this!

Panel 4: BATMAN and CREEPER are both chained to a rocket. BATMAN doesn’t have his utility belt, but looks like he’s getting out some other hidden gadget that will help the both of them escape.

In the background, RIDDLER and THE PENGUIN are watching alongside a number of PENGUIN HENCHMEN as they anticipate the end of both the heroes.

CREEPER: How do you manage to prepare for every eventuality?

BATMAN: I’m trying to concentrate here.

Panel 5: BATMAN and CREEPER are on top of a warehouse. BATMAN has turned to CREEPER and is pointing at him, looking even more grim and moody than usual.

CREEPER: With Gotham’s crime rate, why do we never see heroes from other cities helping you clean up the streets?

BATMAN: I am warning you, I am formulating your defeat as I speak.

Panel 6: Return to the situation of PANEL 1, where JACK RYDER is once again seated across from his unseen producer. He still has his smug look on his face, and is presently pointing to his head.

JACK RYDER: The trick was to look past what was coming out of his mouth to decipher what he was actually saying.

(END PAGE)

The Creeper - I Am Jack's Self-Deception - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Jack Ryder stands in his bathroom, standing at the sink and looking into the mirror.  As the reader, we have an over the shoulder shot, seeing Ryder's back and his reflection in the mirror.  He looks terrible.  He's clearly exhausted, his face bears evidence of various injuries (black eye, cuts, bruises, etc), and so forth.    While he's looking at the mirror, it's clear he's really looking at nothing.  He wears a dress shirt with a tie, but the whole outfit is kind of unkempt.  His hair is a mess, his tie askew, sweat stains at the armpits of his shirt - that kind of thing.  The bathroom is dark but for a single light above and it's impossible to tell what time of day it is, whether he's coming home from or headed off to work.

CAPTION (JACK): When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep and you're never really awake.

2 - Jack walks away from the bathroom mirror (which is no longer visible), still in the midst of his zombie-esque exhaustion.

CAPTION (JACK): With insomnia, nothing is real.

UNSEEN FIGURE (an uneven bubble, with the outer black surrounded by a gaudy yellow): Hey!

3 - Jack turns to look over his shoulder.  While he's responding to what he sees, his body hasn't really registered it and that zombie-state remains.

CAPTION (JACK): Everything is far away.

JACK: No

4 - Straight on shot of Jack, who is once again standing in front of the mirror.  Although we still can't see what he sees, he now looks to be wide awake (and more than a little on edge), holding his hands on his head, unable to fathom what he sees.

CAPTION (JACK): Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy

JACK: No, no, no!

5 - Switch to a straight on shot of the reflection.  As you may have gathered, the Creeper is the figure looking back at Jack.  He holds the same pose, except he smiles crazily.  Maybe go for something in the vein of this classic.

THE CREEPER (same uneven bubble style): Yes, yes, yes!

CAPTION (THE CREEPER) (caption coloured to reflect his colour scheme): I know this because Jack Ryder knows this.

The Creeper - The Madding Crowd, Part 1 - R.A. Wonsowski

OK, so I decided to try my hand at another multi-parter, kinda like I did last year with Hellcat, Galactus, and Armor, but a little longer (hopefully). Call me crazy...

PAGE ONE Layout:
112233
444555
666666
666666

Panel 1- JACK RYDER is sitting at a table in a nice-but-not-overly-posh restaurant. The other chair at his table for two is empty, and the tablecloth is cleared except for an empty coffee cup and saucer at the empty place, and a fresh one at JACK's elbow. An older MAN IN A SUIT walks away from JACK'S table, and JACK watches as the MAN brushes his fingertips on a rubberbanded manila file (thick, but not to bursting) that he is leaving behind.

CAPTION (Jack):  Something amiss at the new med wondercompany, MetaPharma...

Panel 2- On top of the papers inside the open manila file is the annual report for MetaPharma. The cover has a photo of two men in suits and white lab coats. One is older, bald and wearing small frameless glasses, the other is a little younger, his goatee waxed pointed and straight.

CAPTION (Jack):  Very amiss if these two are still alive. Dr. Yatz, the man responsible for making me the Creeper...

Panel 3- Close-up of JACK looking over his shoulder as the glass of a window breaks behind him.

CAPTION (Jack):  ...and Dr. Skolos, the demon-shrink that made us insane...

SoundFX: KriSHH!

Panel 4- Mid-shot of JACK being yanked from his chair by a large, glowing and translucent giant fist (which should be inked with heavy hash strokes). JACK struggles against its grip.

(Off-Panel): I know she's here. You will tell me...

Panel 5- Zoom in a touch, but same POV as panel 4. It looks as if the CREEPER is being split from and torn out of the face of JACK RYDER by glowing tendrils (drawn similarly to the fist).

(Off-Panel): ...one of you...

JACK/CREEPER: nnNNGAHHH!!

Panel 6: We see JACK and the CREEPER are separated and held above the floor suspended by the glowing translucent fists. They are now revealed to be projections of madness emanating from the sleeves of the lava-lamp-like duster coat of SHADE THE CHANGING MAN (he should look like his early Chris Bachalo Vertigo days, long red hair, facial stubble, etc.). SHADE is insanely furious, screaming, standing amidst upended tables and shattered glass.  The CREEPER is grimly struggling aloft, but JACK is wide-eyed and cackling maniacally.

SHADE: Where is Kathy George?!?

JACK: AAHH-HAHAHAHAA!!

....see you next week...

Why (Beware) the Creeper?

Because Steve Ditko. And therein lies the problem...

Ditko in his studio, 1959.

Of course we all know Ditko was the creator of Marvel icons Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. After an abrupt departure from the House of Ideas, he went to the Charlton group where he created the Blue Beetle and the Question. It was during this period that he discovered the writings and philosophies of Ayn "Atlas Shrugged" Rand, and that's when things get interesting...

Bear with me here...

Rand's views are known as Objectivism, best summarized as a mathematical axiom A=A, or that which is, is. It is a complete rejection of anything that cannot be proven as a reality, and a central idea of this is that right and wrong, love and hate, are born out of reason, and not faith-based morality. This ethos would then be championed by those who build themselves from the ground up, not by those who are granted material or social advantages from the get-go. There are echoes of this in both Peter Parker and Stephen Strange, as well as Ted Kord and Vic Sage. Ditko's self-published Mr. A is the purest distillation of this, and alienated him from many of his contemporaries. In fact, the Creeper's alter ego, Jack Ryder is an obnoxious extreme of the Randian ideal; even his television show, "You Are WRONG!" reflects Ditko's mindset. Unfortunately, this flew far in the face of the counterculture at the time. Free love, anti-war sentiment, and psychedelia were the hallmarks of '60s youth. Psychotropic drugs, LSD and psylocibin mushrooms in particular, were altering perceptions, subjugating reality and replacing it with a chemically altered mental state. A was now a non-A, and to Ditko, that way lay madness.

His big yellow debut...

The Creeper, then, is a backhanded morality tale. Jack Ryder is the unwilling subject of Dr. Yatz, given both experimental technology and an injection of unknown pharmacological slurry. With these he can switch back and forth between being Ryder and being the Creeper, who is agile, hypernormally perceptive, and strong. However, over time, the Creeper develops his own personality, first 70s kooky prankster, then 80s mischievous goofball, then downright twisted and insane in the 90s. The more Ryder let's the Creeper out, the more dominant he becomes, until finally they become a worst-case-scenario multiple personality disorder.

I also used to be a French woman. Oh those crazy Vertigo people...

My very first pick here at Thoughtballoons was Kirby's yellow horror, Etrigan. But his human host, Jason Blood, has been trying to keep his Demon contained. Ryder does not share that same strength, and the Creeper escapes again and again, wreaking more havok all the time. Some 21st century writers have tried to inject the demonic into his origins, but to me, that cheapens the character. It absolves Ryder of his responsibility for the Creeper's actions. Rather, it is a partnership between consciousnesses, a downward spiral into madness, and proof that you don't have to be crazy to be a hero...

So...what are YOU doing after the Why?

...but it sure helps.