Saturday Splash Page #26

 

"A Creepy New Year's Portrayal," in World's Finest #254, by Steve Ditko (writer/artist), Jerry Serpe (colorist), Todd Klein (letterer)

As we discussed in Sunday Splash Page #194, the appearance in First Issue Special didn't do much for the Creeper's fortunes. It would be over three years before Ditko would return to the character, as a feature in World's Finest, starting in issue #249, and running through nine issues in total.

Ryder still works for a TV station, but Ditko switches him from a reporter to the station's "trouble-shooter", an amorphous title that seems to mostly include body-guarding the talent. Ditko tries to write Ryder's interactions with his coworkers as a mixture of workplace comedy and Silver Age Superman playing pranks on Lois and Jimmy. Either way, it's not particularly funny.

The villains are all one-offs, other than Ditko brings back Angel Devlin, the guy Jack Ryder was investigating when he infiltrated that costume party and wound up as the Creeper. Most of them are motivated by jealousy or old grudges and out for revenge. A lot of people who feel like they were screwed over by having something taken from them, or who decide to steal someone else's work. Can't imagine why. Mr. Wrinkles up there is an exception, since his deal is using a device to temporarily steal the youth of other people and transfer it to himself so they'll work for him.

With only eight pages a story to work with, Ditko uses a lot of 9 or even 10-panel layouts, trying to pack in as much as possible. He's still following the approach of having Ryder or the Creeper fail in their initial attempt to stop the bad guy, and possibly a second time, before eventually triumphing. So there's a lot of dialogue to squeeze in.

Ditko really tries to play up the Creeper moving differently. He's almost always drawn as bent parallel to the ground at the waist, leaning over and leering at whoever with that red mane falling down around and over part of his face. His laughter becomes an almost physical presence in some panels, encircling a bunch of frightened goons in one panel, or almost chasing after someone as they run away.