First Issue Special - The Creeper!

Arguably the finest title for a comic book ever was Beware The Creeper invented by Steve Ditko for DC Comics way back in 1968. It's wildly evocative and makes for instant drama. The Creeper was in some ways a typical Ditko invention, a costumed crimefighter who in his day job was a relentless seeker of the truth who didn't turn away because of the malign influences of special interests. Visually The Creeper is unlike just about any hero, donning a costume made from bits and pieces in a costume box. He's a bright yellow and green and red vigilante who strikes as often by night as by day, a cackling fiend for justice. (Note: Look closely at this cover designed by Carmine Infantino and rendered by Steve Ditko at the street scene below the falling Creeper and you can just make out a little dog taking a wee on a hydrant. Those zany comic book creators!)

Beware The Creeper debuted in Showcase, making The Creeper the only character to appear in both DC's Silver Age vintage try-out comic and its Bronze Age counterpart 1st Issue Special. The story is scripted by Michael Fleisher but the artwork is by Steve Ditko himself, though Mike Royer handles the inks.  

A bit of a treat in this attempt to restart The Creeper as a single character is the use of the villain Firefly, a vintage baddie from a 1952 issue of Detective Comics. He's goofy and yet still formidable, an ideal villain for a weirdo hero like The Creeper. Alas this didn't result in a new series for Jack Ryder's clownish alter ego. He'd have to wait several years before getting a back-up in World's Finest Comics when it shifted into its Dollar Comic mode. 

Next up we encounter the most successful character to launch out of the pages of 1st Issue Special and to do that we have to travel into the depths of the Earth itself. 

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