Justice League Dark #23.1: The Creeper Review

The simple fact that The Creeper is one of the characters included in the Villains Month lineup was cause for concern. For whatever darkness Jack Ryder and his alter ego may have carried in the past, he's ultimately a hero. But his sporadic appearances so far in the New 52 have suggested that Creeper is being radically overhauled, and this particular issue attempts to make sense of this new take on an old favorite.

Frankly, it's hard to imagine hardcore Creeper fans or complete newbies being thrilled with what this issue has to offer. The script starts out well enough as it explores Creeper's origins as a demon Oni in feudal Japan. But the pacing of this book is all over the map, switching focus and voice on the fly and hopping through time until it arrives in the present. Ann Nocenti to often ruins the flow of the story with unnecessary amounts of narration. And worse still, Creeper isn't sympathetic or even understandable in this issue. He comes across as a petty demon who justifies cruel temper tantrums under the guise of spreading chaos. The only real emotional appeal comes from the fact that we feel bad for Ryder for being a helpless pawn in the Creeper's nightly games.

With three separate art teams, this issue is also terribly inconsistent. The early Japan scenes are solid enough, making strong use of the unique setting and new character design, but the distorted, unnatural figures in later pages do nothing to enhance the drama.

For a one-shot issue, it's also not terribly streamlined or accessible. The script builds heavily on Creeper's debut in Katana and Ryder's death in Phantom Stranger. Marketing may be the only reason why Creeper didn't take over one of those two series instead of Justice League Dark. By the end, readers may not even understand what exactly Creeper is in the context of the New 52, much less why they should care about him or where they're supposed to go to continue his story. Maybe it's better that way.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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