History: (Secret Origins vol. 2 #18, Showcase #73)-Jack Ryder made many powerful enemies during the course of his career. Jack Ryder's Hot Seat was the most widely-read expose column in all of Boston, for no one was exempt from Jack's tirades. Jack loved unveiling corruption, and he himself was totally incorruptible. Jack's big ambition was to take down a local mob boss named Manny. He had been trailing the gangster for weeks, but when he decided to infiltate a masquerade party at Manny's house he got in over his head. Manny's thugs caught him and decided to kill him after having some fun. They injected him with hallucinogenic drugs, and costumed him in a weird red-and-yellow outfit. They introduced him to the party guests as the Dancing Creep, and invited them to do whatever they wanted with him. After being savagely beaten by drunks Jack was taken into a field, shot, and left for dead. Jack awoke to see a scientist named Emil Yatz standing over him. Yatz explained that Manny had given him funding to develop a small ionized promethium plate that could store the sub-atomic coding of any number of inorganic materials. The plate, upon contact with a separate power supply, would swap atomic structures with all inorganic materials in the immediate vicinity, allowing a soldier, for example, to disguise himself as a civilian by making his outfit and equipment invisible until the device was activated. Yatz had hidden the prototype by implanting it in Jack's wrist, knowing the power supply would revive Ryder and heal his wounds. He had to work quickly, so there was no time to remove the harlequin costume. The coding of the costume was recorded on the plate, as were the drugs in his system. Manny's hit men broke in and killed the scientist while Jack activated the device in his wrist and transformed into the Creeper. As the Creeper the hallucinogenic drugs continued to affect him, and in a fit of madness he murdered Manny and his aides. The next day he awoke as Jack Ryder and remembered little of the incident. Jack gradually learned the secret of his other self, and transforms into the Creeper whenever he needs to get past the legal barriers a reporter normally runs into.

(Joker #3) - Jack Ryder covered the theft of a rare jeweled clown mask made by Cellini by Joker. As Creeper he confronted the villain, who managed to knock him out and tie him up. Creeper had amnesia, and Joker convinced him to help him kidnap Cashew's comic strip creator Sandy Saturn, telling him that Saturn framed him for a crime. He then convinced Creeper that he found evidence to clear Creeper's name and gave him a suitcase containing the supposed evidence to take to the police station. In truth the case had a bomb, but Creeper recovered his memory and disposed of it. Joker had Saturn draw comic strips of Joker committing atrocities on the young star of Cashews when Creeper confronted and defeated him.

(Swamp Thing II #46) - Creeper was among the number of heroes teleported to the Monitor’s satellite by Alexander Luthor, Jr., who explained his plan to make sure reality survived the Crisis.

(Hawk & Dove III #18, 19) - Jack Ryder attended the Georgetown University Law and Order Symposium and verbally attacked Judge Irwin Hall for allowing Washington S.C.U. to have a working relationship with the vigilantes Hawk and Dove. Hall shut him down by suggesting he had a working relationship with the Creeper. The Madmen attacked the symposium to steal the experimental weaponry on show by the S.C.U.. Hawk and Dove joined the fray, and were joined by Ryder's alter-ego the Creeper. Creeper didn't get along with Hawk and Dove, and after he plowed a car into a group of Madmen, nearly injuring civilians, they thought of him as insane. Fleeter mentally controlled the other Madmen, and when he was knocked unconsious the others regained their senses.

(Showcase '93 #12) - Creeper spent Christmas eve calling an adult hotline and discussing politics with the operator. When that got boring he went for a drink and rambled at bar patrons until he sa a nes eport of a hostage situation. Dave Kang thought his family was possessed by demons, and was ready to shoot them. Creeper broke into Kang's apartment and subdued him. he then tied him to a plank and tied a gun into his hand, putting him in the windo in full view of the police. The police opened fire, killing him, and his wife demanded to know why Creeper let him die. Creeper said he needed tension relief, and it was probably Dave's obligation to die anyway.

(Eclipso #11-13)-Creeperr and a band of superheroes went on a mission to kill Eclipso, god of vengeance. The mission turned into a route, and Creeper was ripped limb from limb by Eclipso. Creeper would not recover for many months.

(JLA #27) - Creeper was called in as a JLA reservist to battle Amazo. Amazo was programmed to acquire the powers of the JLA, so when Creeper and a number of other heroes temporarily joined the JLA to battle him it just made Amazo more powerful. Amazo decimated the JLA reservists, and was only defeated when Superman officially disbanded the JLA, leaving Amazo powerless.

(JLA #38) - Creeper was among the legion of heroes summoned by the JLA to quell worldwide outbreaks of warfare that were incited by Mageddon.

Comments: Created by Steve Ditko

Creeper received profiles in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #5 and Who's Who in the DC Universe #7.

Resurrection Man #8 showed a Halloween festival in Lonesome, VA at which many of the citizens were dressed as superheroes and villains, including Creeper.