I re-read an old favorite the other day, as research for something I had already finished...from 1998,
The Creeper #9, "Writer's Block" Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, art by regular artists Shawn Martinbrough and Sal Buscema, with John Paul Leon, Phil Nester and Ande Parks, and J.H. Williams and Mick Gray. I wonder if this one might've sold better if the guest artists had been hyped up...
Even with all his research completed, a pot of coffee, a Corona typewriter that no professional writer should've been using even in the 90's, and a hard deadline; Jack Ryder has a brutal case of writer's block. Unable to get into his actual story, Jack decides to play around with something else, to get the creative ball rolling, and tries his hand at a fairy tale. But using his imagination may open the door to his alter ego, the Creeper...
Jack wasn't quite full on multiple-personality disorder at the time; but close. He and the Creeper were somewhat antagonistic at the time, and the Creeper persona intrudes on everything Jack tries to write, like a noir detective story.
Increasingly frustrated, and apparently grinding through several reams of paper; Jack tries a horror story. An embittered ghost writer, furious over years of abuse and neglect from his Hollywood big-shot boss; snaps and murders him. After disposing of the body, the writer thrills at the chance to write something for himself, but finds his boss has come back for him...
After that EC Comics style nightmare, Jack finds the apartment full of scraps of paper, insane scribbling...and the article he was supposed to be writing all along, finished. The Creeper may be insane, but Jack admits he's the spark he needs. But he resolves to block that out.
Really enjoyed this series, although I think I came back to it just in time for it's premature cancellation. I may have to take a look at the last issue sometime. Maybe it should've been a Vertigo title back in the day--the opening of this one has a trashed living room that's pretty PG, and
Spider Jerusalem would've done it up right.
Ah, good series. I have the 1st issue myself, and really need to get the rest. I think it really sounded and was written more like a Vertigo series than a standard, mainstream book, thus maybe why it didn't do so well. And I hear yeah about the need to hype/advertise the artists as well. They were/are all very solid professionals.
ReplyDeleteThis one looks very good and intriguing though. I think this premise, minus the revision/ret-con of the Creeper being a literal demon was solid enough to have worked, and wouldn't too out of place if it was brought back in the Nu52.