Sad, poignant, and beautifully told.
Creative Staff
Writer: John Arcudi
Art: Jonathan Case
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Cover Artist: Tonei Zonjic
What They Say
A young boy puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. The police don’t care. Not about his death or the related death of his best friend two months earlier. One tortured mother seeks help from an old flame who’s now a detective. What she doesn’t know is that he suffers from acromegaly—a disease resulting in brutish facial features at midlife. Will his freakish appearance get in the way of solving the double suicide?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The past never comes back when we want it, and the parts that do return are often the ones we least want to revisit. For Oxel Karnhus, the particular bird that’s come home to roost is an ex college girlfriend, Stephanie Brinke. Her son, Curtis, committed suicide and like any parent, she wants answers. The police do not seem to care, despite the fact that Curtis’ best friend Mike committed suicide just two months before. Knowing that Oxel is a private investigator, Stephanie (perhaps a bit unkindly) turns to him for help. Oxel, despite his better judgment, decides to give it, but there’s a problem: he suffers from acromegaly: a disease that sets growth hormones on overdrive, causing pain and a swelling of the face. No one is the same as he or she was in college, but for Oxel this is especially true. He avoids Stephanie, but undertakes the investigation, uncovering a tragic tale that resulted in the suicide of two boys.
Perhaps the most famous case of acromegaly was the B-movie actor Rondo Hatton—who fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 will recognize as the titular Brute Man. Hatton suffered from the disease and was relegated to playing tough guys, monsters, and assorted heavies in crime dramas. His ghost haunts this project right down to the decisions that Case made in drawing Oxel. Instead of a Brute Man, Case and Arcudi present a lonely, gentle man ravaged by a disease that sets him apart from everyone else. He’s all too aware that the reasons why he accepts Stephanie’s case have little to do with easing the suffering of a former friend and more with touching—albeit briefly—a piece of his past before his life took such an unfair turn.
Oxel’s physical condition plays a nice counterpoint to the mental condition suffered by Stephanie’s father, Jeff. A severe schizophrenic, Jeff had his situation under control until Mike committed suicide. He now lives on the street, flickering in and out of reality, as much an outcast as Oxel. Both men are haunted by their pasts and their isolation, but only Oxel takes responsibility for his life and tries to make it better—even if he does stumble from time to time.
The character work in this piece is excellent, and it’s supported by the quality of the mystery. This is more of a crime story than a mystery in that it focuses more on the people involved than the puzzle, but I’m pleased to say that the mystery does possess surprises. Without giving too much away, I was absolutely sure that the revelation would turn out to be one way, but it went in another direction entirely. I like a mystery that keeps me guessing, and many times I feel like if I could solve the case then it wasn’t well written. The Creep, obviously, is well written.
Of course, the quality of the writing in comics depends a great deal on the quality of the art. At heart comics are a collaborative art and there are times when you can have a great story marred by the way it’s presented, or a pretty story that tells essentially nothing. This is not the case here. Arcudi and Case do a fantastic job of crafting a sad, poignant, human tale. The expressions on the character’s faces, the little bits of acting, and the colors do a wonderful job of telling the story. Oxel’s New York is dominated by whites, blues, and grays and his memories of Stephanie and his mental images of her are told in warm yellows and reds. It’s little touches like that—little attentions to details—that convey the story’s mood.
In Summary
The Creep is a sad, poignant, and beautifully told crime story. Oxel is a private investigator suffering from acromegaly—a condition that swells his face and puts him in nearly constant pain. He receives a letter from an old girlfriend asking him to look into her son’s suicide. Oxel accepts more out of wanting to experience a part of his past before his condition kicked in than a desire to help his former love, and while he does find answers, they do little to provide any real sense of comfort for anyone involved. John Arcudi and Jonathan Case do an excellent job telling this story. The art and the writing are top-notch and come together to tell a truly moving story. I would love it if they revisit The Creep again at some point. Highly recommended.
Content Grade: A+
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 7, 2013
MSRP: $19.99
