CREEPER

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Unrevealed (circa early 1900s) 

Occupation: Petty thief 

Group Membership: Street Arabs (Dead George Pelham, Hoyden (Megan), Jacob, Spieler/Lille McGurty, the Swell/Eddie Gunnam, Tristan, Yellow Kid, others) 

Affiliations: The Runaways (Molly Hayes, Victor Mancha, Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, Chase Stein, Xavin), Professor Duck;
    formerly the Sinners (Forget-Me-Not, Kid Twist, Maneater, Morphine, others)

Enemies: Goldbrick, Ratdog, the Sinners; the Upward Path (Adjudicator, Black Mariah, Daystick, Difference Engine, Nightstick, the Witchbreaker); Dale Yorkes, Stacey Yorkes

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Camelot (a backyard between NYC tenements in 1907)

First Appearance: Runaways #27 (August 2007)

Powers/Abilities: Creeper was only a few inches tall. Since he was never seen to change height, even when it might have proved advantageous to do so, he may well have been permanently this size.

Height: 6" (by approximation - see comments)
Weight: 2 oz. (by approximation - see comments)
 Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond

History:
(Runaways II#27) - Early in the 20th century, the tiny Creeper was one of a number of Wonders (that era's term for people with abilities - "Wonders of the Modern Age") who had come together in New York City as the Street Arabs.

    They based themselves out of some derelict tenements which shared a backlot, an area the Arabs dubbed "Camelot." 

(Runaways II#28 (fb) - BTS) - The Street Arabs occasionally did minor criminal jobs for the Sinners, a more violently criminal group of Wonders secretly controlled by the time traveling Dale and Stacey Yorkes, future foes of the Runaways.

(Runaways II#29 (fb) - BTS) - Creeper was close friends with fellow Street Arab Hoyden, sometimes riding around on her shoulders; he appeared to be one of the few people who called her by her first name. He once watched her hospitalize six police officers for insulting her.

(Runaways II#27) - The Runaways, time traveling from around 100 years in the future, arrived in 1907 and encountered the Swell, who brought them to meet the rest of the Street Arabs, including Creeper.

(Runaways II#29) - In Camelot Creeper, Hoyden and Dead George Pelham listened as the Swell explained that the Runaways had put them all in the Sinners' bad books, as they apparently had a feud with the Sinners' "Higher-ups" (the Yorkes). The Swell felt the Arabs needed to keep the Runaways close until he could catch the Sinners' leader Maneater in a favorable mood and calm the situation, but Hoyden felt the Arabs should distance themselves from the Runaways and throw them out of Camelot. Creeper agreed, quite open that he was doing so mainly because the suggestion had come from Hoyden, but the Swell successfully argued that they should hold off doing so, as he still hoped the Arabs might be able to gain something from the situation by working out a deal with the Sinners.

   Some time later, Creeper was riding atop Hoyden's shoulder as she walked in the alleys near Camelot. He informed her that he thought the Swell was unnecessarily worried over the new arrivals, but Hoyden disagreed, stating that she felt they were trouble, and she was worried they were going to drag the Arabs into the middle of a conflict that was already brewing between the Sinners and the law-enforcing Wonders of the Upward Path.

    Creeper responded that if this happened then they would slip right through that trouble, just as they always did, when Hoyden's concerns were abruptly proved correct, as the pair were confronted by Sinners' members Kid Twist, Forget-Me-Not and Morphine, on their way to Camelot to wipe out the Runaways and Arabs. Making clear his hostile intention, Kid Twist let the pair try to flee, then fired a bullet which twisted and turned through the air, changing direction to unerringly shoot Hoyden through the heart. As a tearful Creeper prayed for his apparently lifeless friend to live and begged her to survive, Twist fired a second time. Creeper turned to see the bullet bend its trajectory to round a corner, moments before it struck him in the head.

Comments: Created by Joss Whedon, Michael Ryan, Rick Ketcham and Jay Leisten

    It's not impossible that Hoyden and/or Creeper could have survived Twist's bullets. While Kid Twist couldn't miss, his bullets were otherwise no more lethal than regular ones, as evidenced when they failed to slow down the zombie Dead George Pelham. As such, if either Hoyden or Creeper had regenerative powers, or if Creeper was durable enough to suffer only minor injury from a bullet (even when it was so large in comparison to him), then they might have survived. However, given Hoyden collapsed unresponsive with her eyes open, she definitely seemed slain. As for Creeper, he took a shot to the head from a bullet larger than his skull, and while they kept the actual headshot off panel, the sound effects and blood splatter suggest it effectively decapitated him.

    Creeper definitely loved Hoyden, given his tears of grief at her apparent passing. It's possible he was in love with her, but that's unconfirmed given how little we got to see of him (no pun intended).

    Given we never see him change size, and it might have been useful to do so if he could when the Sinners confronted him and Hoyden, it seems probable Creeper was permanently small. This is also supported by his street name - if he could change size, you'd expect the name might reflect that, whereas instead it suggests his small size allows him to creep - i.e. to be stealthy, perhaps as a thief. Creeper could presumably enter buildings through small openings and then unlock doors or windows to permit the other Arabs access, for example.

    We only see a few panels of Creeper, and never in any that allow for us to easily compare his height directly against a character whose stature has been officially worked out. However, we do see him in three panels were he is reasonably close to his teammate the Swell, and we see the Swell standing next to the Runaways. The Swell looks to be only marginally shorter than Chase Stein (5'11"), and Creeper in turn appears to be around two thirds the height of the Swell's head. A normally proportioned human is around 7.5 heads tall, so if the Swell is perhaps 5'10" then Creeper is somewhere around the 6" mark, give or take perhaps an inch. Making a big assumption that his weight is proportionate to a normal human then allows us to estimate his weight. However, that assumption might not be the case; he could for example be smaller because he's been compacted, making him denser and thus heavier than he might look. Riding Hoyden's shoulders doesn't rule this out, as she appears to have above normal strength.

    This profile was completed 12/30/2020, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Creeper has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Runaways II#27, p15, pan 4 (main)
Runaways II#29, p14, pan 4 (headshot)
Runaways II#29, p14, pan 5-6 (headshot)

Appearances:
Runaways II#27 (August 2007) - Joss Whedon (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Jay Leisten (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Runaways II#29 (April 2008) - Joss Whedon (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham and Andrew Hennessey (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)

First Posted: 09/06/2021
Last updated: 09/04/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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