The Creep

Oxel Karnhus is a private eye with Acromegaly.  That’s a condition caused by an overactive pituitary gland which winds up stimulating the growth of bones in your face and extremities.  It’s made his adult life a hard one, but he gets by in this collection of stories written by John Arcudi and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham and Brian Kalin O’Connell.  They run the gamut of sticky situations from a woman who hires Oxel to find her long-lost mother, a mother who wants to find evidence of her son’s innocence, a lost dog, and a passing relationship with a woman of the night.

This is actually the second collection of “The Creep” with the first being a miniseries that originally ran at Dark Horse almost a decade ago.  While this collection is newer, it’s actually collecting stories that are much older, having originally ran in the pages of “Dark Horse Presents” back in the 90’s.  It’s easy to imagine these stories having stood out more back then as this kind of gritty urban noir storytelling was something you didn’t see outside of “Sin City.”  Even then, these stories carry a more grounded tone that sets it apart from that seminal Frank Miller series.

Today, though, they don’t feel quite so distinctive as the market has diversified just a little since then.  Written Arcudi does give Oxel plenty of character and makes him an appealing protagonist while the art from Eaglesham is impressively detailed and atmospheric with O’Connell doing well enough on his own terms.  Still, the collection feels kind of slight at six short chapters, meaning that you’re barely introduced to Oxel’s world before you wind up having to leave it.  As someone who’s always liked Arcudi’s work it’s nice to have these stories back in print and I appreciated the backstory he provides about the series in his foreword.  It’s one for completists of the creators involved, to be sure, but I can see them pleased by this.