Showcase #73

THE COMING OF THE CREEPER

Jack Ryder, former TV host turned network security investigator, is assigned to investigate the case of Professor Yatz, a scientist captured by criminals and about to be turned over to Communist spies for shipping back to the Soviet Union. Since the place where Yatz is being held is throwing a costume party, Ryder buys a costume made of odds and ends, including a green wig and a red sheepskin "cape." He finds Yatz, but not before getting cut in the stomach by a knife. Yatz heals his wound with a special formula of his devising, and plants in the wound an activator, whose mate the costumed Ryder has in his hand. The activator allows Ryder the ability to dematerialize or rematerialize his costume at the twist of a dial. The professor's formula also energizes him physically. Yatz is shot dead, but Ryder, in costume, defeats the hoods and spies. In the process, he is branded falsely as a crook, and becomes wanted by both the police and underworld under the name of "the Creeper".