Scientific experiments and genetic mutations are common subjects in comic comics. For a long time, readers have been fascinated with horrible creatures made from a mash-up of all things unholy. This film tells the story of how The Creech, a genetically produced monster that will make your skin crawl, came to be.
The Creech is a three-issue comic book series written by Greg Capullo and published by Image Comics that first debuted in 1997. The Creech’s creation and difficult life are the central themes of the novel. Following that, in 2001, Image Comics produced a second three-part series by Capullo, after which there was no further publishing. We’ve got some exciting series news for you, as well as a summary of everything Creech!
The remarkable 3-issue comic series explored
The Creech is a creature created by genetic experimentation and mutation, classic science fiction themes in a dystopian background but the story behind its creation is quite a heartbreaking and tragic one. The monstrosity was created by a gentle and pacifist scientist called Dr. Battu who was a genius in his own right but was driven by grief and longing to create this unearthly creature.
The tragic story behind his actions was that he and his wife had long wanted children but had quite bad luck on that front. However, after a long time, they had finally managed to conceive but the universe was not on their side, and during childbirth, he lost both his wife and his unborn child.
To cope with his grief, he thrust himself into scientific experimentation that he believed would help him fill the vacuum in his life and heart. He began experimenting with aborted fetuses to try and bring the dead back to life. To create life from what no longer had life anymore. In his quest to remake his child, he ended up with The Creech.
However, in the very first issue, he makes it clear that while The Creech looked like a gigantic monster with a bizarre face, weird skin, and so on, he was not evil or beastly in any manner. In fact, Dr. Battu had raised The Creech in an absolute vacuum, shielding him from all the negative influences of the world.
Dr. Battu believed that he possessed a virginal mind that did not know or understand the concept of limitations, thus, The Creech was limitless. Because he had no concept of good or evil, he was a pure and innocent being, comparable to Adam himself, created in the image of that purity. However, the world outside is big and bad and there is no dearth of people who would want to acquire such a monstrous being and mold its mind to serve their wicked purposes.
Thus lies the dual-edged sword of science and scientific advancement and Dr. Battu laments in the first issue because of how he was being persecuted for his creation rather than being praised because he gave new life to aborted fetuses. He was being persecuted because The Creech was taken from him to be used as a weapon of war as a particular organization believed that he would make the perfect, emotionless, lethal soldier.
The first issue opens with a lot of action and violence as we see a group of mercenaries gun down some sort of a massive creature. This creature happens to be The Creech and he is then taken away to a secret facility where the people of the facility turn him into a weapon of war by shackling him to technology to control him. Dr. Battu is taken to this facility and shown how his beloved creation was being held captive.
This is where he realizes that his vision of making a new life out of those dead and gone had been perverted by the people who owned and ran the lab, an organization called – A.G.E.N.C.Y. It is important to remember here that Dr Battu loved his creation as his own child and thus, wanted to set him free from this life of being a war machine. Seeing the changed state of his creation, he decided to orchestrate The Creech’s proverbial ‘fall from grace and believed that only this ‘fall from grace would allow him salvation.
The story is also set in a dystopic world where there are groups and cults, one of them being the Voice of God who begins vehemently protesting against the A.G.E.N.C.Y. because they believed that the organization was creating demons out of dead fetuses – as seen in the case of The Creech. The story moves along at a quick pace as the reader discovers other interesting information about the titular beast.
We see that The Creech was not only a result of genetically putting together aborted fetuses but also had alien DNA in it as well, complicating matters. Finally, towards the end of the first issue, Dr. Battu decides to transfer his thoughts, memories, and emotions – practically his entire consciousness into The Creech to stop the creature from completely becoming a war machine. He hoped that his human conscience and limitations would help The Creech distinguish between wrong and right and good and bad and most importantly, grant the creature free will.
Thus, Dr. Battu went ahead with the mind transfer and as it took place, a reporter watched all of it, marveling at how the doctor went to such lengths to save the creature, with no regard for his own safety. However, the agents of A.G.E.N.C.Y. – specifically a man named Dennis Dross apprehends Dr Battu as the transfer ends and blows out his brains with his gun, killing the doctor.
Thus began the story of The Creech. As the benevolent Dr. Battu’s awareness contends with its genetically created inclinations for violence and death, the suddenly self-aware creature is a jumble of internal contradictions. During one of his conflicts, he kills Dross, an influential member of the agency. The comic has tonnes of action and violence and the illustrations do wonders in providing readers with a stunning visual experience.
However, there are more complications than a newfound human conscience. Remember how The Creech’s DNA was discovered to be identical to that of aliens planning an invasion of Earth? Well, these aliens have now become the second impediment in his quest for freedom, bent on the annihilation of the human species. Unfortunately, the Creech sacrifices himself to save the Earth from an extra terrestrial invasion before he has a chance to resolve his own concerns. This one is truly a wonderful storyline that captured the attention of audiences to the point that people still want a sequel to this comic although it was published 2 decades ago.
What makes the Creech so powerful?
The Creech is powerful for a number of different reasons, one of them being its obviously unique physiology. His genetic make-up gives him insane strength with is further enhanced when the A.G.E.N.C.Y. adds machinery and lethal technology to his already unique body and transforms him into a war machine. Some of these added technologies are tentacles of steel that can repel bullets at crazy speeds and an Aggressive Reactor Chip or ARC that kicks in when he perceives danger, one blast from which is enough to blind a person.
However, what is truly frightening is the fact that The Creech was a clean slate. When there are limitless opportunities, things can either go well or go horribly wrong and with his immense power, the potential for things going wrong is also manifold. And boy did things go wrong. As soon as the mind transfer was completed and The Creech was set free, he was flooded with a whole host of emotions that he had never experienced before. Horrible emotions such as anger, fear and loss. Scariest of all, as he heard the screams of the people he attacked and wounded, he felt pleasure, and wanted more.
Thus, what had been created to be pure and innocent had been turned into a lethal, bloodthirsty war machine that got off on violence. He had no rhyme or reason to cause injury, he did because he liked it and that is what made him so extremely powerful. He answered to no one – as Dennis Dross says in the first issue, The Creech is already dead, it is simply an entity with no past or future because it is made up of dead fetuses. Thus, what he has is the present and he uses it to satisfy his craving for the rush he got when people screamed for their lives.
However, Dr Battu’s consciousness did dampen the need for violence that had been instilled in The Creech via the machines implanted by the A.G.E.N.C.Y., often cutting down his power by half. He was also extremely protective of children and would do anything to keep babies safe.
The final chapter of the Creech is on its way
After the release of the initial three-part series in 1997, The eponymous Creech then debuted in 1998 as part of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn action figure line. Capullo’s second three-part series, The Creech: Out For Blood, was published by Image in 2001. Since then, the property has been inactive for over two whole decades now.
However, we did promise you good news about the series at the very beginning of this video and we are here to deliver. It turns out that Capullo currently appears to be working on the Creech’s story in earnest. In an Instagram post, Capullo shared a sneak peek at some new Creech scripts. He wrote, “I’ve been busy writing.” “The Creech’s final chapter is still being written. Finally!” While the screenplay photographs don’t reveal much, they do show that Act I apparently contains an “inciting incident” featuring a film crew, and Act II contains a “meeting.”
This Instagram update was in 2021. More recently, on his Twitter account, Capullo tweeted on 29th April this year that he has only the fifteen pages of what will be a 110-page comic book, left to be laid out. The celebrated comic book artist promised that all fifteen pages were action pages. Later, on the 1st of May, he took to Twitter once again to share a sketch with the text ‘Enter your DOOM’, which was met with immense enthusiasm by fans.
There has been a long hibernation but finally, we will see it happen. However, it is unknown when the final chapter of The Creech will be released in comic shops. But, it looks like it will be sooner rather than later, hopefully, we will have it by the end of this year!
The comic series is an interesting take on dealing with the loss of one’s family and the ramifications that scientific experiments using human parts can have. The first time someone tried something similar in the genre of science fiction was in Mary Shelly’s famous novel Frankenstein and we all know how that turned out. Trying to raise the dead is never a good idea but what Capullo is successful in doing in this series is creating a world that perfectly compliments his bizarre creation. The Creech himself is complex and not one-dimensional and the moral grey area is what excites readers as they read along. We are super excited for the series finale that Capullo has in store, what about you? Tell us in the comments section below!