BEWARE THE CREEPER #4

The cover shows generally strong gloss and vivid color with no major color breaks visible in this photo, but there is noticeable surface waviness/wrinkling across the cover (likely from humidity exposure) that is most visible in the blue background areas. Corners appear reasonably sharp with only mild wear, and the spine shows no obvious major stress lines from this angle, though slight texture irregularities are present. The book is housed in a protective sleeve which obscures fine edge detail. Interior pages and back cover were not assessed, so the grade reflects front-cover evidence only.

Beware the Creeper #4 closes out one of Steve Ditko's most idiosyncratic Silver Age creations, a six-issue run that folded before the character found a wider audience. Ditko wrote, drew, and defined the visual language of Jack Ryder's alter ego across the series, and this issue carries his signature blend of contorted anatomy, harsh shadow, and off-kilter page design. It arrived late in 1968, near the tail end of Ditko's DC tenure, at a moment when the publisher was still experimenting with antihero concepts in the wake of the character's introduction in issue #1.

Market data reflects a book that circulates almost entirely among Ditko completists and Creeper series collectors rather than mainstream key-issue buyers. The FMV curve is thin and uneven above the low-to-mid grades, with sales clustering in the $14-$70 range across 6.5 through 9.4, and no priced sales at all for the two highest certified tiers despite a modest number of copies existing there. That gap indicates a book that is scarce in top condition and rarely trades once it reaches those grades, rather than one in active high-end demand.

Collecting interest centers on Ditko's artwork and the completeness of a Creeper run rather than any landmark event within this specific issue. Raw copies in low and mid grade move as affordable run-fillers for Silver Age or Ditko-focused collections, while a true 9.8 would be a census-defining rarity commanding a premium disproportionate to the book's modest print-run demand, given that no such copy has yet traded.