For his 7th birthday, Jacob Stevens was taken to a comic store and allowed to pick seven comics as a present. While there, he runs into Sysyphyx, who offers him a small, ornate box that she says will give him superpowers if he looks inside it. He takes it home, rushes up to his room, and does just that.  
 
Soon Jacob's behaviour starts to change, and one day he kills his father with a baseball bat. His mother comes home to find him, and sees a large, black growth hanging in the middle of the room, apparently with Jacob inside. Mr. Arkham and Sysyphyx arrive at the house and Sysyphyx takes the place of Jacob's mother. Jacob soon emerges from the cocoon as Gnruk, and seeing his mother, tells her he can fly, and they leave together.  
 
Later, when Lucifer breaks into Mr. Arkham's house to steal something, Gnruk finds and chases her, saying he wants to play hide and seek. Lucifer manages to escape. 
 
When everyone arrives at R'lyeh, Gnruk is told to start feasting on the worshippers there. Doing so causes him to quickly grow in size. Proud of this change, he seeks out his mother to show her, but arrives to see Raymond kick her off a ledge. Angered, he chases him, but Raymond manages to get the jump on him and shoots him in the back of the head.