Nite-Owl
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- For other uses of the term, see Night Owl.
Nite Owl is the name of a pair of fictional characters in the comic book series, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and published by DC Comics. They are modified versions of the various Blue Beetle characters created for Fox Feature Syndicate and later sold to Charlton Comics, with the second Nite Owl bearing certain similarities to Batman.
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[edit] Nite Owl I
[edit] Character history
Hollis J. Mason (1916-1985)
At the age of 12 his father left the family farm in Montana and moved to New York City, working at Moe Vernon's Auto Repairs.
Starting out as a New York City policeman in 1938, he was inspired by Action Comics' Superman and the real life exploits of Hooded Justice to take up the life of a vigilante. He was nicknamed Nite-Owl for spending his evenings working out in the Police Gymnasiums as much as possible and going to bed at 9:00pm to rise for a 5:00am work out before donning his badge and uniform.
His costume was designed to free his arms and legs while protecting his chest, abdomen and head with a tough leather tunic. With the tunic hiding his hair, a domino mask concealed his identity.
He became a member of the Minutemen, a "masked adventurer" league in mid-1939. Mason was an "old school" crimefighter, a real "Boy Scout" in the eyes of Captain Metropolis. He stopped colorful criminals like the Screaming Skull and went on to fight Axis operatives including Captain Axis during World War II. He retired in May, 1962 to open an auto business and write his memoir, Under the Hood. By reading Under the Hood, Silk Spectre II later learned of The Comedian's attempted rape of her mother Silk Spectre I. Interestingly enough, the Comedian never sued Mason for writing about the incident.
[edit] Personality
Mason was quite possibly the most decent and "normal" of the masked adventurers presented in Watchmen. While many of his colleagues have psychological issues with regards to society, race, gender, sex or just simple megalomania, Mason is apparently free of these traits, and judging by the excerpts from his book, is something of a voice of reason in the world of the costumed adventurers. Both in person and in his book his words tend to be kindly and temperate, with a slight tendency towards light hearted self-deprecating humor.
He seems to be well liked by most of his teammates and to get along with most as well, despite sometimes being all too aware of their faults and flaws. His enmity seems to be saved for the Comedian, whom he never forgave for the attempted rape of Sally Jupiter, and whose brutal means of crimefighting proved too much for Mason to reconcile himself with.
[edit] Events of Watchmen
Mason was killed by Derf, a Knot-top gang member, in a frenzied break-in after Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II broke Rorschach out of prison. After the prison break, the Knot-tops, who had been angered by this, and had heard the rumours that Rorschach had broken out with the help of Nite Owl, follow the suggestion of a gang member who makes the mistake of thinking that Mason is the same Nite Owl that had participated in the prison break. They proceed to beat him up, and things get out of hand when Mason tries to defend himself. In the end, Mason dies when his head is bludgeoned with the very statue that was given to him as an acknowledgement and reward for his service as a costumed adventurer.
[edit] Nite Owl II
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[edit] Character history
Dan Dreiberg relied more upon technical wizardry than toughness, which set him apart from his fellow costumed adventurers. Still, he showed he has good enough fist-fighting skills when defending himself. All of his gadgets and costumes are based on an owl theme. He uses an owl-shaped flying vehicle nicknamed "Archie" (Archimedes, after the owl in Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone), equipped with a variety of offensive and defensive gear.
Dreiberg's father was a banker who left him a large inheritance, which he used to design and build his crime-fighting gear. Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl, was his hero and when he retired, Dan wrote to Mason, asking if he could carry on his name. Upon looking at his gear, Mason was too impressed to refuse him, so Dan started out in the 1960's. From then on, the two men became friends, and met every Saturday.
In 1965, Nite Owl II successfully teamed up with fellow costumed adventurer Rorschach to take on organized crime. Having already come to believe that his expensive activities were accomplishing little, Dreiberg retired after the passing of the Keene Act on August 3, 1977, although in 1985 (when the story takes place) he seems to regret his decision to give up crime fighting. Rorschach would later say regarding his retirement, "No staying power." Dreiberg mastered in aeronautics and zoology at Harvard University, contributing scholarly articles to ornithological journals after his retirement in 1977.
[edit] Events of Watchmen
Dreiberg becomes romantically entangled with the second Silk Spectre, Laurie Juspeczyk, after she leaves Doctor Manhattan. He returns to vigilantism along with her which began with a heartening night out in costume where they successfully save the occupants of a burning building. They later break Rorschach out of prison in an attempt to stop Ozymandias' scheme to "save the world from itself." Unfortunately, breaking out Rorschach resulted in the murder of Hollis Mason, which Dan learned of only when he and Rorschach went to interrogate suspects; upon learning of Mason's death, Dan became violent, attacking the informer and loudly swearing vengeance against Mason's killers, who were most likely killed by Ozymandias's plot. After failing to stop Ozymandias and agreeing to keep the truth hidden, he and Silk Spectre take up the identities of Sam and Sandra Hollis, continuing their vigilante activities anew as undisclosed costumed heroes.
