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.
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Nite Owl I
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.
He became a member of the Minutemen, a "masked adventurer" league in mid-1939. Mason was an "old school" crimefighter, a really Boy Scout in the eyes of Captain Metropolis. Who stopping colorful criminals like the Screaming Skull and going on to fight Axis operatives during World War II like Captain Axis. He retired in May, 1962 to open an auto business and write his memoir, Under the Hood, through which Silk Spectre II later learned of The Comedian's attempted rape of her mother Silk Spectre I.
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.
Nite Owl II
Character history
Dan Dreiberg relied more upon technical wizardry than toughness, which set him apart from his fellow costumed adventurers. 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 he retired when 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. Dreiberg retired after the passing of the Keene Act on August 3rd, 1977. 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.
Events of Watchmen
He becomes romantically entangled with the second Silk Spectre, Laurie Juspeczyk, after she left Doctor Manhattan. He returned to vigilantism along with her, breaking Rorschach out of prison in an attempt to stop Ozymandias' scheme to "save the world from itself." After this incident, he and Silk Spectre took up the identities of Sam and Sandra Hollis, continuing their vigilante activities anew as undisclosed costumed heroes.