Nite Owl (I) Part 2: Watchmen #2 (October, 1986)

Here, we learn more about Hollis’ time with The Minutemen, with the real 'meat and potatoes' of the character explained in the Under the Hood excerpts.

I have this issue in the Watchmen trade.

While this issue focuses on The Comedian, Hollis makes an appearance in a flashback sequence. In October of 1940, we see Hollis (as Nite Owl) paying a photographer for eight copies of the first (?) official photo of The Minutemen. In the excerpts, Hollis explains how he came up with the name and look for Nite Owl, his methods of fighting crime and his perspective on the creation of The Minutemen.

Notes of Interest:
1) I’ve spent time in my youth fantasizing putting on a costume and fighting bad guys. Moore’s use of the excerpts in this issue brought reality to that. One of the many things Moore was trying to express with Watchmen was that the superhero genre in comics can be grounded in reality and make for great storytelling. Marvel and DC didn’t get that for over ten years, but The Ultimates, Astro City, The Authority and Identity Crisis are direct descendents of Watchmen, and proof that Moore was right.

2) Within the flashback to 1940, Hollis had no idea what happened after the photoshoot. In his autobiography, it’s clear that he found out later.

3) We learn that The Minutemen lasted roughly ten years - from the fall of 1939 to sometime in 1949 – and Hollis stayed with the group until they disbanded.

4) Hollis comes across as a regular guy, the most ‘normal’ of The Minutemen, with the least amount of personal issues regarding society, race, gender or sexual orientation.

5) While never the official leader of the team, Hollis was the spirit of the group, and got along with most of the others despite being all too aware of their shortcomings.

WTF? Moment: My one gripe with the series in general is that there’s no moment where The Minutemen worked together as a team. Not even a simple fight with just Hollis and Sally Jupiter going against a group of thugs – a nod to the fight later on with Dan and Laurie, or a battle where Eddie shows his darker tendencies and Hollis’ reaction to that. Heck – I’d love to have seen Hollis’ reaction to what Eddie did after the photoshoot. I haven’t read Absolute Watchmen, so I have no idea if Moore ever planned to include something like that, but I would have liked it, and it would have worked in this issue.