EYES

Classification: (Partial) human mutates

Location/Base of Operations: Under the sea off the coast of Rhode Island

Known Members: At least five, none identified

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Jerry King

Aliases: The Eye-Things, the Eye-Monsters

First Appearance: Astonishing#30/1 (February, 1954)

Powers/Abilities: Resembling giant, bloodshot eye-balls, these creatures were about five-feet in diameter and had tentacles which they used for locomotion.

The Eyes could emit a beam from their pupils which would liquefy human flesh and bone, transforming people into puddles of water.

The Eyes only weakness seemed to be that they were irritated by bright lights.

History: (Astonishing#30/1) - The origin of the Eyes is unknown, but one night, two emerged from the sea off the coast of Narraganset, Rhode Island and attacked the crew of a fishing boat anchored in the water. The Eyes emitted a beam of light which caused all the humans aboard the boat to melt into puddles of water. At the same time nearby, a single Eye appeared out of the waters by the shore and attacked a lone fisherman, also turning him into a puddle of water.

(Astonishing#30/1 - BTS) - The Eyes spread their horror along the coast, attacking travellers and vacationers who were caught unawares, leaving only abandoned picnics and cars along the way. Swiftly, the small seacoast villages turned into ghost towns -- the fearless people who didn't run away were suddenly missing, their houses empty except for puddles of water.

(Astonishing#30/1) - As panic spread throughout the town, Jerry King was paid a visit by the caretaker of the local cemetery. The caretaker took King back to the cemetery and showed him how the Eyes were digging into a freshly dug grave and removing the eyes from a corpse -- King speculated that the Eyes would take the stolen eyes back to the sea and nurture them to full size, and thus create more of their kind.

  Leaving the cemetery, lost in thought and trying to come up with a way to stop the Eyes, King eventually drove to the home of his girl friend Helen to talk out the problem. While Helen went to get King a cup of coffee, she paused to switch off a bright lamp that was bothering her eyes...and THAT gave King his solution! Grabbing a flashlight, he shined the beam into Helen's eyes -- as she winced from the glare, King told her that the Eyes were once human, too, so bright lights should have the same effect on them! King ran off to spread the word on how to defeat the Eyes, and everyone was advised to carry a flashlight with fresh batteries.

  The simple defense worked, and all over the coast, reports came in from people who saw the Eye-Monsters and lived to tell of driving them away with a strong beam of light flashed into their pupils.

  The menace seemed to be over -- King's idea was successful, and it would give the people time to figure out a way to destroy the Eyes in their lair. Later, the town threw a celebration in honor of their hero, Jerry King. During the party, an announcer on the radio read a news story about a strange series of robberies that had taken place over the entire city; but the announcer assured the listeners not to be alarmed because nothing of value had been stolen -- the only things the thieves took were...DARK GLASSES!!!

Comments: Created by an unknown writer and Pete Tumlinson.

Tentacled eyeballs?!! Yech!!! This was exactly the type of story that Dr. Wertham warned us about, kiddies. Thankfully the Comics Code Authority came along shortly after this was published.

No explanation was ever given as to how these monsters came about -- maybe the Cult of the Harvester of Eyes, or some demonic entity like Helleyes or Shuma-Gorath, was responsible for them.

Hmm...this story got me thinking...Maybe I've stumbled on to something BIG -- maybe there's some connection with these monsters and all those eye-motif villains -- the Great Video, the Orb, Peeper -- maybe they're all somehow connected...

Move over, Cockroach Conspiracy!

Beware...the Irate Eye Empire!! (Don't say I didn't warn ya!)

I wonder if there could be a link between the Eyes and the Floating Eyes from Venus [Mystic#6 (January, 1952) "The Eye Of Doom"]?
--Gammatotem

And a BIG Thank You to the Atlas Tales site for allowing me to use the scans of this story!

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Eyes have no known connections to

• Evil Eye, magical power item @ Fantstic Four I#54
• Eye of Agamotto, power items created by Agamotto @ Strange Tales I#127
• Eye of Ages, power item brought into past by Rama-Tut @ Rise of Apocalypse#1
• Eye of Ahriman, used by Ennis Tremellyn @ Marvel Two-in-One#49
• Eye of Bast, allowed Children of Bast to take and maintain human form @ Conan the Barbarian I#226
• Eye of Bast, fragment of Claw of Bast @ Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards#2
• Eye of Capistan, alias of Star of Capistan, created by Red Rajah @ Defenders I#42
• Eye of Dagon, silver eye from Bird-Riders' statue @ Conan the Barbarian I#59
• Eye of Erlik, magic item @ Savage Sword of Conan#53
• Eye of Force, used by Thule's society @ Cloak and Dagger III#14
• Eye of Horus, Egyptian artifact @ Thor I#326
• Eye of Ibis, magic item held by Rammon @ Marvel Graphic Novel: Horn of Azoth
• Eye of Kierrok, magic item of Pilgrimm, real eye taken from Kierrok @ X-Men II#75
• Eye of Necros, amulet of Necromon @ Hulk Comic#45/2
• Eye of Odin, actual eye removed by Odin @ Thor I#274
• Eye of Ra, magic item used by Horus @ Marvel Universe: The End#2
• Eye of Tai-Shan, crystal ball of Shing Luu @ Conan the Barbarian I#251
• Eye of Yin, magic item sought by Mandarin @ Amazing Adventures II#
• Eye of Zartra, magic item from pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis @ Sub-Mariner I#63/2
• Eye Cups, Persian torture device @ Hellstorm#15
• Eye Flower, saved from Skrulls by Fantastic Four @ Fantsatic Four III#60
• Eyekillers, demons of Native American legend @ Dr. Strange II#38
• Eyes of Kristall Starrer, magic eyes given to Clara Menninger @ Blaze II#1
• Eye of Watoomb of Earth-6084, used by Warren Traveler @ Ms. Marvel II#4
• Eye Scream, X-Men foe @ Obnoxio vs X-Men#1
• or any other eye

Jerry King

The editor of the Daily Herald, he came up with a solution to stop the menace of the Eyes when he noticed his girl friend Helen's irritation at a bright lamp; King got the idea that the Eyes could be driven off with simple flashlights.

--Astonishing#30/1

images: (without ads)
Astonishing#30, p1, pan1 (main image)