"NIGHT WATCHER"
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (race unknown) (1950s era)
Occupation: Invasion scout/spy
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Others of its race
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Night Watcher" (in title only) (see comments)
Base of Operations: Mobile in the galaxy;
originally from an unidentified alien world
First Appearance: Uncanny Tales I#48/3 (October, 1956)
Powers/Abilities: Appearing as a billowing and amorphous dark cloud, this sentient alien entity was a shapeshifter that could alter its size, color, and form to impersonate other life-forms. In its natural state, it was immune to physical harm, but once it assumed solid form, it was vulnerable to attack; it was shot and killed after it took on the appearance of a raccoon. It could emit "mental feelers" to scan the mind of another being and "read" surface thoughts from that being--in its natural state, it didn't appear to have any sensory organs, so possibly it perceived its environment psionically with these "mental feelers". It was also able to project "prismatic multi-beams" that were used to render its spacecraft invisible.
This alien traveled through interstellar space via a spherical spacecraft.
Height: Variable
Weight: Variable
Eyes: Variable
Hair: Variable
History: (Uncanny Tales I#48/3) - The past of this alien is unknown, but its leaders sent it to scout the galaxy for a suitable planet to conquer and inhabit. After landing one night in an isolated forest on Earth, the alien rendered its spacecraft invisible, then turned its attention to its mission: To find the world's dominant life-form, take on its appearance, then infiltrate that life-form's civilization.
Suddenly, the alien perceived three Earth natives rapidly approaching--a running raccoon, chased by a baying dog (Bob) and a hunter (Pete). While Bob had the raccoon treed, Pete noticed the menacing alien and fired his rifle at it, but the bullets passed harmlessly through the alien's shapeless cloud-like form. Using its "mental feelers," the alien read Pete's mind to learn his language, then formed a mouth to communicate with him. It asked Pete if he was Earth's dominant life-form, but sensing the danger the invader posed, Pete pointed to the treed raccoon and claimed it was his master. When the disbelieving alien pointed out that Pete and Bob were pursuing the raccoon, and that Pete carried the weapon, Pete employed trickery and explained to the alien that he and Bob were merely following their leader, and the reason he carried the weapon was because he was the raccoon's guard. The alien once more used its "mental feelers," this time to read the raccoon's mind--it found the raccoon's thoughts to be savage and ferocious, qualities much like the alien's own leaders possessed. Thus convinced that the raccoon was indeed Earth's dominant life-form, the alien metamorph altered its form to mimic the raccoon. Seeing that the formless invader had now become solid, Pete raised his rifle and fired, killing both the real raccoon and the transformed alien.
With the threat of an alien invasion ended, Pete carried the two raccoons on his shoulder, and he and Bob walked back home. Although he could never tell anyone about what had happened without being called a liar, Pete was pleased that it had been a good night's hunting.
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Bill Everett (artist)
In regards to "Night Watcher": He (Assuming it was a he!)
was never identified, so I just went with the story's title to identify
this alien.
I hope Pete didn't use that "raccoon" for food--we've seen what can happen
to humans who consume shape-shifting alien DNA (e.g. King's
Crossing and Skrull
Kill Krew).
Maybe the alien was not just an extraterrestrial, but actually an extradimensional spy for Diablo's race.
--Markus Raymond
Night Watcher could be a member of the several amorphous extraterrestrials with Poppupian level shape-changing powers (they took the form of TVs) in Amazing Adult Fantasy#13 (June, 1962; 1st story) and their name could be the Vintars (amorphous aliens mentioned in Captain Marvel#5 (September, 1968) )
--Gammatotem
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The "Night Watcher" has no known connections to:
Pete and Bob have no known connections to:
The raccoon has no known connections to:
A spherical space vehicle capable of interstellar travel, it transported the alien shapeshifter to Earth. After landing, the alien rendered the spacecraft invisible.
--Uncanny Tales I#48/3
Pete was a hunter and Bob was his loyal dog. They were hunting a
raccoon in the woods one night when they encountered a shapeshifting
alien. Pete fired his rifle at the invader, but the bullets passed
harmlessly through the alien's cloud-like body. Although most folks
regarded Pete as a simple-minded bumpkin, he was able to outwit the alien
and trick it into assuming the form of a raccoon, at which point Pete shot
and killed the now-solid alien.
--Uncanny Tales I#48/3
A common Earth raccoon,
it was being pursued by hunter Pete and his dog Bob, and ran up a
tree. It was spotted by an alien shapeshifter as it ran through the
forest. Pete eventually tricked the cloud-like alien into taking on
the form of the raccoon, at which point the hunter shot and killed both
the transformed alien and the raccoon.
--Uncanny Tales I#48/3
images: (without ads)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p2, pan5 (main image, "Night Watcher" in forest)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p3, pan7 ("Night Watcher" forming mouth to communicate with Pete)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p4, pan5 ("Night Watcher" (on ground) altering its form to impersonate raccoon on tree branch)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p2, pan2 ("Night Watcher" emitting "prismatic" beam to render its spacecraft invisible)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p1, pan1 (Pete and Bob walking through forest)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p1, pan3 (Pete thinking about how other people regard him)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p4, pan7 (Pete carrying raccoon and transformed "Night Watcher" as Bob accompanies him)
Uncanny Tales I#48/3, p2, pan7 (raccoon running from Pete and Bob as "Night Watcher" watches it from a distance)
Appearances:
Uncanny Tales I#48/3 (October, 1956) - unidentified writer, Bill Everett (artist)
First Posted: 01/24/16
Last updated: 05/12/16
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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