We’re at Day Eight of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month, dedicated to the Fantastic Four and supporting characters. In the midst of a group of allies and supporting characters, today’s prompt is the Watcher.
The mysterious Watcher first shows up in Fantastic Four #13, “The Red Ghost and His Indescribable Super-Apes!” The FF and the Red Ghost race to be first to land on the moon, and to everyone’s surprise, near ancient ruins in the Blue Area of the Moon, they first encounter the Watcher. He explains that he comes from a very advanced world where his people roam the universe, witnessing events on all sorts of planets. The Watcher breaks a centuries-long vow of silence and steps into their conflict.
He’s sometimes referred to by the name Uatu, but he didn’t gain that name until Captain Marvel #39 in 1975. At this point and for the rest of Jack and Stan’s FF run, he was simply “the Watcher.”
The Watcher’s appearance changes a great deal during the course of Jack and Stan’s run. In his first appearance, he was colored a pale yellow, with a purple cape and tunic. Later in the run when he appeared, his proportions had changed, and his head got smaller. I elected to go with his early look (because I prefer the more “other-wordly” look with the bigger head and eyes without pupils), but his later, more recognizable color palette.
Why did his appearance change so much? I recall reading a conjecture about that which seemed pretty reasonable (though I don’t remember exactly where I read it). It was pointed out that in intervening periods, the Watcher had showed up in other comics drawn by other artists, and his appearance had been kind of altered. The theory was that Jack was trying to be consistent to what had become the Watcher’s current look, and that’s why he changed so much.
The Watcher apparently took an interest in the FF and their activities, stepping in from time to time (most notably in “The Galactus Trilogy” in Fantastic Four #48–50).
Enjoy, and feel free to return tomorrow to see who’s next!
The Gaia Hypothesis was something I found scientifically interesting. Lynn Margulis, who partnered for a time with Carl Sagan of PBS Cosmos fame, was a major advocate of the theory. She was in disagreement with various neo-Darwinian biologists over the beginning of life. Margulis worked closely with James Lovelock. Gaia is the Greek mother of us all and is sort of the living Earth. And we are part of that life.
When I first encountered all this thinking it was the Watcher who came to mind. Maybe it was the dress as you depict nicely. But I think it was more the character and how The Watcher fit in with others in the story line. You have certainly captured my thoughts and feelings regarding The Watcher. Thanks
I guess if you’re going to get cosmic, characters like the Watcher and Galactus are the ones to evoke that. Glad you liked my take.
I always wondered if Joe Sinnott had something to do with the Watcher’s change in proportions. I am trying to remember how many appearances the Watcher made pre-FF 48. Issues 13 and 29 are the ones that I come up with immediately. So I guess now I have to go back and research!
Most likely the limits of what Sinnott would’ve done would be to make rendering changes, or tweaks to a face. Redrawing proportions would’ve been kind of overstepping boundaries. Even when John Romita Sr. was embellishing Gil Kane’s layouts for Spider-Man, the most he tended to do was to enlarge Spidey’s head slightly, to preserve the idea he was still young, and wasn’t in his late 20’s/early 30’s like his other heroic counterparts.
You got me to dig out a nearby Masterworks with FF #29, and it does look like there’s a slight change in proportions since his previous appearance in the book. But not as big as the difference with how he looked in the Galactus Trilogy. To really chart the change, I think you’d have to look at all Watcher appearances, even the ones that took place outside of FF. Because I think they probably gave Jack reference of how the Watcher was currently looking, and he played along. Even though he had designed the character in the first place!