see, the comedian thought he had it all worked out.
he was young and arrogant, but what he lacked in experience, he made up for in . tenacity. as he speaks, we pan across various framed memorabilia: the first is a newspaper clipping dated 1958: mysterious masked man cleans up wharfs--the caption underneath reads "hero calls himself the nite owl."
guess i was that way too, when i started. i'll never know what possessed me to put that mask on the first time.
it started with the villains, y'know, people forget that. pirate outfits, ghosts. gangs that thought it was funny to dress up and pull heists, crap like that. pan across: another framed clipping, dated 1962: nite owl forms watchmen--costumed heroes combining forces! "'we're going to clean up this town!' says costumed crusader."
so a few cops, we decide it might be funny to mask up too. be anonymous. take these guys on at the street level, right? then the media got wind, ran with it, turned it into a whole different beast. pan across: a gold statue of nite owl in his sixties-era costume. the plaque below reads: in gratitude, 1969. another clipping: "hero retires, reveals identity in tell all book." finally, we come to hollis mason , 70s, though his eyes sparkle with strength and his face still shows the edges of a born hero. the tv is on in the background.
superheroes, supervillians--you know who i ran into the other day at the market? the screaming skull. we chatted for a while. turns out he's a born again.
all the nuts that started popping up, i'll tell ya. who was that midget you and your partner chased down years ago? what'd he call himself?
big figure. a midget bad guy. guess it doesn't get lower than that, does it? hollis laughs at his own joke; dan chuckles, polite.
well, even though i spent my time catching real bad guys, you were still a better nite owl than i ever was.
with all this talk of war, all that's going on in the world, it's a shame the government forced all you guys out. before dan can answer he notices a breaking news report on the tv:
well, forced all of you guys out except one.
you're late.
you missed it--dr. manhattan just lost it on live tv.
she'll know soon enough. the whole world will know.
it's just like old times, sal. nite owl and silk spectre back at it again. cut to: sally jupiter on the other end in california, watching the same footage.
i may be retired from the costume, but my sleeping habits have never changed. there's a knock at hollis's door.
who--there's someone at the door. it might be dan and laurie--they may need help. i better go. hollis hangs up, heads to the door, excited. he opens the