In working through Midnight's Golden Age adventures, I've tried to point out when and where biblical themes seem to come up. Today's post ponders the question of whether one such theme lies behind a repeated deus ex machina of the early Midnight stories.
The visoscope debuted in Smash Comics #25. It was a surveillance machine that would've make Big Brother green with envy. All Midnight and his cohorts had to do was "select a location," and they could see whatever was going on--even see inside closed buildings! This was no mere proto-satellite. The visoscope provided an almost "god-like" perspective.
The visoscope would turn up at least four more times (Smash Comics # 26, 27, 29, 30),but then seems to have sort of fallen away. Perhaps Cole feared he'd written himself into too much of a corner. After all, if Midnight & co. could really view everything, everywhere, all the time, how would they experience the uncertainty necessary to heighten tension and keep little kids turning comic pages?
As problematic as the visoscope might've been, it was really nothing compared to the Eye, an even more-obviously God-inspired character put out a few years earlier by Centaur Publications. More than a mere machine, the Eye was a conscious agent sporting an even more-expansive powerset (e.g., immortality, teleportation, ability to work miracles, et al.) And if this weren't enough, the Eye pointedly had no origin story...ever...not even really an allusion to one.
The visoscope debuted in Smash Comics #25. It was a surveillance machine that would've make Big Brother green with envy. All Midnight and his cohorts had to do was "select a location," and they could see whatever was going on--even see inside closed buildings! This was no mere proto-satellite. The visoscope provided an almost "god-like" perspective.
 |
| Smash Comics #25 (Aug 1941) |
The visoscope would turn up at least four more times (Smash Comics # 26, 27, 29, 30),but then seems to have sort of fallen away. Perhaps Cole feared he'd written himself into too much of a corner. After all, if Midnight & co. could really view everything, everywhere, all the time, how would they experience the uncertainty necessary to heighten tension and keep little kids turning comic pages?
As problematic as the visoscope might've been, it was really nothing compared to the Eye, an even more-obviously God-inspired character put out a few years earlier by Centaur Publications. More than a mere machine, the Eye was a conscious agent sporting an even more-expansive powerset (e.g., immortality, teleportation, ability to work miracles, et al.) And if this weren't enough, the Eye pointedly had no origin story...ever...not even really an allusion to one.
My speculative hypothesis is that the Eye, and later the visoscope, were both influenced by the idea of the "all-seeing eye of God." This was, of course, an ancient concept...but the imagery of God's all-seeing eye was part and parcel of at least the Low Church Protestantism of the time. Perhaps the best example of this is the 1919 son by J. M. Henson, "Watching You".
No comments:
Post a Comment