Witness I
"Judge, juror, and avenger of evil," a costumed "semi-super" being of mystery and intrigue —this is all the pertinent data currently available. This Witness had only three adventures, in one of which he fought a "twisted little man" called the Imp. Otherwise, not much is known about him.
Witness II
"I am the Witness! Sealed alone in the dark of the theater, I record a play called life as it sprawls across the steel and concrete stage of the city! Before the glittering footlights of street lamps, in front of the curtain of walled tenements and luxurious penthouses, in the wings of the winding alleys and neon-flushed storefronts, I sit and watch the comedy and drama enacted by the unsung stars of the passing chorus! I listen to the measured meter of blank verse, spouted by the great actors and minor characters... so come; be my guest as the curtain rises on a new drama...The Witness speaks!"
This is the Witness, judge, jury, and avenger of evil. He later becomes the master reporter of the beyond, the nether realms, from the depths of Hades to downtown New York, often broadcasting his melodramas of mystery from a radio station somewhere in the supernatural. "This is your host...The Witness! And I am near...watching! Because nothing escapes the eyes of the Witness!"
Comments
The Witness was another of Timely’s fly-by-night heroes, appearing in several comics but with no real home. He began in the early 1940s as a non-powered hero in the costumed vigilante mode, good with his fists and carrying a gun. Then he was revived in 1949 as the host of some weird tales, like EC’s Crypt-Keeper (though with nothing like the success). Both were probably inspired by the radio program Inner Sanctum. It would be an appropriate job for a character called the Witness, and it signaled Timely’s (and the comics industry’s) switch from superheroes to horror strips.
As a superhero, the Witness fought the Imp, a dwarf like gang-lord like the Vigilante’s Dummy. The Witness has seen no evil, heard no evil, and told no evil since the Golden Age.
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