Knight Watchman

Real Name: Reid Randall

Identity/Class: Normal human.

Occupation: Fashion designer

Affiliations: Kid Galahad (partner), Round Table of America (founder member), Knights of Justice (founder member)

Enemies: Mr.Mask, Quizmaster, Grandfather Clock, Pink Flamingo, Faulty Towers

Known Relatives: Jerry Randall (nephew, Kid Galahad), unnamed mother, unnamed father (deceased), Ted (older brother, deceased), Janet (sister-in-law, deceased)

Aliases: Twilight Paladin

Base of Operations: Watchtower, Midway City, Earth A

First Appearance: Berserker #1 (February 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Athlete, skilled fighter.

History: Reid Randall was a college student and Olympic hopeful who was called home to Midway City by his widowed mother when the family clothing business got into trouble. Reid's elder brother Ted had run up gambling debts to mobsters, who then tried to take over the business. When Ted stood up to them, he was hospitalised. Reid visited his sibling, and they recalled how they used to play at being knights when they were younger, each week being forced to fight one bully or another who made fun of them because their father made women's clothes. They resolved to face this new problem the same way: together. However when Ted left the hospital, he and his wife Janet were killed by a car bomb; their son Jerry survived only because he had wanted a lift home with his uncle.

Reid vowed to avenge their deaths, deciding that the whole warehouse district needed a "Knight Watchman" to protect it from the mob. Wearing a simple homemade costume, and using his athletic skills, he defeated the gang single-handedly. He dressed his downed opponents in women's clothes and left them tied up for the police. Reid and Jerry moved back in with Reid's mother, and Jerry soon adopted the guise of Kid Galahad. Together the two became the terror of the Midway City underworld, and as time passed the technology at their disposal improved. Their secret base became the Watchtower, disguised as a water tower atop their penthouse apartment, right in the heart of town, while their vehicles included the "Iron Horse" motorbike, the "Flying Shield" aircraft (based on the Watchman's emblem) and of course, the Watchwagon. As they became more sophisticated, so too did their enemies: instead of simple mobsters, they were soon facing Mr Mask, whose disfigured, clay-like face could be reshaped to look like anyone else; former game show question writer the Quizmaster; the rotund, top-hatted Grandfather Clock; and the sinister, smiling Pinkerton Fleming, a.k.a. the Pink Flamingo.

The Watchman retired at age 50 and a grown up Jerry Randall dropped the "Kid" to become just plain Galahad. He sometimes adopted the Watchman identity at night, when he needed to use more extreme methods, and even shared a case with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! When Jerry was hospitalised with a broken leg, Reid came out of retirement briefly at the age of 55 (see 4-part "Graveyard Shift" mini series).

Comments: Thanks to Chris Adams for all the information used on this page. He notes that the Knight Watchman was "The first "official" Big Bang character. By far the company's most popular character, The Watchman emulates Batman even more than Ultiman does Superman.

Although they appear in adventures set during the 1940's and 1950's, it is unclear if the Twilight Paladin and the Kid Whiz exist on Earth B.

In his first ever appearance, the Knight Watchman's had a large "Eye" emblem on his costume. In reprints, and in all subsequent stories, his emblem is a black shield. In the Big Bang continuity, he added a yellow "halo" to the shield in the 1960's, to "make him look friendlier"."

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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