The Eye is a fictional

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 character created by Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas (comics)

Frank Thomas was a Golden Age American cartoonist who worked primarily for Centaur Publications.For Centaur he created The Eye, Chuck Hardy, Dr. Hypno, and Solarman . Later in his career, he worked for Dell on The Owl, Billy and Bonnie Bee, Buddies and other characters...

 and published by Centaur Publications

Centaur Publications

Centaur Publications was one of the earliest American comic book publishers. During their short existence, they created several colorful characters, including Bill Everett's Amazing Man....

. The character had no origin story, and existed only as a giant, floating, disembodied Eye, wreathed in a halo of golden light. This super powerful being was obsessed with the concept of justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

, and existed to encourage average people to do what they could to attain it for themselves. If the obstacles proved too great, the Eye would assist its mortal charges by working miracles. Time

Time

Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

 and space

Space

Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...

 meant nothing to The Eye and it existed as a physical embodiment of man's inner conscience

Conscience

Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...

.

Publishing history

The Eye appeared in the pages of Centaur's Keen Detective Funnies from December 1939 to September 1940, in a feature entitled "The Eye Sees." This run, which began with the book's 16th issue, continued in until the title folded after its 24th issue (September, 1940). Following its run in Keen Detective, Centaur promoted The Eye to its own book, Detective Eye, which ran for two issues in November and December 1940 before folding as well.

Golden age appearances

All told, the Eye had eleven golden age appearances. They included

• KEEN DETECTIVE FUNNIES v2 #12
• KEEN DETECTIVE FUNNIES v3 #1
• KEEN DETECTIVE FUNNIES #18-24
• DETECTIVE EYE #1-2

Reprints

In 1987, Michael T. Gilbert

Michael T. Gilbert

Michael Terry Gilbert is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked for both mainstream and underground comic book companies.-Biography:Michael T. Gilbert was born on May 7, 1951 and attended the State University of New York...

 included one of the original Centaur Publications Eye stories in the first issue his two-part anthology comic, Mr. Monster's Hi-Shock Schlock. This comic was the sixth of eight "Super-Duper Specials" published by Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics

Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...

 in which Gilbert's Mr. Monster would introduce forgotten gold and silver age short stories which had not seen a reprint.

Revivals

In 1992, Malibu Comics

Malibu Comics

Malibu Comics was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. The company's headquarters was in Calabasas, California. Malibu imprints included Aircel Comics and Eternity Comics...

 revived several Centaur heroes — which by that time had lapsed into public domain — as the superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 team, The Protectors

Protectors

The Protectors was a 20-issue comic book series published by Malibu Comics from 1992 until 1994. Originally meant to be a six-issue series, response was positive enough that Malibu decided to make the series ongoing...

. A reworked version of the Eye appeared as a supporting character throughout the 20-issue series' run until it was canceled in 1994. According to Malibu, the series was canceled (along with the rest of the "Genesis" titles) so that they could focus more on the "Ultraverse

Ultraverse

The Ultraverse was the name given to a comic book imprint published by the American company Malibu Comics. The Ultraverse was a shared universe in which a variety of characters — known within the comics as "Ultras" — acquired super-human abilities.-History:...

" line.