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Police Chief Watson

 
Police Chief Watson
 

Religion: indeterminate

Name: Police Chief Watson

Other Names: Chief Watson

Classification: supporting character supporting character  

Publisher(s): DC

First Appearance: Superman (vol. 1) #7 (Nov.-Dec. 1940): "Metropolis's Most Savage Racketeers"

Creators: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring

Number of Appearances: 2

Ally: George Lash
Ally: Sergeant Casey
Employer: Metropolis Police Dept.

Occupation: police

Gender: male

Police Chief Watson is first mentioned in this panel 7 on page 4 of the story retroactively titled "Metropolis's Most Savage Racketeers" in Superman #7 (Nov.-Dec. 1940). Superman has just found crusading prosecutor George Lash drugged in an attempt to frame him as a drunk driver. Superman observes, "His pocket's ripped, and a button is missing from his coat! There's something odd afoot, here. And I think Lash's friend, police chief Watson, ought to know about this!"

Superman heads toward Chief Watson's office, but then he changes his mind. The chief is shown for the first time in panel 1 on the next page (page 5). Watson is a slightly portly man with a receding gray hair and a round face. He looks like he is at least in his fifties. He wears a conservative light blue suit, dark striped tie, and white shirt.

A trusted police officer, Sergeant Casey, calls the chief on the phone, saying, "The prosecutor's wife has been murdered, and it looks like Lash did it."

Police Chief Watson responds, "I'll be right over, Sergeant Casey!"

Chief Watson dons a police cap and drives to the home of George Lash's estranged wife, to investigate the murder scene personally.

Even though George Lash has been his friend, Police Chief Watson feels compelled to believe the overwhelming evidence at the crime scene and he leads his men to arrest George Lash.

Fortunately for Lash, Superman intervenes and helps find the real killer, Nick Norton. Superman brings Norton to the police chief and tricks Norton into admitting that he committed the murder. Superman knows that Norton is guilty, and Watson probably suspects this is true as well. But Norton is very reluctant to implicate himself. Superman's plan to get Norton to confess actually takes a certain amount of effort and trust on Watson's part. Clearly Watson is a law-and-order man. But he is perceptive enough to realize that Superman is on his side, and he is flexible enough to work with the Man of Steel, even a number of past police chiefs have had knee-jerk reactions to the extra-legal do-gooder and have tried to arrest him.

Police Chief Watson was happy to finally be able to free his friend, George Lash, from jail. But he only did so when they had the real killer's confession and knew for certain that the evidence against Lash has been planted.

As confusing as it might seem, Police Chief Watson is not the same character as Police Commissioner Watson, who was the police commissioner in Metropolis just one year before. Police Commissioner Watson appeared in the story retroactively titled "Superman and the Numbers Racket," published in Action Comics #16 (Sep. 1939). That story revealed that Commissioner Watson was corrupt, and Superman forced him to resign because he was taking bribes from illegal gambling racketeers. Police Chief Watson, on the other hand, is not corrupt.

They might be related, though. They look enough alike that one could imagine that they are brothers. They are clearly not the same man, however. The corrupt commissioner was entirely bald on the top of his head. Chief Watson has a receding hairline, but he isn't bald.

A man we can assume is Police Chief Watson was seen a month or two later in the story retroactively titled "The Gambling Racket in Metropolis," published in Action Comics #32 (Jan. 1941). In this story, Chief Watson appears to be less pro-active about tackling illegal gambling than he was about arresting an apparently law-breaking public prosecutor. After Superman saves a compulsive gambler from committing suicide, he changes to Clark Kent and rushes to the police chief's office to ask about the problem. In panel 3 on page 3, the narrative caption reads: "Kent makes a bee-line for the police chief's office -- but--"

Clark Kent asks the chief, "Gambling isn't permitted in Metropolis. Why isn't the law enforced at the Preston Club?"

The police chief, seated behind his desk, responds, "Why bother me? I'm helpless to act without instructions from the mayor!"

The chief has the same stout build, blue uniform, and receding hairline seen in his original appearance. But the chief has dyed his previously gray hair brown. Maybe he wanted to look younger. He looks good.

This is the police chief's only appearance in Action Comics #32. He is seen mostly from behind, in a three-quarters rear profile view. Possibly Jerry Siegel never really put any thought into whether this was the same police chief as the one used more prominently a month or two before. Continuity in municipal characters was never Siegel's strong suite in these early Superman stories. But there's no reason to imagine this briefly seen character is anybody other than the most recently known police chief. Anyway, how many police chiefs does Metropolis need? With Superman on the job as an anti-corruption crusader, the city seems to go through new police chiefs, police commissioners and mayors every few months.


This character is in the following 2 stories which have been indexed by this website:
Action Comics (vol. 1) #32 (Jan. 1941): "The Gambling Racket in Metropolis" (3-panel cameo)
Superman (vol. 1) #7 (Nov.-Dec. 1940): "Metropolis's Most Savage Racketeers"


Suggested links for further research about this character:
  - https://www.comics.org/issue/1089/
  - http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=5705