HOURMAN: HIS EARLY STORIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the Golden Age stories of DC’s Hourman.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #48 (Mar 1940)

Title: Presenting the Hourman

Villains: Jewel thieves Randall and Kennedy

Synopsis: At Bannerman Laboratories, chemist Rex Tyler secretly concocts a new drug he calls Miraclo. That drug grants him the strength and speed of 10 men for one hour. Rex adopts the costumed identity Hourman and advertises in the paper that people can seek him out if they need help.

In this debut story, Hourman recovers a woman’s stolen jewels and brings down the two-man theft ring. The city in which he operates is named Appleton.

NOTE: Over the years, changes would make it so that Miraclo granted Rex Tyler the strength of 50 men. Due to parental concerns about promoting drug use since Rex popped Miraclo pills, for a time it was changed to a Miraclo RAY that would increase Hourman’s strength. Other times it was retconned so that Hourman’s costume was enchanted and it was the source of his powers.

        Ultimately, it always came back to Miraclo being a designer drug that Rex Tyler had concocted. In modern DC stories it is even said that the formula powering Batman’s foe Bane is an offshoot of Miraclo.     

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #49 (Apr 1940)

Title: The Disappearance of Dr. Drew

Villains: An industrial espionage gang

Synopsis: A “Miss Drew” is the latest respondent to our hero’s ad. She asks Hourman to find her scientist father, who has disappeared.

Our hero investigates and discovers that Dr. Drew was abducted by a large gang of criminals who want to force the scientist into disclosing the secrets of his new breakthrough in cold medicine.

Hourman finds and rescues Miss Drew’s father and also corrals all the bad guys, minus a few who get killed during the battle.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #50 (May 1940)

Title: The Dark Horse

Villains: The Nick Bates Gang

Synopsis: The latest person to seek Hourman’s help via the ad is James Carren, part-owner of a racehorse. Organized crime in the form of Nick Bates and his gang are leaning on him to sell his interest in the horse.   

Hourman intervenes, leading to him clashing with an entire network of criminals who fix assorted horseraces. Naturally, our hero comes out on top in the end.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #51 (Jun 1940)

Title: The Wax-Double Killers

Villain: Dr. Snegg

Synopsis: The villain who will be Hourman’s archenemy, mad scientist Dr. Snegg, has invented artificial skin plus artificial organs with which he animates stolen figures from wax museums. He sends his first two constructs – of dead gangsters Mad-Dog Duncan and Two Gun Carmody – out to perform more armed robberies and bring him the money. 

Headlines about the two deceased criminals committing more crimes prompt chemist Rex Tyler to don his Hourman costume and try stopping the crime spree. This leads to him getting captured when his hour dose of Miraclo runs out during the battle.

He is taken to Dr. Snegg’s HQ, where the scientist does a Villain Rant about his process as he shows the captive Hourman how he makes his superstrong, bullet-proof automatons. His new one of Creepy Alvin goes forth with the other two to carry out more robberies.

Distracting Dr. Snegg with appreciative scientific talk, our hero subtly uses Snegg’s chemicals to mix more Miraclo for himself. With his super-strength back, Hourman subdues the doctor and binds him. He hurries off to stop the three automatons in their robbery of an armored car and uses Snegg’s custom acid to destroy them. 

ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #1 (Jun 1940)

Title: The Forest Fire

Villains: John Blair and his men

Synopsis: The government calls in our hero to save a Civilian Conservation Corps camp and the forest it is in from a raging fire started by a gang of arsonists. His powers let him save the day, but the arsonist John Blair and his men do not get caught.

Blair and company next start burning down homes to force the owners to sell them their land very cheap. Hourman succeeds in putting a stop to those activities as well and catches the villains.   

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #52 (Jul 1940)

Title: The Counterfeit Hourman

Villain: Dr. Snegg

Synopsis: Dr. Snegg, who was shown escaping at the end of his previous encounter with Hourman, wants revenge. He uses his new invention to hypnotize a man named Bob Wallace to dress up as Hourman and commit crimes in public.

Snegg hopes to blacken our hero’s name and draw him out to be killed. Instead, the real Hourman manages to defeat the imposter and take down Snegg’s hired thugs. The villain tries escaping but his car crashes. No body is found, however. 

NOTE: This story showed Hourman shooting tear gas from a ring he’s wearing. I would change that to be that Rex, a chemist, worked up small hourglasses that he has filled with tear gas, smoke or knockout gas. When he needs them, he can pull them from his belt and smash them on the floor to unleash the gas.     

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #53 (Aug 1940)

Title: The Minute Men

Villains: The Taref Child Labor Racket

Synopsis: At Bannerman Laboratories, Rex Tyler’s boss Mr. Bannerman orders Rex to entertain his visiting niece – reporter Regina Paige – for the afternoon. (?) Among their activities they take in the Appleton Zoo, where a lion escapes its cage and endangers attendees.   

Tyler slips away to become Hourman and recaptures the lion. As Rex Tyler, he takes Regina to lunch. They hit it off so well they also have dinner together late that afternoon. She tells him about 12 recent deaths of underaged child laborers in a factory run by Mr. Taref and his associates, including Dr. Blades.     

That night Rex becomes Hourman and looks into the matter. He saves two witnesses to Taref’s racket from being killed by two of the man’s thugs and the next day he takes on the entire organization and saves Regina’s life when the racketeers realize she’s too old and is an undercover reporter.

Our hero also has to use his super-strength to hold up a collapsing ceiling at the decrepit factory so that the child laborers can evacuate. Taref and his boys get theirs and Hourman lets some of the children who are into HAM radio become his Minutemen. As his version of the Baker Street Irregulars, they will help him with clues from now on and communicate with him through the tiny radio in his belt buckle. 

NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR 1940 SPECIAL #2 (Aug 1940) 

Title: Hourman at the World’s Fair

Villains: A robbery and kidnapping gang

NOTE: This was DC’s second World’s Fair Special to promote the event and their own characters. The first came out in 1939. Assorted superheroes had adventures at the World’s Fair.

Synopsis: Rex Tyler is working the Bannerman Laboratories exhibit at the World’s Fair. In addition to talks about the company’s advances and products he conducts a few live experiments.

Tyler’s presentations become such a hit that he is invited to perform them at the estate of wealthy Gerald Rochester. Afterward, Tyler stays on as a guest while Gerald goes on a repulsive fox hunt.

A gang of criminals raid the Rochester Estate, robbing valuables and trying to kidnap Rochester’s beautiful daughter Rose. Rex slips away to become Hourman, then clobbers all of the crooks and saves Rose. There’s a weird human fox-hunt scene involving the head villain in this tale.     

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #54 (Sep 1940)

Title: Hourman and the Minutemen

Villains: The Maffiri Mob

Synopsis: Pre-teens and teens from all social levels have become volunteer Minutemen to provide tips for Hourman. One of them is Rodney Morvan, son of a millionaire.

Rodney gets kidnapped and held for ransom by Ricky Maffiri’s mob, which has its hand in every illegal activity in Appleton. Hourman gets involved to find the kidnapped boy with radioed help from his Minutemen.

Hourman brings down Maffiri’s illegal Blue Goose Nightclub and exposes the mob’s responsibility for the Morvan boy’s kidnapping. During the action, our hero used tear-gas again this issue.

ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #2 (Sep 1940)

Title: Dr. Morte, Spiritualist

Villains: Dr. Morte and Longo

Synopsis: At Bannerman Laboratories, Rex Tyler grows concerned as his boss Bannerman seems to be getting taken advantage of by con-man spiritualist Dr. Morte. The villain charges Bannerman and his other “clients” big money to hold seances where he communicates with their dead loved ones, in Bannerman’s case his late wife.

Rex becomes Hourman and starts compiling evidence that Morte is a phony. Ultimately, he clashes with the doctor and his muscular henchman Longo, exposing Morte as a fake. The villains are arrested on bunco charges.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #55 (Oct 1940)

Title: The Boy’s Week Crimes

Villains: Appleton Mobsters

Synopsis: The city of Appleton holds a special Boy’s Week, in which deserving high school students sit in with figures of all departments of the city government to gain a deeper understanding of the municipal progress.   

Organized crime in Appleton tries to take advantage of the situation to enact several crimes, hoping the distraction of mentoring the youngsters distracts the city’s usual administrators enough to help them get away with them.

Hourman steps in after the first few crimes and manages to thwart the mob for the rest of the week.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #56 (Nov 1940)

Title: Living Statues

Villain: Dr. Snegg

Synopsis: Dr. Snegg, posing as a scientist named Dr. Slight, sets up his new headquarters in a castle outside Appleton. As Slight, he is a customer of Bannerman Laboratories and one day requests more chemicals and assistance with speeding up his use of them in his experiments.

Mr. Bannerman sends Rex Tyler to the castle to provide that assistance and Rex pieces together Dr. Slight’s real identity and grasps how the villain has been using the chemicals he goes through. He is using plaster instead of wax this time to animate super-strong, bullet-proof statues to carry out sabotage of America’s infrastructure wherever he goes.

Rex eventually slips away to become Hourman, then defeats the living statues during their latest mission. Dr. Snegg again seems to have gotten killed amid the action.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #57 (Dec 1940)

Title: The Menace of Dr. Togg

Villain: Dr. Rocco Togg

Synopsis: On a small isle called Wide Island lurks a mad scientist named Dr. Rocco Togg. (I’d have called him Professor Togg to avoid two “doctor” villains in a row.)

Togg’s secret laboratory is where he has genetically engineered his creatures that he calls Gombezi – large wolves with the wings of vultures and vulture-headed wolves. He sends his winged creatures out to commit robberies and murders for him.

Hourman takes an interest in the crime wave, battles the Gombezi and ultimately traces the creatures to Wide Island. While clashing with Togg and his beasts there, our hero uses his chemical genius to work up a powerful explosive from ingredients that the villain has in his lab.

Our main character gets out alive as his explosives destroy Togg’s laboratory as well as himself and his murderous Gombezi.   

ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #3 (Dec 1940)

Title: The Justice Society of America

NOTE: DC launched the very first superhero team in history by having several of their heroes band together at the government’s request.

Synopsis: As a prelude to attending the 1st meeting of the JSA, Hourman gets caught up in an adventure regarding the Durant Diamond Collection. As Rex Tyler he attends the Durant Charity Costume Ball with Regina Paige.

For a private joke, he attends in his Hourman costume and sees several other guests have also chosen to cosplay as Appleton’s famous hero. It turns out five of the other Hourmen are criminals, and they rob the Durant Diamond Collection.

The real Hourman takes some Miraclo and uses his powers to defeat and capture the crooks plus expose the Durant patriarch as the mastermind behind the theft. He wanted to collect the insurance money plus secretly sell the diamonds on the black market. 

At the JSA meeting in Philadelphia, Hourman gets to know Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern, Sandman, the Atom, Dr. Fate, the Spectre, Johnny Thunder and the original female Red Tornado.   

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #58 (Jan 1941)

Title: The Great Train Robbery

Villains: Nick Remos and his men

Synopsis: When a train is robbed of $10,000 (Worth $220,000 here in 2025.), Rex Tyler becomes Hourman to try recovering the stolen money and nabbing the thieves. 

Our hero’s investigation reveals that gangster chief Nick Remos and his thugs are behind the robbery. Hourman also exposes some of Remos’ inside accomplices who work for the railroad.

The Minutemen play a small role in helping to solve this crime.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #59 (Feb 1941)

Title: Hypnotist of Crime

Villain: Dr. Feher the Mentalist

Synopsis: Hourman goes up against a supervillain named Dr. Feher, who possesses powers of telepathy and hypnotism.

Compiling evidence of the mentalist’s crimes is not easy. He telepathically learns rich people’s monetary secrets, then implants post-hypnotic suggestions to make them rob themselves and turn the proceeds over to him.

Hourman needs radio and legwork done by the Minutemen to help him build a case against Feher, then he takes down the supervillain.

ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #4 (Mar 1941)

Title: For America and Democracy

Villains: The Grey Shirts

Synopsis: The U.S. government asks the Justice Society of America to take action against the pro-Nazi organization called the Grey Shirts, which is operating in America. They have secretly been committing acts of sabotage to discourage the U.S. from entering the war on the Allied side.

NOTE: Hitler had his Brown Shirts, Mussolini had his Black Shirts and Franco had his Blue Shirts, so a fictional Grey Shirts organization was used as this story’s villains. 

The JSA members fan out across the country to thwart several Grey Shirt operations. In Hourman’s case he goes to Oklahoma to stop the Grey Shirts from covertly starting massive and weeks-lasting fires in the oil fields. FOR MY DETAILED LOOK AT THE OTHER JSA MEMBERS’ ACTIONS AGAINST THE GREY SHIRTS CLICK HERE.

*** Hourman shared several more adventures with his fellow JSA members, and his solo stories continued into 1943.