April 1941: The Man of the Hour Back in the Day

Like Bulldog Drummond in the 1920s and the Equalizer in the 1980s, Hourman advertised for people to help in the newspaper, offering his services free to the oppressed.

Created by writer Ken Fitch and artist Bernard Baily in Adventure Comics 48 (April 1940), DC superhero Hourman had the potential to be an interesting variation on the superman theme then flooding the new market for comic books.

Biochemist Rex Tyler was a real Clark Kent — that is to say, he was a timid, nervous fellow, literally afraid of the dark. But the Miraclo drug he discovered not only gave him superhuman strength, speed, stamina and senses, it altered his personality, making him bold and aggressive for an hour at a time.

Imagine the dramatic possibilities inherent in such a mind-alerting super-drug in a cowardly hero. Unfortunately, in the simplistic storytelling of the day, they were never developed.

Like other early superhero features, this one played fast and loose with the secret identity concept. The hero gave himself the long-winded title of Tick-Tock Tyler the Hour-Man.

Encountering Rex Tyler at a crime scene in Adventure Comics 49, a police detective asks, “Tyler? I say, you don’t happen to be Tick-Tock Tyler, the Hour-Man?” “Me?” stammers Tyler.

People who intend to keep their identities secret might be well-advised not to tell everybody their actual last name.

A founding member of the Justice Society of America, Hourman was pushed aside early on in favor of Starman. He inspired two namesakes, his own son Rick and an android from the 853rd century.

He has the dubious distinction of having appeared on TV’s Robot Chicken in 2007, voiced by actor Seth Green. Promoting an erectile dysfunction pill guaranteed to “make you an hour-man, just like me,” Tyler warned, “If you become four-hourman, see a doctor.”

As the Bible says, how are the mighty fallen.

April 1941: The Spirit of the Times

Once you’ve created Superman, how do you top that?

Why, with super-Superman, of course. So that’s what Jerry Siegel did in 1940.

Instead of merely leaping tall buildings, this character could fly to ends of the universe with the speed of thought. He could read evildoers’ minds and extinguish them with a glance. He could rescue the victims of burning buildings by bathing them in a beam of light projected from his finger. He could swell to the size of a 10-story building to crush an escaping criminal’s automobile with his green-booted foot.

He was the Spectre, the brainchild of Siegel and artist Bernard Baily who debuted in More Fun Comics 52 (Feb. 1940).

Jules Feiffer noted that the Spectre had the grimmest origin of all: he was a murdered cop, Jim Corrigan.

Despite his attractions, the Spectre was proof that more isn’t necessarily better. Unlimited powers turn out to offer limited plot lines.

The Spectre in a 1970s incarnation drawn by Jim Aparo.

“Apparently nobody involved gave much thought to the incongruity of publishing the Spectre, Spirit of Vengeance, in a comic entitled More Fun Comics,” noted comics historian Ken Quattro. “Baily accomplished the remarkable task of modernizing the traditional depiction of Death. His was a brawny Grim Reaper, sans scythe. Along with the hooded cloak, life-stealing eyes and blanched complexion expected of his ghastly position, the Spectre also unnecessarily sported boots, gloves and tighty whities (albeit, green) in keeping with the already de rigueur superhero fashion of the era.”

“Superheroes often come in distinct sub-genres, many of which are epitomized by a single character,” comics historian Don Markstein noted. “For example, the Flash is the exemplar of the super-speedster, Batman of the mysterious creature of the night, and Captain America of the patriotic-style hero (despite the fact that the Shield beat Cap to the stands by more than a year). The Spectre is the template upon which the ‘avenging spirit as superhero’ is based. Others of that type include Mr. Justice and the Vision.”