Hourman

Hourman is a fictional character, a superhero who was created for DC Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was created by Ken Fitch and Bernard Bailey for Adventure Comics #48 (April 1940), and quickly joined The Flash and Green Lantern on the second tier of superheroes in the DC Universe.

The first Hourman (Rex Tyler)

Hourman was, in his civilian life, a scientist named Rex Tyler. Growing up in upstate New York, young Rex found an affinity for chemistry, particularly biochemistry. Working his way through college, he landed a job researching vitamins and hormone supplements at Bannerman Chemical. A series of discoveries and accidents lead him to the "miraculous vitamin" or Miraclo. He found that concentrated doses of that "vitamin" given to test mice raised their strength and vitality several times that of normal. Taking a dose, Rex found that his strength, vitality, and speed increased to that of super-human levels. However, the human body could only process the Miraclo for an hour at a time. After that, the subject was weakened and returned to human strength levels.

Keeping the discovery of Miraclo a secret, Tyler decided that human trials would be limited to the only subject he could trust: himself. Feeling that the Miraclo-induced abilities should be used for good purposes, he decided to use the abilities to help those that needed it; in other words, he would become a superhero. His first mission came as a result of Tyler's placing an ad stating that "The Man of The Hour" would help those that needed it. Tracking down one respondent to the ad, he aided a housewife whose husband was falling in with the wrong crowd, and stopped a robbery. Using a costume he found in an abandoned costume shop, he started to adventure as The Hour-Man (later dropping the hyphen).

Hourman would be one of many heroes whose popularity would begin to decline in the post-war years. Eventually, his adventures ended. However, with the resurgence of super-heroes in the mid-1950s and early 1960s, interest in the Golden Age heroes returned, and Hourman was soon appearing as a guest star in issues of Justice League of America. Like all the other Golden Agers, he was now considered an elder statesman of the super-hero set.

Unlike some other Golden Agers, his character would continue to grow more and more complex. The idea that Miraclo was addictive, combined with the suggestion that Tyler himself was addicted to crime fighting, made Hourman one of the superhero world's first cautionary tales. Rex would continue to fight both of his addictions throughout the rest of his appearances. His character was seemingly killed off along with other Golden Agers fighting a time traveling villain named Extant. He was recently rescued from that fate by the third Hourman who took his place in that battle. Rex now lives in semi-retirement with his wife Wendi.

The second Hourman (Rick Tyler)

Rick Tyler, Rex's son, who was once also addicted to Miraclo, took over the mantle of Hourman, having conquered his personal demons. Rick was a member of Infinity Inc. and, later, of the newly reformed Justice Society. When he joined the JSA, he had two added abilities: being able to see one hour into the future and to visit with his father in an otherworldly dimension called the Timepoint, frozen in time, just before Rex's death. Recently, Rick was severely injured in battle, and switched places with his father to save his life. Tyler, the android known as the third Hourman, took Rex and some other JSA members to the Timepoint to save Rick's life. The one hour Rex was allotted in the Timepoint expired just as Doctor Mid-Nite (Pieter Cross) and Tyler had healed Rick of his injuries. Father and son fought over who would perish in the battle with Extant. Ultimately, Tyler the android took Rex's place and was destroyed as Rick and Rex returned to earth. Rick is once again active as Hourman.

The third Hourman (Tyler)

Another Hourman, an android from the 853rd century that was modeled on Rex Tyler's DNA, served with the Justice League and the Justice Society of America for a time. As noted above, he is currently believed to have been destroyed at the hands of Extant in Rex's place, although Rex hopes someday to rebuild him.