Doctor Hormone

Doctor Hormone
Publication information
Publisher Dell Comics
First appearance Popular Comics #54 (August 1940)
In-story information
Alter ego Unknown
Team affiliations Jane (Granddaughter, Sidekick)
Novoslavia armed forces
United States Army
Notable aliases "Master of Human Chemistry"
Abilities Scientific Genius
Longevity
Superhuman Strength (Temporary)
Superhuman Voice (Temporary)
Superhuman Breath (Temporary)

Doctor Hormone is a fictional character created by Bob Bugg, who briefly appeared in comic books published by Dell Comics in the 1940s. Popular culture historian Ron Goulart calls him "one of the truly wacky creations of comics."[1]

Publication history

Doctor Hormone first appeared in Popular Comics #54 (August 1940), and his adventures ran until issue #60 (February, 1941) of the same series.

Fictional character biography

Doctor Hormone was an elderly scientist who, having discovered the secret of life itself, injected himself with a "youth hormone" which restored his body to youthful vigor. After agents from Urasia stole his formulas from his laboratory to aid in their nation's wars against its neighbors, Doctor Hormone and his granddaughter Jane traveled to the besieged nation of Novoslavia, where he used his scientific expertise to help battle the Urasian invaders, who were using the hormones to create armies of part animal/part human men. Later, Doctor Hormone was employed as a researcher for the United States Army and worked in a laboratory at Fort Knox.

Doctor Hormone was later summoned by a disembodied voice called The Thinker who temporarily endowed him with superhuman powers to fight off an invasion of Texas by the Nazians. Then, The Thinker lured Doctor Hormone and Jane into a mysterious gorge where they descended into The Chaos and fell into a state of suspended animation. The character has not appeared since.

Powers and abilities

Doctor Hormone was a scientific genius who developed powerful "hormones" which were capable of creating great changes in the human body, including restoring youth and transforming people into animals or bizarre human-animal hybrids.

The Thinker endowed Doctor Hormone with powers that included superhuman strength, a stentorian voice, and super-breath. Presumably, this was temporary.

Footnotes

  1. Goulart, Ron Ron Goulart's great history of comic books Contemporary Books, 1986, pg. 21.

References