Your Hour is Up

A couple weeks back I talked briefly on the use of drugs in comic books (The Broken Arrow) so for this week I thought I'd expand on that by telling you readers about how the use of drugs has been diversely portrayed in comic books. To start, lets explore the origin of an hour-long superhero and his miraculous pill. This is Hourman and his Miraclo drug.

Miraclo was accidentally discovered through various experiments by Professor Rex Tyler. By testing it on both mice and himself, Rex discovered concentrated doses of Miraclo could give it's user super strength, super speed, enhanced endurance and overall vitality boosts. The catch, however, was that these effects would only last an hour and could only be used once a day. Rex Tyler used these Miraclo pills to become Hourman, a superhero who only had sixty minutes to save the day. However, Rex found himself growing addicted to the Miraclo pills and to vigilantism. This addiction would drive a wedge between him and his son, Rick Tyler as Rex's time would be mostly spent in his lab or out fighting crime with not even an hour to spend with his son. Rick would also use Miraclo in an effort to save civilians during a hospital fire. With his father seemingly killed off, Rick started using Miraclo and the Hourman identity to honor his father. Before he too could grow addicted, he managed to invent a new Miraclo formula, free of the addictive edge.

All Male Enhancement jokes aside, the story of Hourman is something not often seen in comic books. Having an hour to use your godlike powers creates a sense of urgency, and only using it once a day makes the use of Miraclo seem like a last ditch idea. Given his power, I'm sure many people would abuse the strength-giving drug just as people abuse other illegal supplements. Miraclo is a glorified steroid, after all. I give Hourman's writers credit for tackling the drug addict angle, it makes Hourman a much more complex character and his lineage more important to the heroes that would follow him.