Hourman- JSA Legacies Project Day 6 #JSApril
What is JSApril?
The Justice Society of America made their debut in All-Star Comics #3 in 85 years ago. In celebration, the folks over at Fire and Water Podcasting Network have assembled bloggers, podcasters, and many more creators to honor the world’s first superhero team. Find the full list of participants and more over at Fire and Water Network’s webpage and I truly encourage you all to check out some of the amazing things people have been creating.
For 15 days this April, I will be posting JSA members and their legacies characters whether it’s their successor, former sidekick, or even their kid.
Today we are taking a look at the man of the hour, the miraclo wonder himself, Hourman
Hourman
The first Hourman was Rex Tyler, chemist extraordinaire. He invents the Miraclo drug that gives him his signature Hour of Power which consists of increased speed, strength, endurance, etc. His chemically enhanced power-set wasn’t too far out in the 1940’s (just look how easy it was to get amphetamines at the time). Yet, in most modern revisits to either the WW2 era of the original comic or just looks at Rex Tyler and Hourman, in general, the story often becomes a cautionary tale about the danger of abusing pharmaceuticals and addiction. Hell, even in New Frontier takes a jab at Tyler being an addict. I do think there’s some merit of using Rex as a parable of addiction as it gives him this weight of trying to do “good work” at the cost of his health and sobriety. I don’t think Roy Thomas handles it well, but I do think there’s something to this character beat.
Rex Tyler would go on to have a son, Rick Tyler. Rick would take up his father’s mantle despite of his relationship with his father being…testy in the least. Rick would struggle a lot with being Hourman and quit the mantle for a time. There would be a third Hourman, an android from the future named Mathew Tyler. While I really enjoy Rick as a character, I choose Matthew for this project because I really like the android from Morrison’s DC One Million. His design is super cool with the sleek futuristic design, but still playing with the Rex Tyler color scheme and hood. Plus, he has the Worlogog in his chest!
Hourman (Rex Tyler)
Rex Tyler was one of the heroes I knew I had to draw for this project. Especially after reading Mike Allred’s fantastic Hourman short in Solo.
The Process
I decided to reference Murphy Anderson’s Hourman from Who’s Who. I couldn’t find credits sooner, so it didn’t make the credit on the art as I usually try to do. This also marks the first piece to use India ink for the blacks. Watercolor in black doesn’t always look the richest, and I have been wanting to experiment with ink washes for sometime. I didn’t go for that great of a wash on Rex but it was only my second or third attempt at ink wash.
Hourman III (Matthew Tyler)
Matthew Tyler is where I really started to play around more with the ink wash. It looks far better than just coloring it flat, matte black. I am definitely going to play around with ink washes some more. As for the art reference it is based on a page from Stargirl: The Lost Children #4
The Process
Closing Thoughts
At this point in the JSA Legacy Project I have decided to get more experimental in my process. Ink wash was not on my mind when I started painting these pieces, but here we are. At this point, I am 6 Days and 1 Special into this project and I am about to get into some more interesting and challenging character pieces.
Next time, we take a look at the man wants to see the wicked brought low and to insure the sleep of the just. He is the Sandman and none can escape his dark dreams.
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You can follow along with JSApril all of the other creators on social media with #JSApril. You can always find me here or over on Bluesky and I contribute weekly to The Beat. If you are new here be sure to check out out the archives. Personally, I’m quiet proud of my History of Heroes Reborn posts. You can see my other JSApril posts here.
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