An exceptional hero has made a miraculous return in the most current DC comics. The android champion from the year 853, Hourman, has reappeared in two major storylines: Stargirl: The Lost Children and The Flash #798. Hourman has mastery over time. It would appear that DC is intentionally positioning this formidable figure to play a pivotal role in the near future. The miniseries Stargirl: The Lost Children, co-created by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck, marks the beginning of Hourman’s comeback. Hourman’s programming has been hacked by Corky Baxter, the Time Master, to kidnap the sidekicks of long-lost heroes from across time and space, and the story is riveting because of it. Hourman’s original programming is restored by Stargirl and the other “Lost Children,” however, and he helps the trapped sidekicks escape. In issue #798 of The Flash, written by Jeremy Adams and drawn by Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, and Will Robson, the story continues. The mysterious Granny Goodness of Apokalips is suspected of kidnapping Wally West’s newborn son, Wade, and Hourman reemerges at this point to help West find his missing son. Hourman, the brainchild of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter, made his debut in JLA #12 (1997). This hero from the future was chosen by Metron, leader of the New Gods, to succeed him and was given the incredible Worlogog, which gave him unimaginable control over space and time. In the crossover event DC One Million from 1998, Hourman played a major role by traveling through time with the Justice Legion A, the team’s future version, to prevent a disaster from happening. But as the story progressed, Hourman realized his own responsibility in the tragedy, so he stayed put in the past, trying to accept and comprehend his humanity. Hourman, riding high on the popularity of his 1999 self-titled series, gave his time-traveling powers a new spin. He dismantled the Worlogog and channeled its energy into tachyons, which he kept in an internal hourglass. In tribute to the Golden Age Hourman, who received a “hour of power” by swallowing the Miraclo pill, he had his temporal powers modified so that they could only be used for exactly one hour at a time. Hourman eventually joined the revived Justice Society of America, where he bravely gave his life in battle against the evil Extant to save the original Golden Age Hourman. The character’s current resurrection in DC Comics has definitely breathed fresh life and possibilities into his tale, despite his intermittent appearances throughout the years. Hourman’s starring role in not one but two recent DC shows is no coincidence. The fact that he’s so important to both plots bodes well for this 853rd-century android’s future. It’s possible that DC Comics might benefit from bringing back the 853-year-old Hourman to the DC Universe. Tom Peyer and Rags Morales’s original Hourman series, which debuted in 1999, is an unheralded gem in DC Comics’ back catalog. The twenty-five issues collected here represented a fascinating and original contribution to the comic book market. Within its pages, the android Hourman, who frequently referred to himself as a “intelligent machine colony,” forged an odd friendship with Snapper Carr, a former mascot of the Justice League, on his journey to understand what it is to be “human.”
