Richard “Rick” Tyler; AKA Hourman

Neutral Good

1990 - Richard Tyler was born.

1994 - Doctor Rex Tyler and a select group of pharmaceutical engineers are hired by an independent developer to be Team Miraclo. The objective was to create the ultimate fast-acting steroid that would revolutionize manufacturing.

1998 - Miraclo Version 1 is completed. The team observes that it truly lives up to the objective of creating a fast-acting steroid. Patients display heightened strength, superior reflexes, greater cognitive function, and an enhanced equilibrium. The temporary effects burnt off roughly after half an hour and were seen to be addictive.

1999 - It was statistically established that the constant use of Miraclo causes muscular degeneration and the weakening of bones. A recommendation was made to use it only once a day, if that often.

2001 - The entire staff of Team Miraclo is laid off, right when they were about to conclude trials for Miraclo V 2. Miraclo V 2 had very different side effects for those with frequent usage. Specifically, it seemed to cause shrinkage in male genitalia, a slow and steady decrease in intelligence, and occasional bouts of sleepiness.

2001 - The United States Government classifies all documentation of Miraclo.

2002 - Rex Tyler continues his research from memory before finally creating Miraclo V 3. Because of the lack of traditional support, he decided to test it on himself. Amazingly, the effects extended to the length of an hour’s time. Afterward though, Tyler noted a feeling of decreased focus.

2003 - Rex began patrolling the streets of his home, Appleton City, picking fights with junkies, petty criminals, and anyone he happened to catch in the act of a misdemeanor. Over time, he refined his art and targeted more serious crimes. He took up the alias Hourman.

2008 - With his family’s finances in ruins, Rex was forced to find a full time job when he found that his son, Richard (now known as Rick), had grown up before he had an opportunity to notice.

2009 - Rick prepares to go to college, but before he has the chance to leave his dad offers him Miraclo. Realizing what the pill did to his father, Rick silently chooses to abstain for the most part.

2012 - Not finding a lot of meaningful activities at college, Rick decides to dip his toes in the past time of crime fighting. Rather than aimlessly patrolling the streets as his father had, he sets up an email address that he exclusively accessed on the deep web. By messaging Administrator@Hourman.net, any citizen was welcome to report a crime, suspicious activity or make a request for help.

2012 - Rick was contacted mostly with prank messages. Appointments were arranged where he was stood up, and occasionally he was tricked into trespassing before he began requiring proof of identity. Eventually though, he filed through the decreasing amounts of spam to find legitimate pleas. His first case was to run a squad of bikers out of a bar he was barely old enough to enter.

2013 - Rick Graduates college with a bachelor's degree in pharmacology.

2014 - Rick’s assistance was requested when various prominent citizens began going missing. From the mayor to kids to police officers to musicians. Missing persons were reported everywhere. In their place were wax sculptures that seemed lifelike. The papers called him the Wax Killer. Rick stormed into his lair and captured him after he received an anonymous tip via his email. Afterwards, the Wax Killer was arrested by the police, who were initially hesitant about working with a “vigilante”, but most of the rookies got over it quickly before honorarily welcoming him to the police force.

Present - Rick “Hourman” Tyler supports the police force of Appleton City and meets the concerns of individual citizens while maintaining a relatively secret identity and working as an auto mechanic part time.

Dr Mid Nite - Cross
Hourman (I) - Tyler, Sr
Sandman - Dodds

I think for the most part I've just updated the original Pre-Crisis version so that he's not too terribly old. Also, the concept of the email location comes from the fact that the original Adventures Comics stories featured Rex Tyler receiving letters at a mailing address. I was unsure about the origins of the pill Miraclo, so I filled it in as best I could.

Appleton is West of the NYC, is not quite a neighboring city, but is close enough to conveniently travel to the big Apple.

Because Hourman doesn't seem to have a lot of related characters, I would like permission to make some of my own assuming I meet the following conditions as outlined in a previous, though unrelated, conversation:

I've created quite a few, I wouldn't go so far to call them original characters, but people who don't exist in the canon before hand. The rules I usually use are:

1. They can't be a superhero or a supervillain, and have to have as little or no affiliation to another character besides my own.

2. They have to fill a role that no already established character can fill. Why give Batman another police ally when Jim Gordon is the bomb and the only one he needs. Same with an Alfred or Lucius Fox type character. Now, if you wanted to create a Jim Gordon like character for someone like Daredevil who never really has had someone like that, then go ahead and just make someone. This same principle applies to villains, especially a villain you want to kill off. You kind of have to create bad guys if you want to play the Punisher because... damn.

3. Make them expendable. Not necessarily someone who can be killed off, but someone who isn't so entangled in the character's life that if another player picks them up they can't explain the character's absence without it seeming like they're getting put on a bus. (Comics writers are plenty guilty of this one... *cough* Milla Donovan.)

I don't intend to create the Justice Society at this moment at all. But I do intend to guest feature some of it's members on occasion