{{Short description|American comic strip (1902–1903)}} {{italic title}} thumb|right|180px|Hugo lifting a car. '''''Hugo Hercules''''' was an American weekly comic strip published in the ''Chicago Tribune'', written and drawn by Wilhelm Heinrich Detlev Körner. It ran for five months, from September 7, 1902, to January 11, 1903, totaling seventeen strips.<ref name=Holtz>{{cite book |last1=Holtz |first1=Allan |title=American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide |date=2012 |publisher=The University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=9780472117567 |page=198}}</ref> Despite its short run, it is considered the earliest superhero fiction comic.<ref>{{cite web |title=William H. D. Koerner |url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/k/koerner_whd.htm |website=Lambiek Comiclopedia |publisher=Lambiek |accessdate=5 July 2019}}</ref>
==Characters and story== A good-natured man endowed with superhuman strength, Hugo wandered about town, helping people with their problems and shocking them with his surprising displays of power. He was so strong he could pick up an elephant,<ref>{{cite web | author = William H. D. Koerner | title = Hugo Hercules performs another prodigy | url = http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021012.jpg | publisher = The Chicago Sunday Tribune | accessdate = 2007-09-21 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110707212808/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021012.jpg | archivedate = 2011-07-07 }}</ref> kick a house like a football,<ref>{{cite web | author = William H. D. Koerner | title = Hugo Hercules misses the football, but— | url = http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021116.jpg | publisher = The Chicago Sunday Tribune | accessdate = 2007-09-21 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110707212812/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021116.jpg | archivedate = 2011-07-07 }}</ref> wield an artillery cannon like a handgun,<ref>{{cite web | author = William H. D. Koerner | title = Hugo Hercules does a little holding up himself | url = http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021207.jpg | publisher = The Chicago Sunday Tribune | accessdate = 2007-09-21 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110707212817/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021207.jpg | archivedate = 2011-07-07 }}</ref> and lift a locomotive engine off the tracks and pull its cargo behind him at train speeds.<ref>{{cite web | author = William H. D. Koerner | title = Hugo Hercules comes to the rescue of the Cannonball Limited | url = http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021214.jpg | publisher = The Chicago Sunday Tribune | accessdate = 2007-09-21 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110707212821/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021214.jpg | archivedate = 2011-07-07 }}</ref> Casual about his incredible feats, Hugo often repeated his catchphrase, "Just as easy", shrugging off the adoring crowds.
Sometimes referred to as the first superhero, the strip was not a great success and Körner eventually left comics to become a painter.<ref>Bill Blackbeard & Dale Crain, ''The Comic Strip Century''. Northampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press, 1995. 2 volumes. 480 pp. {{ISBN|0-87816-355-7}}</ref>
==Strips== * Sept 7, 1902: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120511174626/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc020907.jpg Hugo Hercules Obliges Beauty in Distress.] * Sept 14: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120511174510/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc020914.jpg Hugo Hercules Stops the Terrible Runaway.] * Sept 21: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120323224100/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc020921.jpg Hugo Hercules to the Rescue Once More.] * Sept 28: (no strip) * Oct 5: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120505080818/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021005.jpg Hugo Hercules Rescues Lady Disdain Once More.] * Oct 12: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120208053904/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021012.jpg Hugo Hercules Performs Another Prodigy.] * Oct 19: (no strip) * Oct 26: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120428153050/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021026.jpg Now, Wasn't This Kind of Hugo Hercules?] * Nov 2: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120309044051/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021102.jpg Hugo Hercules Saves Four Comic Supplement Lives.] * Nov 9: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120214033345/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021109.jpg Hugo Hercules Has a Great Pull with the Conductor.] * Nov 16: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110725220909/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021116.jpg Hugo Hercules Misses the Football, But --"] * Nov 23: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120405233852/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021123.jpg It's Just as Easy for Hercules to Make a Touchdown.] * Nov 30: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120309044230/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021130.jpg Hugo Hercules Gets Along Quite Well Without a Cab.] * Dec 7: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110725220919/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021207.jpg Hugo Hercules Does a Little Holding Up Himself.] * Dec 14: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110725221001/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021214.jpg Hugo Hercules Comes to the Rescue of the Cannon Ball Limited.] * Dec 21: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120420192541/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021221.jpg The Fire Engine Broke Down - But Hercules Was There.] * Dec 28: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120309044233/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc021228.jpg Hugo Hercules at New Year's Bowling Contest.] * Jan 4, 1903: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120511174129/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc030104.jpg Hugo Hercules Goes Ice Boating.] * Jan 11, 1903: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120224125354/http://www.barnaclepress.com/cmcvlt/HugoHerc/hugoherc030111.jpg Hugo Hercules Wrestles with a Bear.]
==Other appearances== Hugo Hercules appears in the 2015 graphic novel ''Nemo: River of Ghosts'', written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill.
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:American comic strips Hercules, Hugo Hercules, Hugo Category:1902 comics debuts Category:1903 comics endings Hercules, Hugo Category:Superhero comics Hercules, Hugo Hercules, Hugo Hercules, Hugo Category:Comic strips started in the 1900s