Superhero comic throwback: 1902’s Hugo Hercules

Hugo Hercules was a weekly American comic strip written and drawn by Wilhelm Heinrich Detlev, and published in Chicago Tribune. The comic was quite a hit, but it still only ran five months — September 7, 1902, to January 11, 1903 — with a total of seventeen strips. The first was Hugo Hercules Obliges Beauty in Distress in 1902. And one of the lasts was Hugo Hercules wrestles with a bear in following year, 1903.
Hugo Hercules is considered by some to be the first superhero. He was portrayed as a good-natured man who was endowed with superhuman strength. He walked around his town and helped people. He could pick up almost anything, like cars and elephants. He could even kick a house as if it were a soccer ball. He could have outwrestled a bear if he wanted to.
Most of the time Hugo would do his heroic acts to impress the ladies. However, he would show genuine love and actually do heroic things for anyone in need. He helped put a house out of fire and saved lives, for instance. He was portrayed as the ideal hero, super strength, kindness, and was willing to risk his life for others.
Although his character was only shared a handful of times, this was possibly one of the first comic characters with superhuman strength and great speed. Hugo Hercules is also considered one of the earliest superhero fiction comic. Although it wasn’t enough of a success and Wilhelm decided to leave his comics and went on to become a painter.
More recently, the character of Hugo Hercules appears in the 2015 graphic novel’s Nemo Trilogy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, according to Wikipedia.