The creation of cartoonist William H.D. Koerner, Hugo Hercules was the titular hero of a comic strip that ran from September 1902 to January 1903 for the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

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Characters and story

A good-natured man endowed with superhuman strength

Superhuman strength

Superhuman strength, also called superstrength, super-strength, or super strength, is an ability commonly employed in fiction. It is the ability for a character to be stronger than humanly possible...

, the character of 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, kick a house like a football, wield an artillery cannon like a handgun, and lift a locomotive engine off the tracks and pull its cargo behind him at train speeds.

Sometimes referred to as the first superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

, the strip was not a great success and Koerner eventually left comics to become a painter.