They spill or ingest chemical concoctions that would kill any ordinary human, but always end up granting them amazing powers!
Such is the case of Harry Thurston, who developed a chemical that would convert any matter it touched into water!
And, of course, he spilled it on himself, turning his arm to liquid. Thankfully, labmate Bob Blake used another chemical to revert Harry's arm.
Deciding to take things a step further, Bob Blake then injected himself with the chemical, making his whole body turn to water and, after using the same antidote that restored Harry's arm, discovered his force of will could control the level of transformation from human to liquid and back to human!
Like most scientists who gain weird powers, he became a costumed hero to fight enemy agents and crooks.
Strangely, he strapped a .45 automatic to his belt when he first donned his costume, but never used it! (You may ask: whatever happened to Harry Thurston, who had the good sense to not inject himself with dangerous chemicals? AFAIK, he never appeared again!)
With his ability to both become and control water, HydroMan was a remarkably-effective crimefighter, as long as he avoided sub-zero temperatures which would freeze him solid (his Achilles heel!)
HydroMan never had his own comic, but he was the cover feature from #1 onward for the first year or so of Reg'lar Fellas Heroic Comics.
It is from this series that Atomic Kommie Comics™ has created a new line of kool kollectibles for our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ series, including his 1st appearance, and his 1st issue with partner RainBow Boy!
Note: HydroMan was created by Bill Everett
, who later went on to create some other water-based heroes for Timely/Marvel including The Fin
and some little-known guy called Namor, The Sub-Mariner
.Oh, him you've heard of...
Alex Ross revived HydroMan in Project SuperPowers
, even teaming him with PyroMan on the cover of Vol. 1 #4
!Oddly, he's renamed HydroMan "Hydro", even though the only extant Hydro-Man in comics is a seldom-used Marvel villain! (It's not unusual for characters at different companies to have the same name, especially if one's a hero, and the other's a villain. Example: The Sandman...a villain at Marvel, and several different heroes at DC!) But I digress...
Pick up Project SuperPowers
, the best Golden Age revival on the stands today, and have a look at our retro-styled goodies at Atomic Kommie Comics™ (And when is Dyanmite going to do their own Alex Ross art-based line of Project SuperPowers collectibles? I'll be among the first to get 'em when they come out!)
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