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| Art by William H.D. Koerner Character originally created by William H.D. Koerner |
"A savior thinks he is holy and should be admired for being so good, always looking for attaboys, a shield knows he is human and a part of that is being good to be good, cause being good, being helpful and kind to folks is its own reward".
Born abnormally strong as the first son of the Melungeon family the Hills, Hugo was always kind and gifted growing up, eventually being inspired by his uncle Bill who was born similarly abnormal to Hugo and also grew up to be a great hero, like his uncle Hugo would use his strength and creative mind to create solutions and effectively solve problems, although occasionally in blunt ways.
With this strength Hugo, for a time went into the business of being a circus strong man thanks to his paternal uncle Urso "Url" Hill who ran the Hill Family Circus, but found the life ultimately unfulfilling, although here he would meet Not only a small bear cub who he would come to know as his first son Zeb Zuse, but also his long time rival, friend and blood brother in Samson the strong man, a hot tempered strongman who turned out to be a descendant of the biblical Samson, as well as his other blood brother and close friend The Handy Man from Timbuktu and his pet Tiger.
The three forming a sort of strongman Trinity for the circus, amazing people with their skills and strength while also incorporating sometimes intentional sometimes not comedy into their act together, eventually though with what meager funds he managed to gain in this profession, he invested into a house and living situation so he could live comfortably for a while and do what he really loved.
That of course being helping people however he could, while also being a representative for his people, a loud and proud Melungeon with a haint tree on his porch and everything, (around this time period is where his original comic strip adventures would happen) however getting to this point wouldn't be easy.
For a little while Hugo was a bit of a wanderer, a man with no home who would sleep at various different places every night, while by day he'd be doing his best to fight for good, however his hobo status would soon end when he met one of his first proper mentors, Everett True, who taught him about various things, From how to use a strength to even the dangers of bad investment, Eventually thanks to Everett's guidance Hugo was able to afford his own home and would end up going to the older, easily angered gentleman for advice from time to time, Hugo being able to bring out the softer side of the man and treating him like a son would a father.
Now Hugo's younger brother on the other hand pursued a life of full fledged business and ended up distancing himself from Hugo, but Hugo still visited His brother and his growing family, with there being no ill will between them and Hugo even unexpectedly helping his brother with business contacts most notably with help from Everett True.
Eventually his strength was noticed by the Madam Madcap twins and he was called upon to be a part of this world's oldest publicly known superhero team, The Heroics, and not only was he the muscle of the team but he was the voice of reason between the two massive egos that were leading it, those being Nick Carter and Sherlock Holmes.
And through both his own adventures in tracing his family lineage and discovering the truth of his heritage, as well as his adventures with The Heroics, he discovered a great deal about his extended family and made a tremendous amount of friends, who were to him new family members, there bonds lasting for years to come.
Including an adopted son and apprentice he met during World War 1, Hugo Danner, The Gladiator, our Hugo helped the young man go in the right direction and become a great hero, teaching him how to use his immense strength and giving him outlets to use it.
With this he developed further his heroic ideals as being not just a hero but a shield to his family and people using both his influence as a well-known hero and kind strong man, on top of his actual physical strength to protect all of his family from evil, whether this evil comes in the form of bigotry, greed or what have you.
Eventually though The Heroics had their last horaw in fighting against the bi universal Martians in the Martian Invasion of 1922, after the fact Hugo would discover that his two nephews were orphaned in a trip to Australia, with the children and their parents being brutally attacked by some wannabe gangsters.
This leaving Hugo's brother and sister in-law dead, and the kids left for dead in the outback, only surviving thanks to the kindness of the local indigenous population, He also discovered that in his brother's will he was given his brother's, well, everything, until his younger brother's two sons were of the age where they could take their share of it, So now Hugo was a millionaire and head of a massive company.
Hugo quickly took up this position alongside adopting his two nephews as if they were his own sons, and as such teaching them all he knows about fighting and being good, alongside introducing them to his extended family, with many of The Heroics members being introduced to the two children as aunts and uncles alongside his other friends and family that he'd discovered and met throughout his life.
In this education he told them about his philosophy of being a shield, making it clear the difference between what he does as a shield and what others do as a savior.
Savior's are self-righteous and lack empathy, they do not understand or refuse to truly empathize and bring themselves to the level of the ones they try to "protect", while a shield understands the strife of another due to their empathy and/or experience, they protect from a place that is not self-righteous or selfish but instead selfless and loving, they protect not for glory But simply to do what is right, not just right by themselves but right by the people they protect, treating others the way they want to be treated and respecting everyone as family.
This ideal being taught in conjunction with the ideal that no man is an island, the belief that all life is and always will be a sacred gift, and that only in rare cases should that gift be taken away.
His lessons truly impacted All of his adopted children, from his first adopted son, to his two biological nephews, to even his distant nephew and even his Four adopted nephews, and these teachings of what it really means to be a hero, inspired these children to take on the identities of THE heroes for their generation.
These kids of course becoming all blood brothers, them being the aforementioned Hugo Danner aka The Gladiator, also Hugo Hercules's close biological nephews, Bart Hill (the future Dreaddevil) and Dave Hill (the future Dynamo Hill), as well as his distant nephew Andrew Henry (later known as Ace Harlem), and finally his adopted nephews Chuck Chan (The Green Turtle), Jeff Dixon although his real name was Strong Coyote (The Bronze Terror), Dan Garret (Hercules Beetle the Cheyenne Coleoptera) and finally Jeb T Charlton (The Skeleton).
Hugo used the fortune he inherited wisely as well, not only supporting social causes and helping to improve the lives of his greater family, but also investing greatly into the education of the next generation of heroes, including helping fund the Carter and Holmes's school for young detectives and a grandiose personal library with all the books, artifacts and what have you needed to teach his kids and others all they needed to know that he didn't know by default, and/or didn't have access to himself while growing up, on top of investing in the rare tutor that wasn't a family member working as a solid for him.
Eventually when his two bio nephews came of age, he gave them most of the fortune intended for them by there father as per his will, this on top of the Fortune he gained including the fancy house to the eldest of the two Bart Hill, with him offering half of this wealth to the younger of the two, Dave, again as per the will, but Dave instead insisted he make his fortune himself, make himself his own man ya know.
Bart eventually went on to use this wealth among other things to become the Deftdevil at first, and soon after the Dreaddevil, and Dave, after getting a terrible prognosis from a doctor took up his own superhero identity as Dynamo Hill, super detective, a truly self-made hero.
Hugo in most timelines lives to be somewhere in his hundreds, and sees the birth of his first generation of great grandchildren, before passing away peacefully in his sleep, but on his feet cigar in his mouth, his trusty cane Ybrikeel (a cane her carved from the World tree years prior) in hand, wrapped in leaf (a shape-shifting leaf from the branch that would become Ybrikeel), surrounded by the people he loves, has helped and saved one last time, standing tall even in his death, and living on eternally as an icon of kindness, generosity and a true shield of his people.
Some of his notable adventures include
- Hugo Hercules: The Original Comics
- Hugo Hercules: The Early Days
- The 3 Super Strongmen
- Hugo Hercules: The Walk About Years
- The Heroics: The Fight for Good
- The Heroics: The Klan that Hates
- The Heroics: The Case Of Caligari & The House Of Madness
- The Heroics: The Martian Calamity
- Aciesers: The Golden Finale, The Home Front
- Aciesers: The Silver Generation
- The Masteroid Calamity
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