I don't know, but he's really driving the premise of Rex being naturally timid and cowardly to the hilt this time around. It doesn't seem to be intended as humorous, but Rex's heroic shortcomings are a lot funnier than those of intentionally comical peers like Johnny Thunder!

Knowing the developments yet to come, it's apparent that concerns about Hour-Man's pill-popping being too suggestive of illicit drug use were growing. The change in personality triggered by Miraclo make the parallels all the more uncomfortable, so it's not surprising that this aspect of the feature is dropped quickly. The introductory caption will continue to describe Rex Tyler as "meek and mild" through issue 58, but we'll only be witnessing that characterization in the plot and dialog for a few more issues. 

Hour-Man was one of those Golden Age characters that I never found that fascinating, largely due to the Miraclo time gimmick. Who would risk their lives on the clock, or even survive if he was caught as seen in Adventure Comics #51. A Joker or Red Skull would have turned him into a corpse without much hesitation.

This was the first one which didn't make me suspect that Fitch isn't writing these stories with either his tongue planted firmly in cheek or with some sort of chip on his shoulder that he has to write the strip.  Actually, for a guy who seemed rather tone deaf about what superhero comics are about before, he does great here.  Wax figures of dangerous killers come to life so that they can obey the demands of a crazed scientist - this is what makes comics great even if so much of it wouldn't make sense to an adult (but how many adults were reading this in 1940 anyway?).  But yeah, for a guy who's terrified about being out after dark should his Miraclo wear off, it's strange to learn here that nothing's preventing him from simply taking another once that hour's up.  

The Blue Beetle had to take a shot of Vitamin 2X administered by Dr. Franz.  Now, Dan Garrett was a beat police man who didn't have the skills or resources to come up with such a formula himself hence the need for Franz.  The Hour-Man doesn't use such a middleman himself, but I can't help but think that if Fitch really wanted to get more mileage out of the "by day a coward, by night fearless" routine, he could have introduced some sort of confederate for Tyler who would cajole his trembling, spineless specimen into taking Miraclo whenever the need arose.  Like you, I can't figure out how a man who can't stay awake without trembling even works up the courage to take that pill in the first place.  Oh well, perhaps Fitch didn't use this approach specifically because it was already in play with The Blue Beetle.

Indeed, which makes it disappointing that they rarely made good use of the limitations. The best take on the premise would only come decades later (which I intend to get to!), but there was so much more that could have been done. For now, it's just an occasionally-used means of putting Hour-Man in danger partway through the stories, but more often, the hour conveniently spans exactly the time needed to reach the story's climax.

Gardner Fox always claimed that he scripted every feature in All-Star #1, even those he didn't normally write, but I think your analysis of this story has debunked that claim. The story's weaknesses have all the earmarks of Fitch's work and few, if any, of Fox's. Good job!

Cei-U!
I summon the refutation par excellance!

Actually two All-American strips, "Johnny Thunder" and "Red, White and Blue," do appear in the 1940 issue of NYWF, just no costumed heroes.

Cei-U!
I summon the footnote!

ADVENTURE COMICS #52, July 1940


Hour-Man makes the cover again this issue, but he’s been knocked out of the lead-off position in favor of the previous headliner, Sandman. Hour-Man is now the final story of the issue, following such ADVENTURE COMICS luminaries as Rusty and His Pals, Barry O’Neill, Steve Conrad, Federal Men, Cotton Carver, Socko Strong, and the navy servicemen of Anchors Away. As I understand it, though, in the Golden Age when anthologies were strong, both the first and the last slots were considered prominent ones, so I wouldn’t interpret this as implying the Hour-Man feature is less regarded or less popular than Socko Strong (which, by the way, is very appealingly drawn by whichever of the creative team of (brothers?) Joseph and Albert Sulman was responsible for the skillful Al Capp emulation).

SYNOPSIS:



The story opens with Rex's boss introducing Bob Wallace, who’s here to work at the lab with Rex. Rex timidly objects to having professional aid forced upon him. The abusive boss is "disgusted with Tyler's meekness", and a week later taunts the new man's superior productivity, which Rex attributes to Wallace's late work nights.

The next morning, the papers are reporting that Hour Man held up a bank, almost shooting a watchman who was able to see the robber's face. Rex pays the watchman a visit in his Hour Man garb. Sure, it terrifies the old guy, but he confirms that although the suit matches, the robber was a different, glassy-eyed person. Rex suspects this doppelganger was under hypnosis.

Back at his lab, the radio reports that Hour-Man is robbing a theatre using tear gas, and cops are on the lookout. Before Rex can proceed, a stranger enters the lab. Unsurprisingly, it's Wallace, who faints upon arrival. Rex doffs his costume but is still under the Miraclo influence.

When Wallace recovers, he tells Rex that he was just walking along the street and began feeling faint. When Rex suggests a visit to a doctor, Wallace panics: "No doctor! He'll kill me!" Outside the door, Rex finds a bill wrapper from the Metropolis Theater.

Another morning, and someone's at the police headquarters with a letter threatening murder by the Hour-Man if he doesn't keep his mouth shut. I guess the threat didn't scare him too much, since he went right to the police demanding protection. Maybe he should have been scared, though, since the precinct is suddenly bombed, and an hourglass "calling card" is left behind, cementing the impression that Hour-Man is behind the crimes.

At home, Rex swallows some more Miraclo and suits up to try to clear his good name, only to find Wallace outside, fleeing in his car. Rex follows Wallace home, spying from the branches of a large tree.



He's spotted by a thug outside on the lawn, who's overcome when Rex unexpectedly leaps down on him. He's then met by the phony Hour-Man leaving the house, and a quick fight reveals that the imitator is...

Bob Wallace! OK, not much of a surprise, but before Wallace can explain, Hour-Man finds himself at the end of a barrel held by... Dr. Snegg! Who? Evidently, Snegg is the villain from the previous issue of ADVENTURE COMICS, who went unnamed last time. Hour-Man has his first nemesis, his first recurring villain...well, perhaps...let's withhold enthusiasm for a bit yet. Snegg survived the previous encounter (by using a decoy, not unreasonable for a man who can bring wax dummies to life) and he has now hypnotized Wallace to use as a decoy to get to the real Hour-Man. Snegg flubs his shot thanks to Hour-Man's nimble super-powered sidestep and flees into the house, which is booby-trapped with a bomb that prevents Hour-Man from immediately following.




Fortunately, Bob (somehow) knows that Snegg plans to blow up the Mayor's house. With his superpowered fleetness, Rex gets there first, rescuing the Mayor before his house is destroyed in the explosion. In a very rushed final-tier sequence Snegg races away in his automobile, but Rex races alongside, tear-gasses the interior, and forces the car to crash head-on into a boulder.



Finally, Rex writes a letter to the Mayor, "explaining about Snegg and his use of Wallace". Yeah, that oughtta convince him...

COMMENTARY:

A close reading of the intro blurb (the text is in a balloon of gas issuing from the barrel of the gun Hour-Man seems to only use in splash panels) reveals some subtle specification to the premise. Rex Tyler is still “a meek and mild chemist”, but the Miraclo drug is now said to give him “remarkable strength and agility” which “makes him a man above me—not superhuman but extra human!” I take that to mean that the Miraclo powers will always be limited to amplifications of what a normal human can do: highly sensitive vision, but not x-ray vision, ability to leap high but not to fly. It’s not really a change to anything we’ve seen, but it is a clarification, if not as clearly expressed as Ken Fitch probably intended.

So this story has a little more meat than previous installments, with a named villain who has an expressed motive, and the familiar doppelganger enemy trope, but the plot doesn't stand up to any scrutiny. Why Wallace? Writer Ken Fitch forgets to explain it, but I assume Wallace's experience working with munitions provided Snegg with the explosives, although a scientist who can animate wax dummies should probably be capable of creating his own bombs. Fitch forgets his villain's primary motivation in order to get to the end of the story, with Snegg dropping his efforts to kill Hour-Man in favor of a previous plan to assassinate the mayor. Why was Wallace lurking at Rex's house? It suggests that some connection between the real Hour-Man and Rex Tyler was known to the villain (and hey, that shouldn't be surprising given Hour-Man's public alternate monicker of "Tick-Tock Tyler"), but really, it's all just unjustified coincidence in service of providing trails for the hero to follow, which we’ve seen before. I am curious as to what Wallace was experiencing as Snegg's victim? Why the fear of doctors? How does he know Snegg's plans?

Fitch continues to be big on the use of tear gas as a primary tool for the character, well-known enough to be used to make the phony appear authentic, and instrumental in Rex's lethal dispatching of Snegg at the conclusion of the story. Hour-Man's most prominent display of power, again, is keeping up with speeding vehicles. He also leaps from heights without harm, but over all, Miraclo doesn't convey particularly grand superpowers, just those “extra human” ones the splash blurb promised. There's no urgency shown with respect to the time limit in this adventure; it even appears that Rex took his pill much sooner than he even needed to. In a hallmark of amateur writing, Fitch is establishing points that are irrelevant and without purpose, such as the fact that the Miraclo is still strong when he removes his cape and cowl, but never needs to use his power in the following exchange in his Rex Tyler persona. Really, the central gimmick of time limitations is inconsequential in this story.

Rex's "meekness" is demonstrated only half-heartedly, and his abusive boss seems to over-react to it, and I would read that there's a lot more to his resentment than Rex's mild manner. Bernard Baily's art isn't bad, and I kind of like his favoring of rocky terrain; it gives a different flavor than the typical metropolitan environment. The artwork is not helped by Fitch's awkward panel sequencing, with new scenes opening up in the final panel of a page. The final blurb promises "a terrific surprise" in the next issue. We're about to see a shakeup in the Hour-Man feature, not a radical one, but one that tries to find a more appealing focus.

And I guess my hopes for an ongoing nemesis in Dr. Snegg was futile, as he appears to be killed off. I'll leave it to the lawyers in the forum to weigh in on whether Rex would be legally culpable for the death having shot tear-gas into Snegg's car, but in any case, it seems like that would be hazardous to other Appleton City motorists and pedestrians. Later on, the police will show an interest in capturing the Hour-Man, so maybe they are tired of him racking up casualties in his crimefighting career.