Hugh Hazzard (June 16, 1939) This Day In Comics
Hugh Hazzard is a man with connections to a large city police department. He is involved in the investigation of crimes committed by a mysterious robot. Hugh manages to temporarily deactivate the robot, and climbs inside its hollow chest to hitch a ride to the robot’s home base. The base turns out to be the laboratory of an evil scientist who dies in the ensuing battle. The robot is again deactivated and placed on a garbage scow for disposal at sea. Hugh Hazzard comes up with a new use for the robot. He saves the robot from its watery fate, then names the robot Bozo. Hugh Hazzard and the Iron Man Bozo debuted in Smash Comics #1 (June 16, 1939).
Later, Hazzard is shown examining the robot’s blueprints, and stating that the robot can be modified to fly. The modified robot, shown flying with a spinning propeller on its head, is now used to foil a crime. Flying would be a part of all subsequent appearances. After the pattern of the first adventure, Hugh Hazzard tended to encounter criminals committing crimes with scientific gadgetry, and these criminals tended to become the victims of their own weapons.
In 1956, Quality Comics characters were sold to DC Comics. Quality’s Blackhawk continued to be published without interruption, but most of their other characters languished. While most of the classic Quality superheroes saw print again many years later, Hugh Hazzard has not returned.
